Chicago Storm Hosts St. Louis Saturday, April 9 at 7:00 P.M.

April 8, 2005 - Major Indoor Soccer League 2 (MISL 2)
Chicago Storm News Release


Chicago (Friday, April 8, 2005) – The Chicago Storm will tangle with the rival St. Louis Steamers on Saturday, April 9 at 7:00 p.m. at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago. The game can be heard live on www.chicagostorm.net in English and on Univision Radio WRTO 1200 AM in Spanish. The "Yellow and Black" will look to reduce the gap between themselves and the Cleveland Force for the fourth and final playoff spot in the MISL. Currently, the Storm sits in fifth-place and three games behind Cleveland and St. Louis. The Storm has four regular season games remaining to qualify for post-season play.

Individual tickets are available and range in price from $8 to $25 and can be purchased by calling the Storm's front office (312) 226-GOAL (4625), Ticketmaster (312) 559-1212 or by visiting www.ticketmaster.com. Fans can also purchase individual tickets at the UIC box office located on 525 South Racine, Chicago, IL 60607. The box office is open from 12:00 noon until 6:00 p.m. Monday to Friday and 10:00 a.m. through 4:00 p.m. on Saturday.

Two in 10: Chicago Storm midfielder Novi and forward Mark Ughy find themselves among the league's top scorers this season. Novi has registered 24 goals and 17 assists for 41 points in 35 games for the "Yellow and Black." The indoor soccer veteran sits in ninth-place on the MISL scoring charts. Ughy's 28 goals and 12 assists for 40 points find him in a tie for 10th place on the scoring charts. The duo looks to help propel the Storm into the playoffs as the season winds to an end.

Last Time: The last time the Chicago Storm faced the St. Louis Steamers, the "Yellow and Black" dropped a 7-5 result to the rivals, on Sunday, April 3. The Storm's Nino DaSilva, Awadalla Morad, Lazo Alavanja, Andy Guastaferro and Matthew Stewart tallied a goal each in the contest, but St. Louis' Sterling Wescott's fourth quarter goal gave the Steamers the win. St. Louis holds a 4-2 edge on the Storm in the season series as the teams will battle in their last meeting of the season on Saturday, April 9 at 7:00 p.m. CT at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago.

Klopas Nominated for the Hall: The National Soccer Hall of Fame announced the 2005 Ballot for election to the Hall of Fame includes Chicago Storm Head Coach and General Manager Frank Klopas. A total of 53 former players have been nominated and Klopas appears on the ballot for the second consecutive year. Klopas' playing career spanned 16 years and began with the Chicago Sting when he was 17 years old and ended with the Chicago Fire in 1999. During that span, Klopas appeared 40 times for the United States National Team, including the 1994 World Cup held in the U.S.

Klopas also played for Greek First Division powerhouse AEK Athens. Klopas scored six goals in 49 career matches with AEK Athens and would help the side to two appearances in the European Cup and a pair of berths in the UEFA Cup in 1989 and 1991 during his four seasons of play. He then signed with Major League Soccer in 1996.

Klopas spent his first two seasons in MLS with the Kansas City Wizards, where he scored 25 points (7g, 11a) in 49 games during the 1996 and 1997 seasons. After the expansion Chicago Fire was born in 1998, Klopas was signed by the club and given a chance to end his professional career in where it began -- his hometown. "Kid" Klopas would play 40 games and score 17 points on six goals and five assists for the "Men in Red" during the 1998 and '99 seasons. Klopas ended the Fire's inaugural season in dramatic fashion with what still ranks as one of the club's most memorable moments on October 30, 1998, as his "golden goal" in overtime gave Chicago a 2-1 victory over the Columbus Crew in front of a rabid hometown crowd at Soldier Field. The victory gave the Fire its first of three Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Championships in addition to capping off a historic "double" for the squad in its first campaign.



Major Indoor Soccer League 2 Stories from April 8, 2005


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