KiXX battles the Chicago Storm in a home-and-home series commencing Saturday, January 28
Published on January 23, 2006 under Major Indoor Soccer League 2 (MISL 2)
Philadelphia KiXX News Release
Philadelphia, PA, January 23, 2006 - The Philadelphia KiXX (4-7) prepare for a home-and-home series versus the fifth-place Chicago Storm (5-9), commencing at the Wachovia Spectrum on Saturday, January 28. The contest, which features a Mascot Game headlined by SocceRoo and the area's mascots, is scheduled to kick-off at 7:05 pm ET with the doors opening at 6:00 pm ET. The series then concludes at UIC Pavilion on Sunday, January 29 with a game-time of 5:00 pm ET. The two clubs are currently separated by only one-game of a game for the fourth spot in the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) standings.
This Week's Itinerary:
Monday, January 23, Off Day
Tuesday, January 24, Practice, Tri-State Sports, 10:00 am to 12:00 pm
Wednesday, January 25, Practice, Tri-State Sports, 10:00 am to 12:00 pm
Thursday, January 26, Practice, Tri-State Sports, 10:00 am to 12:00 pm
Friday, January 27, Practice, Tri-State Sports, 10:00 am to 12:00 pm
Saturday, January 28, KiXX vs. Chicago Storm, Wachovia Spectrum, 7:05 pm
Sunday, January 29, KiXX @ Chicago Storm, UIC Pavilion, 5:00 pm
*all times are Eastern and subject to change
Injury Report:
Player Injury Status
Vlakto Andonovski Calf Doubtful
Pat Morris Foot Questionable
Steve Wacker Ankle Questionable
KiXX vs. Storm
2005-06 Series: 1-0 (home 1-0, away 0-0) Overall: 3-2 (home 2-1, away 1-1)
The Philadelphia KiXX and the Chicago Storm met for the first time in franchise history on November 14, 2004 ... Philadelphia dropped the decision, 4-7, but split the season-series, two-games apiece, in 2004-05 ... Philadelphia edged past the visiting Storm, 3-2, in a low-scoring affair in the first meeting between the two clubs this season on December 10 ... Shawn Boney, Drew Kopp and John Barry Nusum each netted a goal for the KiXX, while Novi Marojevic and Byron Alvarez struck for Chicago ... midfielder Andy Guastaferro made his professional indoor debut with Philadelphia in the 2003-04 campaign, but was then selected third overall by the Storm in the 2004 MISL Expansion Draft ... with Chicago, the native of Canandaigua, NY recorded 16 points on 10 goals and six assists ... the KiXX reacquired the rights to the 26-year-old midfielder in exchange for a player-to-be-named on October 24 ... Chicago finalized the deal by selecting Allen Eller, whom the KiXX acquired in the 2005 MISL Dispersal Draft of the Cleveland Force roster ... led by Head Coach Frank Klopas, the Storm enter the contest with a 5-9 overall record ... Marojevic leads the team with 14 points on eight goals and six assists ... on December 27, Chicago acquired Southern New Jersey standout Anthony Maher and Andy Rosenband in exchange for former Cleveland Force team captain John Ball ... Maher has recorded five points (two goals, three assists) in seven contests with the Storm ... goalkeeper Danny Waltman ranks fourth among MISL netminders with a 5.32 goals against average ... the two clubs will square-off a total of six times this season.
Defender Steps Up: With all-star defenders Pat Morris and Vlatko Andonovski both out with an injury, defender Drew Kopp stepped up his game in the club's home-and-home series versus the Milwaukee Wave last weekend ... the native of Bridgeport, CT led the team with three goals, the first hat trick of his six-year indoor career, on January 20 and then added a score versus the defending champs in front of a season-best 8,074 fans at the Wachovia Spectrum on January 21 ... for his performance, the 29-year-old backliner was named the MISL's Defensive-Player-of-the-Week for the seven-day period ending January 22; the first such honor of his indoor career ... Kopp is currently tied atop the team's scoring list with 12 points (eight goals, four assists) in 11 games ... those figures surpass his total production in 33 games last season and leave him only four points shy of establishing a new career high ... the University of Pittsburgh product was also honored as the Collector's Corner KiXX Player of the Month for his play throughout December ... the fan poll was conducted throughout the month on the team's website www.kixxonline.com ... Ptah Myers was named the Collector's Corner Player of the Month for November.
Back-to-Back: The KiXX dropped their home-and-home series, 10-5 and 7-4 respectively, versus the defending champion Milwaukee Wave on January 20 and 21 ... the team remains in back-to-back mode, battling the Chicago Storm in a home-and-home series this weekend ... the series commences at the Wachovia Spectrum on January 28 and concludes at UIC Pavilion on January 29 ... to date this season, the team are 0-2 in the first game of back-to-back sets and 1-1 in the latter contest ... last season (2004-05), the club posted a 7-4 record in the first game of back-to-back series and a 5-5 mark in the latter contest ... listed below are all of the back-to-back sets this season:
Date Opponent W/L* Date Opponent W/L*
12/9 at Milwaukee L, 3-5 12/10 vs. Chicago W, 3-2
1/20 at Milwaukee L, 5-10 1/21 vs. Milwaukee L, 4-7
1/28 vs. Chicago 7:05 pm 1/29 at Chicago 5:00 pm
3/3 at Baltimore 7:35 pm 3/4 vs. Baltimore 7:05 pm
3/18 vs. St. Louis 7:05 pm 3/19 at Milwaukee 2:05 pm
4/8 vs. Baltimore 7:05 pm 4/9 at Chicago 5:00 pm
*all times are Eastern and subject to change
Philly Native Named an All-Star: The MISL announced on Wednesday, January 18 that KiXX defender Pat Morris has been selected to the 2006 MISL All-Star Game to be played on February 11 at the U.S. Cellular Arena, home of the Milwaukee Wave ... the honor is the fourth consecutive such nomination for the Philadelphia native in his seven-year career ... 16 members (six defenders, eight midfielders/forwards and two goalkeepers) were selected by a panel of five members of team and media personnel from each team in the six-member League ... the starting lineups for the MISL All-Star squad will be determined by fans via an online vote on the League's official website, www.MISL.net, beginning Sunday, January 22 and concluding on Sunday, February 5 at 11:59 pm ET ... the results of the online polling will be announced at the Fiesta Garibaldi Commissioner's Dinner on Friday, February 10 ... Morris and the MISL All-Stars will compete against the Mexican Federation's National Futbol Rapido Team that includes Genoni Martinez of the St. Louis Steamers and the Chicago Storm's Jorge Valle and Byron Alvarez.
Trouble of Special Teams: Philadelphia's penalty-killing unit is struggling this season, stopping only seven-of-the-15 man-down situations they have faced ... the 46.7 percent kill rate ranks the unit last in the six-team League ... vice versa, the club's power-play unit has capitalized on five of their 13 man-advantage opportunities, ranking the unit third with a 38.5 percent success rate ... forward Shawn Boney has recorded two-of-those-four, courtesy of penalty-kick opportunities, while player/coach Don D'Ambra has also registered a pair ... to add insult to injury, the unit allowed a season-high three shorthanded goals to the Milwaukee Wave on January 21 ... last season, Philadelphia ranked third in power-play success rate (54.0) and first in kill rate (64.7).
Dynamic Duo: Forwards Goran Vasic and John Barry Nusum have become a potent one-two punch for the KiXX offense this season ... both players opened the season with at least one point in each of the club's first six games ... Nusum, who was inactive versus St. Louis on January 7 with a quad injury, extended his point streak to eight with a score in California on January 16 but failed to light the lamp in Milwaukee (1/20) ... Vasic, a native of Belgrade, Yugoslavia, has now recorded 12 points (three goals, seven assists) this season and sits tied atop the team's scorers with teammate Drew Kopp ... Nusum, the 2005 MISL Rookie of the Year, trails close behind with 11 points on nine goals, including the game winner on December 10, and a pair of assists.
Last Week's Outing(s):
Wave 7, KiXX 4 (1/21): Philadelphia dropped the second contest in a home-and-home series versus the League-leading Milwaukee Wave, 7-4, in front of a season-high 8.047 fans at the Wachovia Spectrum. Defender Joe Hammes recorded the only goal of the opening quarter, an unassisted score at 9:37 of the stanza, to give the visiting Wave an early 1-0 advantage. Just 16 seconds into the second quarter, seven-year veteran Drew Kopp knotted the score, 1-1, on his fourth tally of the weekend off an assist from teammate Clay Roberts; the assist marked his first professional point indoors. Milwaukee regained their one-goal lead, 2-1, as Greg Howes netted a restart power-play goal on a dish from Giuliano Oliveiro at 8:39. The hometown KiXX evened the score (2-2), at 8:08 of the third quarter, when Goran Vasic rebounded a deflected shot off goalkeeper Nick Vorberg and into the back of the net. At 10:07 of the period, Milwaukee regained a one-goal advantage, 3-2, when Todd Dusosky netted a score on a pass from Vorberg. Hewerton finished the quarter with a notch from Oliveiro at 12:11 of the stanza. Roberts recorded his second assist of the game, connecting with teammate John Barry Nusum to pull the club within one, 4-3, at 6:03 of the final quarter. Milwaukee stretched their lead back to two, 5-3, when Kyt Selaidopoulos scored off an assist from Greg Howes at 8:36 of the period. The Wave then added a pair of goals, 7-3, versus the Philadelphia sixth attacker; Matt Schmidt struck first on a dish from Fontana at 13:41, followed by a score from Marcelo Fontana at 13:41. Ptah Myers connected with a restart power-play goal at 13:57, but Milwaukee held on to earn a 7-4 victory.
Wave 10, KiXX 5 (1/20): The KiXX dropped the opening game in a home-and-home series versus the Milwaukee Wave, 10-5 at the U.S. Cellular Arena. The Wave opened the scoring with four unanswered goals. Reigning Spalding Scoring Champion Greg Howes found teammate Eduardo Sebrango with a centering pass for the hosting club's first tally at 12:10, followed by an unassisted notch from midfielder Alen Osmanovic at 13:36 of the stanza. Forward Todd Dusosky extended Milwaukee's advantage with consecutive scores, 4-0, an unassisted goal at 4:49 and a left-footed blast past Pappas on feed from Howes at 11:44 of the second quarter. Drew Kopp finally struck for the KiXX, 4-1, redirecting a shot from forward Shawn Boney at 12:53. Pittsburgh, PA native Gary DePalma pulled the KiXX within two, 4-2, after forcing a turnover in Milwaukee's back end and knocking the shot past Rowland just 40 seconds into the third stanza. Kopp then registered his second score of the contest to cut the Wave's lead down to one, 4-3, on a dish from player/coach Don D'Ambra at 3:45. Kopp continued Philadelphia's scoring assault, 4-4, completing the hat trick and knotting the teams, 4-4, at 10:02. Howes snapped the KiXX scoring streak with a penalty-kick goal to regain Milwaukee's one goal lead, 5-4, at 11:10 of the period and then added a second penalty-kick score to push the Wave's advantage back to two, 6-4, at 14:13. A mere 12 seconds into the final period of play, Howes increased Milwaukee lead to three, 7-4, completing his hat trick. Forward Giuliano Oliviero connected with teammate Troy Dusosky to push the Wave ahead four, 8-4, at the three-minute mark. The Wave opened the game, 9-4, as Sebrango found the back of the net for the second occasion of the contest on an assist from Marcelo Fontana at 5:07 of the quarter. KiXX newcomer Josh Rife recorded the first goal of his professional indoor career to cut the team's deficit to four, 9-5, at 6:33, but Todd Dusosky joined Kopp and teammate Greg Howes with hat tricks, notching the game's final score, 10-5, on the power play at 12:09, courtesy of a two-minute pushing penalty on Boney.
Major Indoor Soccer League 2 Stories from January 23, 2006
- Steamers Push for First - St. Louis Steamers
- Blast Improves to 8-4 after Sweeping Home-and-Home Series with the Storm - Baltimore Blast
- KiXX battles the Chicago Storm in a home-and-home series commencing Saturday, January 28 - Philadelphia KiXX
- Sagu named MISL Goalkeeper of the Week - Baltimore Blast
- Wave's Howes named MISL Offensive Player of the Week - Milwaukee Wave
- Steamers Battle Baltimore Tuesday At Savvis - St. Louis Steamers
- Drew Kopp Named MISL Defensive Player of the Week - Philadelphia KiXX
- MISL names Players of the Week - MISL 2
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