Chicago Storm Take Second Place

April 7, 2007 - Major Indoor Soccer League 2 (MISL 2)
Chicago Storm News Release


The Chicago Storm's bid for first place was ruined by the Milwaukee Wave 20- 11, in the regular season finale Saturday. The Storm was led by two goals from MISL Rookie of the Year Stephen Armstrong (above). Chicago now holds the second seed in the MISL playoffs, facing the Philadelphia KiXX Friday, April 13th at 7:30 pm in the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, with the away game Saturday the 14th in Philadelphia.

Armstrong kicked off the scoring for Chicago in the seventh minute of the first quarter. After a Lovelace Ackah penalty for the Wave, Armstrong took a pass from midfielder John Ball and buried it in the top left hand corner of the net passed Wave ‘keeper Brett Phillips.

Armstrong knocked in his league high 14th power play goal four minutes later. After Milwaukee's Marcio Liete received two minutes for holding, Armstrong buried a shot from the same spot on the field, into the same corner to give the Storm a four point lead.

After the initial four points for Chicago the next 18 went to Milwaukee. The Wave got a hat trick from former Storm target man Anthony Maher, a pair of goals from forward Greg Howes, a three-point goal from Marcelo Fontana and a goal from rookie Marcio Liete before the Storm would get on the board again.

With an 18-4 lead going into the fourth quarter, defender Randy Soderman breathed life into Chicago with a three-point goal of his own. Midfielder Matthew Stewart ran the ball into the Wave zone and dropped the ball off to Soderman. The Arizona native ran up to the ball from just outside the arch and blasted a right footed shot just inside the far post.

Greg Howes capped off his hat trick with five minutes left but Chicago battled back. With two minutes left to go, Andy Rosenband drove towards the goal and passed the ball to Storm forward Jorge Valle. The ball came up high on Valle so he headed it back to Rosenband Who swung at the ball in the air and scored his 11th goal of the season.

With less then thirty seconds on the clock Matthew Stewart earned his second assist on the night. In a move reminiscent of his first assist, Stewart drew a defender to him before passing the ball to an onrushing defender. This time rookie Chris Brisson burst to the ball and scored his seventh goal of the season. The Wave came out with the 20-11 win, ending Chicago's seven game win streak that dated back to March 11th.

Storm head coach Steve Morris talked about the loss and the playoffs. "Obviously, we're not pleased with the result," Morris said. "It's always difficult to sustain a run that we were on. Sometimes, it's bound to happen. But credit Milwaukee, they played outstanding. They kept 3 or 4 of their main guys off and put other guys in. Their effort, enthusiasm and committment was a lot better than ours. We still have a lot to play for (playoffs)," Morris continued. "We'll be here Friday and we'll have our bells ready to go with a different team and different attitude."

As the Storm players signed autographs on the field in honor of Fan Appreciation Day, rookie of the year for the MISL Stephen Armstrong went to be interviewed by the Versus network who will broadcast the championship game on April 20th in Detroit, Michigan after his Rookie of the Year honor was announced at the end of the game. Armstrong, who was also named to the All- MISL second team along with target man Mark Ughy, ended the regular season leading the MISL with 14 power point goals and four game winning goals. He led the Storm with 72 points scored and a stellar 32 goals scored in his first season in the MISL.



Major Indoor Soccer League 2 Stories from April 7, 2007


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