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Heat Weekly

September 30, 2002 - Major Indoor Soccer League 2 (MISL 2)
Harrisburg Heat News Release


The new-look Harrisburg Heat will officially kick off its twelfth season of play this Saturday, October 5, when the club heads to Philadelphia to take on the defending champion KiXX. Game time at the First Union Spectrum is 7:05 p.m.

Harrisburg and Philadelphia met nine times in 2001-02, with the KiXX winning six of those games. The Heat is 16-25 all-time against Philly, including 5-15 on the road.

Zoran Karic (now departed) led the Heat in scoring versus the KiXX last season, with 15 points (3 goals, 9 assists) in five games. Doug Petras logged the majority of minutes against the KiXX last year, going 2-3 with a 12.33 points against average. Chris Handsor (23 points) and Joel Shanker (21) led the KiXX in scoring against Harrisburg, while Peter Pappas went 5-2 with an 8.96 PAA in the series.

TOURNAMENT WRAP-UP: Harrisburg went 0-2 in the club's first real game action under new coach Erich Geyer, a preseason tournament held September 21-22 at Du Burns Arena in Baltimore.

On Saturday, September 21, the Heat used an 8-0 second-half run to recover from a 12-3 deficit and send the game into overtime, but the host Baltimore Blast downed the Heat by the final score of 14-12 when Tarik Walker bagged the game-winning deuce at 5:38 of OT. Horacio Robledo, a 22-year old midfielder from Mexico who was playing his first indoor game, led the Heat in scoring with a 3pg and a 2pg.

The Heat did not fare quite so well on Sunday, September 22, falling by the final score of 31-6 to the Cleveland Force. Harrisburg, playing without a handful of its regulars, received goals from newcomer David Barbosa and veterans Mike Henning and Matt Tanzini.

THIS WEEK'S ITINTERARY: Tuesday, October 1 Practice, Sports City Harrisburg 9:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Wednesday, October 2 Practice, Sports City Harrisburg 9:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Thursday, October 3 Practice, Sports City Harrisburg 9:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Friday, October 4 Practice, Sports City Harrisburg 9:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.

*Please contact Heat Director of Public and Media Relations Phil Yerger at the office (717-233-8172) or on his cell phone (717-497-5315) to confirm practice times and player/staff availability. NEW BOSS ON THE BENCH: One of the most notable and colorful figures in indoor soccer history, Erich Geyer was named the third Head Coach in Heat history on August 6, 2002. The native of Adelsdorf, Germany played 113 indoor games in a career which featured stops with the Hartford Hellions, Chicago Sting, and San Diego Sockers of the original MISL, scoring 25 goals and 48 points as a defender. Geyer, 51, won four indoor championships as a player (two in the NASL and two in the MISL, all with the Sockers) before ending his playing career in 1985.

In December of 1986, he was named Head Coach of the Sting, a role he held till the franchise folded in 1988. Geyer returned to the bench as Assistant Coach for the Sockers in 1989-90, beginning a remarkable stretch of coaching success. Geyer won three MISL/MSL championships as an assistant with the San Diego Sockers from '90-92 before being named the first (and only) head coach in the history of the Monterrey La Raza of the Continental Indoor Soccer League (later the World Indoor Soccer League). Under Geyer, La Raza quickly rose to dominance, winning CISL titles in 1995 and 1996 and the WISL title in 2000. Geyer was named CISL Coach of the Year following the 1995 CISL campaign.

Beginning in 1993, Geyer also served as the Head Coach of the Mexican Indoor National Team, and enjoyed equally extraordinary achievement in that capacity. With Geyer at the helm, the Mexican team notched International Tournament titles in 1993 and 1994 (consistently defeating soccer powers such as Argentina and Brazil), and won the first Indoor World Cup in 1997.

All told, Geyer has been involved in an amazing 13 indoor championships: four as a player, three as an Assistant Coach, three as Head Coach of the Mexican National Indoor Team, and three as Head Coach of La Raza. Geyer, who is fluent in English, German, and Spanish, also acted as the Sockers' Director of Community Relations in 1984, and served on the WISL's Competition Committee from 1999-2000. Nicknamed "The Wolfman," Geyer participated in the Legends Game at the 2002 MISL All-Star Game in Cleveland.

CHANGING OF THE GUARD: With the goal of a title in mind, Geyer has wasted no time initiating the biggest offseason roster turnover in club history. As of Monday, the Heat had signed thirteen new players to contracts for this season, including the newest additions, Marco Lopez (acquired Friday from Dallas) and Oswaldo Medina, both of whom signed Monday. Only five players remain from last year's 10-34 club: David Bascome, Mike Henning, Chris Morman, Doug Petras, and Matt Tanzini.

Eight of the new players (David Barbosa, Marco Coria, Martin Hernandez, Lopez, Genoni Martinez, Renato Pereira, Francisco Rodriguez, and Raul Salas) played for Geyer with the Monterrey La Raza of the Continental Indoor Soccer League/World Indoor Soccer League. Others, such as Ato Leone (Sacramento) and Jake Atkin (Utah), captured Geyer's attention while playing for opposing clubs in the CISL/WISL. This year's Heat also features two players entirely new to the indoor game: midfielders Kevin Burk and Horacio Robledo.

Attached to the fax version of this release, you will find a current Heat roster, as well as player bios for everyone under contract at this point.

HEATSOCCER.COM, MISL.NET NEW FOR '02-03: Thanks to a new agreement with E-Sports Group, the Heat's official website, www.heatsoccer.com, as well as the internet home of the MISL, www.misl.net, have received extensive facelifts for the 2002-03 season.

Under the new setup, all the MISL web pages are linked together more simply than ever before, meaning that fans of the Heat and MISL can find the information they want, when they want it, with just a few clicks of the mouse. Other prominent new additions include a greatly improved statistical interface, links to online articles and features about every member club, and a broadcast center, where fans can easily listen to MISL games over the net.

TRADE WINDS: Beginning on September 4 with the trade of Nick Corneli to Kansas City, Harrisburg has kept the transaction wire humming. Below is a list of the Heat's preseason activity:

September 4 Traded D Nick Corneli to the Kansas City Comets for F Ato Leone
September 6 Signed D Chris Morman and D/M Matt Tanzini to offer sheets
September 9 Traded the rights to MF Daniel Barber and F Justin Labrum to the Dallas Sidekicks for the rights to MF Marco Coria, D Genoni Martinez, and GK Raul Salas
Traded GK Paolo Ceccarelli to the Kansas City Comets for future considerations Signed MF Jake Atkin, F David Barbosa, D Martin Hernandez, and D Francisco Rodriguez to offer sheets
September 10 Traded the rights to MF Nate Hetherington to the San Diego Sockers for the rights to F Renato Pereira
September 13 Signed D Gene Braxton, MF Kevin Burk, Coria, MF Mike Henning, Leone, and Martinez to offer sheets
September 27 Traded the rights to MF Steve Klein, F Eric Kvello, and F Bernie Lilavois to Cleveland for the rights to MF Beau Brown; traded Brown's rights to Dallas for the rights to F Marco Lopez
September 30 Signed Lopez and D Oswaldo Medina to offer sheets

LORD OF THE RINGS: As noted above, Erich Geyer is the owner of 13 championship rings. But he isn't the only member of this year's Harrisburg Heat to have enjoyed championship success.

Seven members of the Heat's '02-03 roster have won titles: David Barbosa, Marco Coria, Martin Hernandez, Marco Lopez, Genoni Martinez, Renato Pereira, and Raul Salas. All told, Geyer and the Heat roster have racked up an amazing 28 rings.

All of which means this Heat team certainly won't be overly intimidated on Saturday, when the defending champion KiXX raise their title banner to the rafters at First Union Spectrum in a pregame ceremony.

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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