KiXX Entertain the Baltimore Blast
Published on February 6, 2006 under Major Indoor Soccer League 2 (MISL 2)
Philadelphia KiXX News Release
KiXX RECORD:
Overall: 4-10
Home: 3-5
Road: 1-5
PREVIOUS RESULTS:
2/4 vs. California Cougars - L, 3-4 OT
THIS WEEK'S GAMES:
2/8 vs. Baltimore Blast - 10:35 am ET
2/12 @ Chicago Storm - 5:00 pm ET
MISL STANDINGS (through games of 2/5)
TEAM W L PCT GB STREAK
Milwaukee Wave 13 4 .765 --- Lost 1
St. Louis Steamers 13 4 .765 --- Won 2
Baltimore Blast 11 6 .647 2.0 Won 2
Chicago Storm 7 10 .412 6.0 Lost 1
Philadelphia KiXX 4 10 .286 7.5 Lost 5
California Cougars 2 16 .111 11.5 Won 1
Philadelphia, PA, February 6, 2006 - The Philadelphia KiXX (4-10) look to snap a five-game losing streak versus the Baltimore Blast (11-6) in the club's 11th Annual School Day Game on Wednesday, February 8. The matinee, designed as an educational field trip to all the area schools, is slated for a 10:35 am ET kick-off at the Wachovia Spectrum and will webcast live on www.PennLive.com. Veteran indoor soccer broadcaster John Wilsbach will provide the call.
This Week's Itinerary:
Monday, February 6, Practice, Tri-State Sports, 10:00 am to 12:00 pm
Tuesday, February 7, Practice, Wachovia Spectrum, 10:00 am to 12:00 pm
Wednesday, February 8, KiXX vs. Baltimore Blast, Wachovia Spectrum, 10:35 am
Thursday, February 9, Practice, Off Day
Friday, February 10, Practice, Tri-State Sports, 10:00 am to 12:00 pm
Saturday, February 11, 2006 MISL All-Star Game, U.S. Cellular Arena, 7:05 pm
Sunday, February 12, KiXX @ Chicago Storm, UIC Pavilion, 5:00 pm
*all times are Eastern and subject to change
Injury Report:
Player Injury Status
Vlakto Andonovski Calf Out
Don D'Ambra Hamstring Out
Pat Morris Foot Questionable
Kevin Sloan Hamstring Out
KiXX vs. Blast
2005-06 Series: 0-1 (home 0-0, away 0-1) Overall: 36-27 (home 20-11, away 16-16)
The Blast earned a 8-2 victory in the first match-up between the Interstate-95 rivals on December 30 ... Giuliano Celenza and Adauto Neto each posted a ha trick for Baltimore, while John Barry Nusum and Andy Guastaferro notched the only goals for the KiXX ... the Blast entered the season with a revamped roster, courtesy of the additions of forwards Adauto Neto and Robbie Aristodemo ... both players were acquired in the 2005 Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) Dispersal Draft of the Cleveland Force and the Kansas City Comets ... Neto and Celenza have become a potent one-two punch for Baltimore ... Neto ranks second in the League with 36 points, while Celenza is first in goals (27) and fourth in points (32) ... veteran Sagu is ranked third among MISL goalkeepers in points against average (4.83) and enters the contest with a 9-3 record ... the two clubs squared-off in a preseason exhibition at Tri-State Sports, the KiXX practice facility on October 27 ... the five-quarter scrimmage ended in a nine-nine tie ... Philadelphia and the Blast, one of the League's oldest rivals, will meet a total of six times in 2005-06.
KiXX vs. Storm
2005-06 Series: 1-2 (home 1-1, away 0-1) Overall: 3-4 (home 2-2, away 1-2)
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 ... the Storm bounced back to equally edge past the hosting KiXX, 4-3, in the opening game of a home-and-home series on January 28 ... Boney paced Philadelphia with two points (goal, assist), Awadalla Morad led the Storm with a pair of goals ... despite a season-high three-point performance (two goals, assist) from midfielder Andy Guastaferro, the KiXX dropped the second game of the home-and-home series, 8-6, in the Windy City on January 29 ... Marojevic paced Chicago, who rallied for a 4-0 deficit, with three points on a pair of goals and two assists ... 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 ... in other team news, the Storm also acquired Cape May, NJ native Anthony Maher via trade with the California Cougars on December 27 ... to complete the transaction, Chicago sent former Force captain John Ball to the Cougars ... led by Head Coach Frank Klopas, the Storm enter the contest with a 7-10 overall record and holding a one and one-half lead over Philadelphia for the fourth spot in the MISL standings ... the two clubs will square-off a total of six times this season.
School Days are Here Again: The Philadelphia KiXX host their 11th Annual School Day Game on Wednesday, February 8 ... entering the matinee, which is designed as an educational field-trip for the area schools, the club posts an impressive 8-2 record when playing at the Wachovia Spectrum and a 11-6 mark when playing in a school-day game on the road ... the club dropped last season's affair, 6-2, to the League Champion Milwaukee Wave on February 16, 2005 ... in addition to an impressive home record, the team also enjoys a high attendance rate, averaging nearly 10,000 fans per game ... in comparison, the KiXX are averaging just under 6,000 per game this season, ranking behind only the Baltimore Blast in that category.
Franchise Marks: The club currently posts a 4-10 record in the 2005-06 season, marking just the second time in franchise history the club has been six or more games under .500 ... Philadelphia was a franchise worst seven games (16-23) under the break-even point during their inaugural campaign of 1996-97 ... the club has not posted a losing season since that first year and has qualified for a playoff spot in each of their nine years of existence ... the current five-game losing skid is also the second-worst mark in franchise history ... the team lost six consecutive outings form January 26, 2001 to February 17, 2001, but still managed to finish the 2000-01 season with a 22-18 record.
MISL All-Star Game: 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 ... for the second-time in League history, the starting lineups, which were determined by the fans via an online vote on the League's official website, www.MISL.net, 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.
Injury Bug: Philadelphia continues to battle injuries up and down their roster this season ... newcomer and all-star defender Vlatko Andonovski appeared in only two games with the team before being forced out of commission with a calf injury ... the Skopje, Macedonia native has missed the club's last six outings and is expected to remain sidelined for up to three more weeks ... also in the backline, Philadelphia native Pat Morris returned to play on January 28 after missing the last three outings with a foot injury ... he did not travel with the team for the match-up in Chicago on January 29, but played a significant number of minutes versus California (2/4) ... he still remains listed questionable ... player/coach Don D'Ambra, who has battled a hamstring injury since early December, sat out of nearly the entire second half versus Chicago on January 28 and did not play at UIC Pavilion on January 29 ... the St. Joseph's graduate played sparingly in the third quarter versus California (2/4) before delegating himself to the bench ... he has now missed four full games and parts of three others due to the injury and is expected to shelf himself completely for two weeks.
Trouble on Special Teams: Philadelphia's penalty-killing unit is struggling this season, stopping only 10-of-the-19 man-down situations they have faced ... the 52.6 percent kill rate ranks the unit last in the six-team League ... vice versa, the club's power-play unit failed to capitalize on either of their two man-advantage opportunities versus Chicago on January 28 to sit at tied for fourth in the MISL with a 33.3 success rate (five-of-15) ... 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).
Last Week's Outing(s):
Cougars 4, KiXX 3 OT (2/4): Former KiXX midfielder Gary Brooks sought his revenge and found the back of the net at 1:18 of overtime to give the visiting California Cougars their second victory of the season, 4-3, on February 4. Goran Vasic drilled a bomb from the yellow line to open the scoring, at 13:09 of the first period, giving the hometown KiXX a 1-0 edge. At 7:14 of the second quarter, midfielder Gary DePalma gave the KiXX a 2-0 advantage by shredding the top left corner of the net following a delivery from Shawn Boney. Bernie Lilavois cut California's deficit to one, 2-1, connecting on a pass from forward John Ball at 11:42 of the frame. Ricardinho closed out the half with a tally from Brian Farber (13:48) to knot the game at 2-2. Lilavois found Craig Scheer open on the right wing to give the visiting Cougars their first advantage of the contest, 3-2, at 2:03 of the third stanza. The KiXX evened the count at 3-3 when Drew Kopp blasted a DePalma pass beyond the arms of Larkin at 7:02. Neither team managed a score in the fourth quarter, forcing the action into the extra stanza, the second between the two clubs this season and third overall for Philadelphia. The KiXX edged past California, 7-6, in the extra frame on November 12, 2005. Former KiXX midfielder Gary Brooks found the lower-right corner of the net at 1:18 of overtime to give California their second victory of the season, 4-3.
Major Indoor Soccer League 2 Stories from February 6, 2006
- Shut Out Performance Brings Phillips MISL Honor - St. Louis Steamers
- Steamers Weekly Recap - St. Louis Steamers
- KiXX Entertain the Baltimore Blast - Philadelphia KiXX
- Cougars and News10 Free Friday - California Cougars
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