KiXX Weekly

Published on January 3, 2007 under Major Indoor Soccer League 2 (MISL 2)
Philadelphia KiXX News Release


Philadelphia, PA, January 3, 2007 - The Philadelphia KiXX will take on the Milwaukee Wave for the third time this season on January 6, the club's first game of 2007. Game-time at the Wachovia Spectrum is slated for 7:05 ET. The first 2,500 fans over the age of 16 will receive a Philadelphia KiXX license plate frame. The game will be available live via webcast at www.pennlive.com. The team will play four straight home games through January 27, after a 5-1 December that catapulted the KiXX to the top of the MISL Standings.

This Week's Itinerary:

Tuesday, January 2, Off

Wednesday, January 3, Practice, Tri States Sports, 10:00 am to 12:00 pm

Thursday, January 4, Practice, Tri-State Sports, 10:00 am to 12:00 pm

Friday, January 5, Practice, Tri-State Sports, 10:00 am to 12:00 pm

Saturday, January 6, Milwaukee Wave, 7:05 pm ET

Sunday, January 7, Off Day

*all times are Eastern and subject to change

Injury Report:

Player Injury Status

Steve Wacker Knee Out

Pat Morris Concussion Questionable

KiXX vs. Wave

2006-07 Series: 2-0 (home 1-0, away 1-0) Overall: 19-27 (home 15-8, away 4-20)

The KiXX most recently defeated the Wave to close out 2006 in Milwaukee, 13-12 ... the Wave have dropped their last two, including a December 16 match in Philadelphia, with the KiXX prevailing by a score of 14-8 ... Milwaukee has four of the top eight players on the MISL points leaderboard ... Greg Howes leads the charge with 35 points and 13 goals, both good for second in the league ... Todd Dusosky leads the league with two shorthanded goals and 30 points in just eight games ... Todd's brother Troy ranks seventh in the MISL, with 26 points, tied with teammate Giuliano Oliveiero ... Nick Vorberg minds the net for the Wave, sporting a 4-6 record and a 12.71 PAA ... Coach Keith Tozer will lead his team against Philadelphia with 559 career wins under his belt.

Month to Remember: The KiXX went 5-1 in the month of December and hold the top seed in the MISL Standings ... the last time the KiXX held sole possession of first place was February 20, 2005 when the club held a one-game lead over the Milwaukee Wave ... the team began the month at home with a 26-6 beating of California, where rookie standout Tony Donatelli led the way with a four goal performance ... in their only loss of the month, the KiXX dropped a 10-4 decision to Chicago, only to take the second game of the home-and-home series, 16-13 in Chicago ... player/coach Don D'Ambra scored four goals during the weekend, while John Nusum tacked on five points in the victory ... on December 16 against Milwaukee, D'Ambra scored two more goals, pacing the KiXX to a 14-8 victory ... Philadelphia defeated Chicago once more on December 29 in a 10-8 thriller, with Dino Delevski burying the game winner with 1:22 left in the fourth quarter ... D'Ambra scored two goals yet again while Peter Pappas stopped 20 of 24 shots ... the KiXX got a little help from defender Casey Barton, who filled in for goal while Pappas served a penalty for an intentional handball ... Barton stopped all four of the shots he faced ... in Philadelphia's come from behind New Year's Eve battle against Milwaukee, Delevski scored another late goal while forward Shawn Boney provided the game winner ... not to be outdone, D'Ambra tallied two more goals, the fifth straight game in which he accomplished the feat ... after his five wins in the month of December, Pappas now ranks first among all MISL netminders in several categories including wins (7), minutes (612), saves (118), and PAA (9.80) ... Pappas was also named the MISL's Goalkeeper of the Week for the seven-day period ending December 3.

Player of the Week: The Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) announced today that Don D'Ambra and Peter Pappas, the only remaining players with the Philadelphia KiXX since the club's inception in 1996, were named MISL's Players-of-the-Week for the seven-day period ending December 31 ... D'Ambra was named the League's Offensive Player-of-the-Week for the second time this season, while Pappas receives his second Goalkeeper-of-the-Week honor of 2006-07 ... D'Ambra, a Philadelphia native, paced the KiXX with a pair of two-goal games in the club's 2-0 weekend to extend his scoring streak to a team-best eight games ... the 13-year-veteran registered a pair of two-point goals in both the team's 10-8 win in Chicago on December 29 and the 13-12 victory in Milwaukee in a New Year's Eve battle on December 31 ... D'Ambra, who holds nearly every offensive record in club history including games played, goals, shots, and game-winners, was named to the League's All-Rookie Team, two All-MISL Teams and a pair of All-Star squads ... he has now received Player-of-the-Week honors six times and Player-of-the-Month honors once ... a native of Toronto, Ontario, Pappas anchored the KiXX defense in successfully defeating the formerly top-ranked Chicago Storm on December 29 and then the Milwaukee Wave on December 31 ... the Philadelphia University graduate stopped 16 of the 20 shots he faced for a 10-8 victory in Chicago, followed by a 12-for-18 performance resulting in a 13-12 win in Milwaukee ... with Pappas entrenched in goal, the KiXX currently yield an MISL-low 10.0 points per game against average, nearly three-full points lower than the next team's 12.7 average ... overall, Pappas has now received Player-of-the-Week honors 26 times, as well as nine Player-of-the-Month honors ... teammates Pat Morris (Defensive) and Edgar Bartolomeu (Offensive) also received weekly recognition this season ... Morris was named the League's Defensive Player-of-the-Week for the seven-day period ending November 12, while Bartolomeu received Offensive Player-of-the-Week honors for the seven-day period ending November 26.

Tapping Local Talent: On December 28, the KiXX announced that the club agreed to terms with midfielder Scott Wimsey. ... the 15-day/five-game contract commenced with the club's victory over the Chicago Storm on Friday, December 29 ... per team policy, terms of the agreement were not disclosed ... the Philadelphia native participated in the club's invitational combine that was held on October 14-15 and earned a position on the team's developmental roster ... Wimsey, a four-year member of the Arcadia University's soccer team, received Regional All-American honors for his play during his junior year and All-American accolades for his senior season ... Wimsey was also named to the All-Catholic squad for both his junior and senior seasons at Father Judge High School ... the club now has eight players with ties to the Philadelphia area, including Wimsey, Don D'Ambra (St. Joseph's University, Northeast Catholic High School), Peter Pappas (Philadelphia University), Steve Wacker (Temple University, Northeast Catholic High School), Pat Morris (Philadelphia University, Northeast Catholic High School), David Castellanos (Philadelphia Native), Tony Donatelli (Temple University), and Pat Hannigan (Temple University, Frankford High School).

Leading the Way: Player/coach Don D'Ambra has paced the KiXX on their way to the top of the MISL Standings ... during D'Ambra's current eight game point streak, Philadelphia is 7-1, while the St. Joe's grad has scored a pair of goals in five consecutive games ... D'Ambra leads the KiXX in points (33), goals (12), assists (8), and power-play goals (3) ... the 11-year veteran is third in the MISL in points and in goals, fourth in assists, and first in first-goals ... during the weekend of December 29-December 31, the KiXX defeated Chicago 10-8 and Milwaukee 13-12 ... n those two games, D'Ambra played in his 450th career game, recorded his 900th career point, and tallied his 400th career goal ... D'Ambra was named Player-of-the-Week for the seven day period ending December 10.

High Rankings: Philadelphia is tied atop the League in not only wins with seven, but the defensive unit, led by perennial All-Stars Pat Morris and keeper Peter Pappas, are holding opponents to 10.0 points per game, best in the MISL ... after winning the past five games on the road, the KiXX are the league's toughest visitors, posting a 5-1 road record overall ... the team has also jumped out to fast starts, sporting a 4-0 record when leading after one, while player/coach Don D'Ambra leads the League with three first-goals ... the team ranks first in first-quarter points for and first in first half points against ... Philadelphia's 77 goals against on the road are tops in the League ... on the season, the KiXX 10.0 PPA is more than two points better than the next closest teams, Milwaukee and Baltimore at 12.7 ... on the power-play, Philadelphia ranks fifth at 36.8% ... on the penalty kill, the KiXX hold a 65.4 kill percentage, good for second in the MISL.

Last Week's Outing: KiXX 13, Milwaukee 12 (12/31/06): The Philadelphia KiXX (7-3) closed out 2006 with a New Year's Eve win vs. the Milwaukee Wave (4-6) at U.S. Cellular Arena ... n the first quarter of action, Milwaukee jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on Todd Dusosky's ninth goal of the season ... Wave rookie Marcio Leite scored his fifth goal on the season to give the Wave a 4-0 lead ... the KiXX got on the board on a strike from player/coach Don D'Ambra, who extended his point streak to eight games ... D'Ambra played in his 450th career game in Chicago on December 29, where he also recorded the 900th point of his 11-year career ... D'Ambra's 11th goal of the season was number 399 of his career ... Genoni Martinez recorded the assist, his 11th point of the year to lead all Philadelphia defensemen in that category ... the KiXX killed off two penalties to end the quarter ... the MISL's best penalty killing unit survived a pushing call at 9:12 from rookie Jason Hotchkin, and a call for too many men on the field, served by John Barry Nusum at 2:57 ... midfielder Ptah Myers served Philadelphia's third penalty of the game for a team misconduct assessed against the coach at 9:24 of the second quarter ... the KiXX successfully killed of the penalty, while forward John Nusum netted his sixth goal of the year to even the score at 4-4 ... the goal was the Bermuda native's 50th of his three-year career ... Milwaukee's Joe Hammes scored two unanswered goals to put the Wave ahead 8-4 ... the goals were the fourth and fifth on the year for Hammes ... Milwaukee closed out the first half with a four-point lead over Philadelphia ... David Castellanos began the scoring in the third quarter on his third goal of the season, unassisted ... the two-pointer pulled the KiXX to within two points ... after three consecutive penalties by Milwaukee, D'Ambra made the Wave pay with his second goal of the night to tie the score at eight apiece ... the goal was the 400th of D'Ambra's illustrious career ... Todd Dusosky set his brother Troy up for his ninth goal of the year to put Milwaukee up 10-8 ... Dino Delevski then buried a three-pointer to put the KiXX on top 11-10 ... Delevski scored the game winner against Chicago on December 29 ... forward Shawn Boney tacked on two more points for the KiXX to extend their lead to 13-10 ... with the two-pointer, Boney surpassed 300 points in his ten-year career ... Marcio Leite scored his second goal of the game, a two-pointer, to pull the Wave to within one-point, 13-12, the KiXX penalty killing unit protected the lead after a Sandre Naumoski tripping call with 3:09 leftin the game ... the KiXX held on for their fourth straight win ... goalie Peter Pappas stopped 12 of the 18 shots he faced ... Philadelphia went 1 for 3 on the power play, while Milwaukee was 2 for 4.

Recently: KiXX 10, Chicago 8 (12/29/06): The Philadelphia KiXX (6-3) moved into first place in the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) standings with a 10-8 victory versus the Chicago Storm (6-4) at the Sears Centre ... Dino Delevski registered the game-winning goal, a restart score that provided the KiXX with their first lead of the evening, on an assist from Genoni Martinez at 1:22 of the fourth quarter ... Peter Pappas (6-3) earned the victory for Philadelphia, while Jim Larkin (5-4) took the loss for the Storm ... the hosting Storm quickly opened the scoring as rookie forward Stephen Armstrong connected on a power-play score on an assist from teammate Mariano Bollella at 2:01 of the first quarter of play ... Chicago received the one-man advantage courtesy of a two-minute tripping infraction assessed to KiXX defender Casey Barton a mere eight seconds into the action ... forward Mark Ughy extended the Storm's advantage to four, 4-0, on Bollella's second assist of the evening at 4:40 ... the hosts then rounded out the first-period scoring with a two-point strike, 6-0, from Matthew Stewart at 9:57 ... former Chicago midfielder Sandre Naumoski finally broke the KiXX offensive drought with a two-point tally, 6-2, on a dish from rookie standout Tony Donatelli at 2:34 of the second frame ... the score marked the first goal for the Skopje, Macedonia native in a KiXX uniform and of the season ... KiXX player/coach Don D'Ambra, in his 450th career game, cut the team's deficit to two with an unassisted notch less than a minute into the third quarter (14:19), but Chicago's Randy Soderman responded a mere 41 seconds later with a two-point score to regain the four-point lead, 8-4 ... forward John Barry Nusum again pulled the visitors within two, 8-6, connecting on a pass from teammate Dino Delevski at the 2:06 mark of the stanza ... D'Ambra knotted the score, 8-8, with his second strike of the evening at 10:21 of the final quarter of action ... Donatelli recorded the assist on the play, his second of the contest ... just over a minute remaining in the contest, two-time MISL Most Valuable Player Dino Delevski provided Philadelphia with their first-lead of the night, 10-8, on a feed from three-time Defender of the Year Genoni Martinez.

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Major Indoor Soccer League 2 Stories from January 3, 2007


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