Ignition hand Ironmen second straight loss
Published on January 5, 2008 under Major Indoor Soccer League 2 (MISL 2)
New Jersey Ironmen News Release
NEWARK, NJ- The New Jersey Ironmen (8-5) returned home to Prudential Center Saturday night to host the Detroit Ignition (9-4) in a battle for the top spot in the Major Indoor Soccer League, but coming up on the short end of an 11-goal second half cost the Ironmen their second straight loss of the weekend.
Survivor-Africa winner Ethan Zohn got the game started by kicking out the ceremonial first kick to goalkeeper Tony Meola, and New Jersey defender Mateus dos Anjos opened the scoring when he finished off an unassisted tally at 4:54 of the first frame, giving his club an early 2-0 advantage.
At 6:21 of the second stanza, Droo Callahan hit the equalizer for Detroit when he netted a solo shot. Ironmen forward Frederico Moojen put the home team back on top when he scored a Juninho da Silva assist at 12:28, and Dan 'Dizzy' Antoniuk extended the New Jersey lead to 6-2 by making good on a feed from MISL assist leader Goran Vasic.
A high-scoring second half began when Ironmen forward Mauricio Salles hung the first points at 2:12 to increase the Ironmen lead to 8-2. Ignition defender Matt Johnson and midfielder Robert Cavalcante then hit unassisted knocks to pull Detroit within two points, 8-6. The home team lead was stretched to 10-6 at 4:35 when defender Matt Maher netted a Lazo Alavanaja assist, but a barrage of Ignition goals put Detroit on top at the end of the third period, 14-10. The Alavanja assist was his 75th career point.
Vasic then tallied a hard-fought score at 8:25 of the final stanza, pulling the Ironmen within two points, 14-12, but Ignition midfielder Doug Rice put the visitors back on top by four points at 9:39. Despite pulling Meola in favor of a sixth attacker, the lead would be too much for New Jersey to overcome. The final result of the contest would be 21-12 in favor of Detroit.
The loss ended a forgettable weekend for the Ironmen who were dropped to 8-5 on the season after losing two games in consecutive nights. The club also fell to 2-3 at Prudential Center.
New Jersey will host the Baltimore Blast this Friday with an 8:00 p.m. kickoff. Tickets can be purchased in advance by calling 1-800-IRONMEN.
Major Indoor Soccer League 2 Stories from January 5, 2008
- Ignition hand Ironmen second straight loss - New Jersey Ironmen
- Droo Callahan scores second hat trick of the weekend to keep Detroit in first place - Detroit Ignition
- Castellanos and Steele's first goals of the season lead KiXX over Blast - Philadelphia KiXX
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