KiXX one game out of first place with just four remaining
Published on March 19, 2007 under Major Indoor Soccer League 2 (MISL 2)
Philadelphia KiXX News Release
Philadelphia, PA, March 19, 2007 - The Philadelphia KiXX (15-11) fell to the Chicago Storm (12-12) by a final score of 11-6 in front of 5,957 fans at the Wachovia Spectrum last Saturday night, March 17. The KiXX are currently tied in second place in the MISL standings with just four games remaining. The League currently has five teams within three games, all fighting to lock up four playoff spots. The defending champion Baltimore Blast come to Philadelphia this Saturday, March 24, with game time set for 5:05pm ET. The two clubs are tied for second place, one game behind the expansion Detroit Ignition. "Girl Scout Night" will be televised nationally on the Versus Network. The club will then travel to Milwaukee to take on the Wave on Sunday, March 25 at 2:00pm ET.
This Week's Itinerary:
Monday, March 19, Off Day
Tuesday, March 20, Training, Tri-State Sports, 10:00am to 12:00pm
Wednesday, March 21, Training, Tri-State Sports, 10:00am to 12:00pm
Thursday, March 22, Training, Tri-State Sports, 10:00am to 12:00pm
Friday, March 23, Training, Tri-State Sports, 10:00am to 12:00pm
Saturday, March 24, vs. Baltimore, 5:05pm ET
Sunday, March 25, at Milwaukee, 2:00pm ET
*all times are Eastern and subject to change
Injury Report: Injury Status
John Barry Nusum Hamstring Questionable
KiXX vs. Baltimore
2006-07 Series: 1-3 (home 1-1, away 0-2) Overall: 39-33 (home 23-13, away 16-20)
This Saturday's meeting will be the fifth time that the Blast and KiXX face off this season with Baltimore taking three of the four previous matches ... Baltimore dropped two straight over the weekend after winning eight in a row ... the Blast fell out of first place when they lost to Detroit on Friday, March 16 and dropped into a second place tie at one game back with a loss to Milwaukee on March 18 ... the Blast find themselves 1.0 game back with just four games remaining ... Blast forward Machel Millwood has become an offensive force with 27 goals and nine assists, ranking him sixth in the MISL with 63 points ... Millwood's play has been enough to carry Baltimore on their recent eight game winning streak, after last year's MISL MVP, Adauto Neto, went down for the season with a recurring knee injury ... Denison Cabral has added 21 goals and 14 assists ... in net, Sagu sports a 12-7 record and a League best 9.76 PAA ... the defending champions are led by former Blast stand-out Danny Kelly, who retired from professional play at the end of the 2005-06 season to coach the team full time ... Kelly played 14 seasons in the MISL, collecting three MISL Titles.
Game Two: The KiXX will travel to Milwaukee to take on the Wave at U.S. Cellular Arena on Sunday, March 25 ... game time is set for 2:00pm ET ... Milwaukee is currently three games out of first place with four games remaining ... the Wave recently defeated the Blast by a score of 10-4 on March 18, their second straight victory ... Milwaukee travels to Chicago to take on the Storm on Saturday, March 24 at 2:00pm ET, before returning home to host the KiXX on Sunday ... the Wave are led by two of the MISL's top three scorers in Greg Howes (26 goals, 83 points) and Todd Dusosky (23 goals and 72 points) ... in net, Nick Vorberg leads the League in saves with 309 ... Vorberg has a 13-11 record and an 11.58 PAA, while splitting time as of late with recently signed 2005-06 Keeper-of-the-Year Brett Phillips ... Coach Keith Tozer will lead his team against Philadelphia with 568 career wins under his belt.
Back-to-Back Contests: This weekend's back-to-back set marks the sixth of seven occasions in which the team will compete in two games in the same number of days ... the club begins the series with a March 24 contest against the Baltimore Blast at the Wachovia Spectrum, before a March 25 match in Milwaukee vs. the Wave ... thus far, the club is 4-6 when competing in back-to-back games ... here is the club's schedule of back-to-back games this season and their results in each:
Date Opponent W/L* Date Opponent W/L*
12/9 vs. Chicago L, 4-10 12/10 vs. Chicago W, 16-13
1/27 vs. Chicago L, 2-6 1/28 at Detroit W, 9-8
2/2 at Baltimore L, 19-12 2/3 vs. Baltimore L, 16-8
2/24 vs. Milwaukee W, 24-14 2/25 at Detroit L, 22-12
3/10 at Chicago W, 18-11 3/11 at Milwaukee L, 11-7
2/24 vs. Baltimore 5:05 pm 2/25 at Milwaukee 2:00 pm
3/30 at Baltimore 7:35 pm 3/31 vs. Detroit 7:05 pm
*all times are Eastern and subject to change
Martinez Living Up to the Hype: KiXX All-Star defender Genoni Martinez has been proving why he has been named Defender-of-the-Year three-times in the MISL, after Philadelphia selected him with the club's first round pick in the 2006 St. Louis Steamers Dispersal Draft ... Martinez is currently riding an 11-game point streak, while leading the MISL in three-point goals with six ... in just 23 games this season, Martinez has shot up the MISL leaderboard in points with 64, ranking him fifth ... the Mexico City native leads the KiXX with 20 assists, while contributing 26 blocks and four power-play goals ... this season alone, Martinez has recorded the 250th goal of his career, the 650th point, the 100th career two-point goal, and the 200th assist of his career ... Martinez was named Player-of-the-Week in the MISL for his efforts during the seven-day period ending January 14 and Philadelphia's Player-of-the-Month for his 25 points in five games during February.
This Weekend's Outing: CHI 11, PHI 6 (3/17/07): The Philadelphia KiXX (15-11) fell to the Chicago Storm (13-12) by a final score of 11-6 in front of 5,957 fans at the Wachovia Spectrum ... KiXX midfielder Edgar Bartolomeu began scoring on his seventh of the season from Shawn Boney ... less than a minute later, three-time Defender-of-the-Year Genoni Martinez extended his point streak to 11 games with a two-pointer from player/coach Don D'Ambra ... rookie Stephen Armstrong cut the KiXX lead in half, 4-2, with his Storm leading 21st goal of the season ... Chicago kept scored four unanswered in the second quarter with goals from Mark Ughy and Fabinho ... the Storm took a 6-4 lead into halftime ... at 12:22 of the third quarter, Will Kletzein committed a holding foul for a two-minute penalty, putting Philly on the power play ... Martinez wasted no time capitalizing by tying the game with his second of the night, a power-play, restart goal ... Armstrong's second of the night would put the Storm back up two at 5:31 of the third ... Philadelphia's fourth quarter comeback attempt fell short with Pat Morris playing 6th attacker for the final three minutes of the game ... Armstrong completed the hat trick with an empty netter ... shots ended Chicago 26, Philadelphia 14 ... Philadelphia's John Barry Nusum did not dress for the ninth time this season with a sore hamstring ... Chicago's Gaston Pernia was suspended for the match after receiving a red card in the Storm's last game ... Pernia ranks second in the MISL with 42 blocks.
Recently: PHI 7, MIL 11 (3/11/07): The Philadelphia KiXX (15-10) were defeated by the Milwaukee (12-13) 11-7 at the U.S. Cellular Arena to fall one-half game behind the first-place Detroit Ignition and into a tie for second place with the defending champion Baltimore Blast in the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) standings ... Detroit will take the field in Chicago to battle the Storm, while the Blast will-square off with the California Cougars at the Stockton Arena later this evening ... with the loss, Philadelphia posted a 1-1 record in the back-to-back weekend and are now 4-6 in such contests this season ... former Philadelphia midfielder Goran Vasic provided the hosting Wave an early 3-0 advantage, connecting on a pass from teammate Tyrone Gordon a mere 42 seconds into the opening period of play ... Cape May, NJ native Anthony Maher extended the Milwaukee lead, 5-0, finding the top right corner of the goal off a feed from Marcelo Fontana at 4:51 ... Fontana wasted little time in the second, depositing a pass from Maher into the back of the net to increase the Wave's advantage to seven, 7-0, just 22 seconds into the second frame ... with less than a minute remaining in the period (14:01), Fontana registered an unassisted score to further lengthen the Milwaukee lead, 9-0 ... three-time MISL Defender of the Year Genoni Martinez finally put Philadelphia on the board, connecting on an unassisted two-point goal just 19 seconds before the half, 9-2; the tally extended Martinez's point streak to a season-best 10 games ... Philadelphia native and Temple University product Steve Wacker notched his second score of the weekend to pull the KiXX within five, 9-4, at 10:18 of the third stanza ... forward Greg Howes registered a restart goal on an assist from Vasic to stretch Milwaukee's lead back to seven, 11-4, at 13:33 ... KiXX player/coach Don D'Ambra blasted home a three-point goal from just inside the yellow line, 11-7, on a feed from Northeast Catholic graduate Pat Morris at 11:21 of the fourth quarter.
Major Indoor Soccer League 2 Stories from March 19, 2007
- KiXX one game out of first place with just four remaining - Philadelphia KiXX
- Ignition weekly - Detroit Ignition
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