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MISL Announces Western All-Stars

February 5, 2003 - Major Indoor Soccer League 2 (MISL 2) News Release


(Westport, Conn., February 5, 2003) – Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) Steve Ryan has announced the selections for the League's Western Conference All-Star Team. The 2003 MISL All-Star Game will be played on Sunday, March 9, at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Kickoff is slated for 1:30 p.m. Central Time.

The Western Conference team in comprised of players from the Dallas Sidekicks, Kansas City Comets, Milwaukee Wave, and San Diego Sockers. The Eastern Conference squad, announced on Tuesday, is made up of players from the Baltimore Blast, Cleveland Force, Harrisburg Heat, and Philadelphia KiXX.

The West will boast a formidable front line, as the top three scorers in the MISL will start for the Conference. Kansas City's Dino Delevski, the 2001-02 MISL MVP and current scoring leader with 116 points, will be joined by San Diego's Carlos "Chile" Farias (second with 93 points) and Milwaukee's Joe Reiniger (third with 76 points).

The trio will play in front of a defensive backfield featuring Milwaukee's Troy Dusosky (making his second All-Star appearance) and Kansas City's Alex Zotinca, who will make his debut in the midseason classic.

Between the pipes, the West can rest safely in the knowledge that the most decorated goalkeeper in indoor soccer history, Victor Nogueira, will start. The 43-year-old netminder, who has won or shared the League's Goalkeeper of the Year Award seven consecutive times, will make his eighth All-Star appearance. Nogueira currently leads the MISL with a stunning 7.47 points against average and a .772 save percentage. San Diego's Nick Vorberg, third in the League with a 10.73 PAA, will make his first All-Star trip, joining Nogueira in goal.

Milwaukee's Greg Howes (72 points) and Kansas City's Nino DaSilva (69), fourth and fifth in the League in scoring, respectively, were also selected to the West team. Both will make their first All-Star appearances. DaSilva, 23, was named the League's 2000-01 Rookie of the Year, with Howes, 25, finishing second in the voting for that award. Wave midfielder Todd Dusosky, who leads the League with 31 assists and ranks ninth with 58 points, will make his All-Star debut. Todd and Troy will become the fourth brother duo in the MISL's All-Star registry, joining James and Jason Dunn, Dale and Glenn Ervine, and Randy and Rudy Pikuzinski.

San Diego defenders Alejandro Cardenas and Gaston Pernia will both make their first All-Star appearances. This season, Cardenas, 34, has blocked 24 shots and scored 41 points, the second-most of any MISL defender. Pernia, 29, has blocked the second-most shots (60) in the League this season.

Cardenas and Pernia will be joined in the back by another duo playing in their first All-Star Game, Milwaukee's Lovelace Ackah and Kansas City's Jeff Davis. Ackah, 26, is enjoying the best all-around season of his four-year career, with 13 points and 23 blocks entering the week. The native of Kumasi, Ghana, was an All-Rookie selection in 1999-2000. Davis, a 32-year-old veteran, has scored 11 points and blocked 48 shots (fourth in the League) in only 16 games for the Comets.

Rounding out the forward corps will be Dallas' distinguished duo of Tatu and David Doyle. Tatu, the second-leading scorer (1,575 points, combining total goals and assists) in the history of North American indoor soccer, will make his second All-Star appearance in this League. The Brazilian, who turned 41 on February 1, has been named to 15 all-league teams, has won six Most Valuable Player awards, and led his League in scoring 11 times. Following the 1998 WISL campaign, Tatu became the only known person in indoor soccer history to win a Coach of the Year and Most Valuable Player award in the same season. Entering the week, Tatu is tied for 10th in the League with 54 points, and is tied for third with 24 assists.

Doyle, who has played in two previous League All-Star Games, has scored 61 points this season, tied for seventh overall. The native of Dublin, Ireland, began his prolific career by winning the Rookie of the Year Award in 1987-88 in the original MISL and has since scored an overall total of 603 goals in four different leagues.

The coaches for the Eastern and Western Conference All-Star Teams will be announced on Tuesday, February 18, and will be determined by the won-lost percentage of teams through play on Sunday, February 16. Keith Tozer of the Milwaukee Wave (20-5) currently leads that race.

As the League's showcase event, the 2003 MISL All-Star Weekend will feature three days of professional indoor soccer celebration, including an All-Star Press Conference and Luncheon, a Commissioner's Dinner for "Keith's Kids" (a charitable organization headed by Milwaukee coach Keith Tozer), a Youth Skills Competition, and an All-Star Skills Competition.

For more information on the 2003 MISL All-Star Weekend, call 203-222-4900, or log onto the League's official website, www.misl.net.



Major Indoor Soccer League 2 Stories from February 5, 2003


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