Ignition capture regular-season title with 22-21 win over Baltimore
April 5, 2008 - Major Indoor Soccer League 2 (MISL 2)
Detroit Ignition News Release
(Baltimore, MD) - The Detroit Ignition (22-8) won the Major Indoor Soccer League regular-season title with a 22-21 victory over the Baltimore Blast (19-11) tonight at 1st Mariner Arena. The victory gives the Ignition the top seed going into the 2008 MISL Championship Series, which kicks off next weekend. Detroit will move directly into the semifinal round of the playoffs, with Game 2 being held on Sunday, April 20 at Compuware Arena.
Forward Denison Cabral got the scoring started early for Baltimore, putting a three-point shot past Danny Waltman just 23 seconds into the match. At 8:11 of the first, Mike Apple put Detroit on the board with a two-point goal. Midfielder Ricardinho was credited with the assist on the score, giving the Brazil native his 150th career point. Ignition Captain Droo Callahan scored another two-pointer for Detroit at 10:39, but Cabral notched a two-point shot just 30 seconds later to put the Blast up 5-4. With just five seconds left in the first, Baltimore forward Machel Millwood buried an unassisted two-point score to give the Blast a three point lead.
Just over halfway into the second quarter, Blast forward Matt Watson added two more points for the home team with an unassisted score. Cabral tallied his third goal of the night at 12:13 off a dish from forward Michael Todd to give the Blast a 7-point lead. Exactly one minute later, Ricardinho netted a two-point tally with an assist from Ze Roberto. At 13:55, Jamar Beasley cut the Blast's lead to 3 with a two-pointer off an assist from Apple.
The Ignition kept the momentum going into the second half, as midfielder Ze Roberto put Detroit within one with a two-point score off a give from Josh Rife. At 6:44 of the third, midfielder Lucio ended the Ignition's six-point scoring run with a two-point restart goal. Just over four minutes later, defender Jonathan Greenfield cut the deficit back to one, booting a two-point shot past Baltimore keeper Sagu. At 12:38, Birmingham native Ryan Mack gave Detroit their second lead of the night with a two-point shot
off a dish from Beasley. Forward Adauto Neto quickly responded for Baltimore, putting the Blast back up 15-14 with a goal at 13:06 of the third.
Two minutes into the fourth quarter, Millwood tallied his second goal of the match - a two-point score with an assist from netminder Sagu. With just over 10 minutes to play, Ignition rookie Zach Wilkes scored his first goal of the season off a pass from Ricardinho to bring Detroit within one again. At 6:34, Neto launched a pass towards Millwood who headed it past Waltman to give the Blast a three-point cushion. Just 32 seconds later, Nate Craft cut the Blast's lead back to one with a two-point score off an assist from Hewerton. At 11:01 of the fourth, Beasley scored his second two-pointer of the night to give the Ignition a 20-19 lead, but Mike Lookingland put the Blast back on top with a two-point goal that prompted the Ignition to bring in Callahan as a sixth attacker.
With less than minutes to play, Ricardinho netted Detroit's final goal of the night off a pass from Hewerton to put the Ignition on top of a 22-21 lead. The Blast had one final shot with less than a second left to play, but Callahan made the block in front of the Ignition's open net to give Detroit the regular-season championship.
The Detroit Ignition is a member club of the Major Indoor Soccer League, and begins the team's second season in November 2007 after advancing to the MISL Championship Finals during the 2006-07 season. Information regarding Ignition season, group, and individual tickets can be obtained by calling the club at 1-888-436-GOAL (4625), by visiting the team's official Internet property, www.detroitignition.com, by calling TicketMaster at 248-645-6666, or by using www.ticketmaster.com.
Major Indoor Soccer League 2 Stories from April 5, 2008
- KiXX misses postseason for just the second time in team history - Philadelphia KiXX
- Wave win game but can't get help for title - Milwaukee Wave
- Focus shifts to playoffs - Chicago Storm
- Ignition capture regular-season title with 22-21 win over Baltimore - Detroit Ignition
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