Milwaukee, Richmond Meet in A-League Final

Published on September 25, 2002 under A-League (A-League) News Release

TAMPA, FL -- It has been five years since the A-League Championship has featured two new teams, but the 2002 finalists are familiar to league championship matches. The Milwaukee Rampage are five years removed from their 1997 A-League Championship, a 2-1 shootout victory over the Carolina Dynamo, and the Richmond Kickers are longing to return to glory since winning the Premier Development League title in 1995.

In addition to their league title, the Kickers also won the U.S. Open Cup in 1995, bringing two titles to the Milwaukee Rampage Sports Complex Saturday night.

Both teams have numerous ties both on the field and off.

In three previous meetings over the last two years, each has finished in a tie with the lone difference being a series overtime winner in the A-League Quarterfinals last year. The pair played to a 2-2 tie in Milwaukee in leg one and a 1-1 tie in Richmond in the second leg, sending the series to overtime. Three minutes into the extra frame, Alen Soso scored the series winner to send the Rampage on to face eventual champion Rochester in the semifinals. In a rematch this season, the two played to another draw, 1-1, June 16 in Milwaukee. Richmond's Josh Henderson scored in all three games. He scored the opening goal in the first leg of last year's series and a 90th minute equalizer on a penalty kick in the second leg. In this season's tilt, Henderson opened the scoring in the 31st minute with Milwaukee's Matt Bobo, who provided the heroics last week, scoring to level the game in the 71st.

Off the field, Richmond has two former Rampage players on its roster. An original Kicker in 1993, Khary Stockton moved on to play for Milwaukee in 1996 after leading the club to the PDL and U.S. Open Cup titles in 1995. He played for three other teams before returning to Milwaukee in 2001 and Richmond this season. After bouncing back and forth between the A-League and MLS in 1999 and 2000, David Hayes became a regular for the Rampage in 2001, seeing action in 24 games. During the offseason, Hayes moved on to Richmond.

Milwaukee midfielder Jeff Bilyk and Richmond goalkeeper Ronnie Pascale played club soccer together in New York.

In the 2001-02 offseason, 11 players from the two teams represented USL in international competition. Milwaukee's John Wolyniec, Steve Bernal, Bato Radoncic and Destin Makumbu were part of a USL side that toured Portugal in December and came away with a 2-1-2 record against some of the top Second Division B teams and the Portugal U20 National Team. In early February, two Milwaukee and five Richmond players suited up to represent their country in the USA-England National Game XI match. Leading the team was Richmond head coach Leigh Cowlishaw. Matt Bobo and Jason Russell represented the Rampage while Mike Burke, Kevin Knight, Paul Lekics, Rob Ukrop and Mike Ueltschey played on behalf of the Kickers. The team fell 2-1 to England, but did defeat Rushden & Diamonds in a warm-up match.

Competitively, the two sides will look a little different from their previous three meetings.

In this season's earlier matchup, both clubs fielded backup goalkeepers with the Chicago Fire's Henry Ring in goal for Milwaukee and Cincinnati's Michael Ueltschey minding the net for Richmond, who originally drafted the goalkeeper. In 2001's playoff series, Mike McGinty, who is now with DC United, was Richmond's starting goalkeeper. Regular starters Dan Popik and Ronnie Pascale are expected to play Saturday.

The 2000 A-League Most Valuable Player Digital Takawira, who tallied a goal and an assist in the first leg of last year's playoff series, will not be in action for Milwaukee due to a season-ending injury, a broken right ankle suffered August 30 against Minnesota.

The game is expected to be a low-scoring defensive affair with Milwaukee missing Takawira and midseason addition Ranko Golijanin, a forward who proved an immediate offensive impact before suffering a left MCL sprain against Cincinnati August 18.

Missing the two impact players up front, the normally attack-minded Rampage switched into a more defensive mode to close the season and for their playoff run. They scored seven goals, six in a blowout against Cincinnati, in their final four games without the duo. Through four playoff games, the Rampage have one win and three ties with four goals for and two against, winning both series 2-1 on aggregate.

Despite finishing eighth in goals for on the season with 44, Richmond has had trouble of late finding the back of the net. The club finished the year with three straight losses with only two goals. They were shutout 1-0 in their final two games at Charlotte and against Charleston at home, respectively. Through six postseason matches, Richmond is 2-1-3 with eight goals for and six against. After a first-leg 1-1 draw against Rochester in the Eastern Conference Final, the Kickers advanced via penalty kicks with Pascale converting the winner in the ninth round of the tiebreaker to win 9-8 after 120 minutes of scoreless soccer in Rochester.

Henderson, however, scored a goal in each series and is atop the 2002 A-League Playoff scoring table with seven points. Conversely, Milwaukee's leading scorer is defender Bobo, who scored two goals in their last outing on corner kicks to defeat the Vancouver Whitecaps. Bobo leveled the game and aggregate score in the 56th minute to send the series to overtime, where he scored his second header of the night 11 minutes into the extra frame.

Milwaukee's defense, which tied for third in the league with 29 goals allowed, could be in trouble Saturday with Jeremy Aldrich doubtful with a left hamstring injury suffered in the second leg against Vancouver. Aldrich was a key component of the back line along with Destin Makumbu, who was named the A-League Young Defensive Player of the Year.

A-League Stories from September 25, 2002

• Milwaukee, Richmond Meet in A-League Final - A-League

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