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Force acquires two forwards in trade

October 5, 2004 - Major Indoor Soccer League 2 (MISL 2)
Cleveland Force News Release


CLEVELAND, OHIO- Cleveland Force President and General Manager Paul Garofolo today announced that the team has traded the rights to goalkeeper Sagu to Baltimore in exchange for Blast forward Chris Handsor and the rights to forward Dante Washington.

"This deal gives us two legitimate target players in Sipho and Chris and if we are able to sign Dante we have turned a glaring weakness into an area of strength. Our number one off-season goal was to obtain two experienced target players and with this deal we have successfully filled that need for the team, stated Garofolo.

Handsor returns to Cleveland for his second stint after playing one season with the Crunch during 1995-96 season. Chris is a three-time All-Star, a three-time League Champion and was named the Most Valuable Player of the 2002 Major Indoor Soccer League Championship Series after scoring the game-winner against the Milwaukee Wave. Last season for the Blast, Handsor appeared in 34 games and recorded 15 goals and added 17 assists for a total of 32 points. In addition, he has played for the Buffalo Blizzard, Edmonton Drillers, Kansas City Attack, Philadelphia KiXX and Toronto Shooting Stars.

Handsor played collegiate soccer at the University of Akron and was named the Mid American Conference Newcomer of the Year. Chris has two children Sheradan and Christian-James.

"Chris is a proven winner as he has won three championships, including his first here in Cleveland. He is willing to do whatever it takes to win. Chris is the typical target player that we were looking for. He has the strength and technical ability to hold the ball to either score or find the open man," commented Head Coach Omid Namazi.

Washington, a native of Columbia, Maryland, played two seasons of indoor soccer with the Washington Warthogs of the Continental Indoor Soccer League (CISL). He has played for the Dallas Burn and the Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer (MLS) as well spending the last two seasons with the Virginia Beach Mariners of the A-League. This summer for the Mariners, Dante led the team in scoring (40 pts) and goals (17). Dante was named 2004 A-League Scoring Champion and finished in a tie with Alan Gordon for 2004 Goal Scoring Champion. He was named first-team All-A-League for the second consecutive year. Washington was also named Player of the Week once and to the Team of the Week on three occasions. Dante is ranked No. 17 on the all-time MLS scoring list with 46 goals and 27 assists. In addition to his MLS and A-League career, Washington has been a member of the U.S. National team making appearances in 1991, 93 and 97.

Dante attended Radford College where he twice led the nation in scoring. He also set the career and single-season scoring marks for both Radford and the Big South Conference. Washington graduated with a degree in political science.

"Dante is one of the best forwards in the country. We look forward to bringing him in and having a another big strong target that can score goals," added Namazi.

Sagu, who was the first selection by Cleveland in the Dallas Dispersal Draft, enters his sixth year in the league, having spent all previous seasons in Dallas. Sagu has a career save percentage of .779, with a winning percentage of .495. In the postseason he has six wins with just two losses, only giving up 26 goals for a save percentage of .776. In both the 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 seasons Sagu was named World Indoor Soccer League (WISL) Goalkeeper of the Year, and to the first-team All-WISL. Last season he went 14-8, with a save percentage of .734, and finished second in the league in goals-against average with 4.34.

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