Philadelphia splits back-to-back set; clinches fourth seed in MISL Playoffs
March 22, 2004 - Major Indoor Soccer League 2 (MISL 2)
Philadelphia KiXX News Release
Philadelphia, PA, March 22, 2004 â The Philadelphia KiXX prepare for their ninth set of back-to-back games this season, both of which will be held at the Wachovia Spectrum. The series kicks-off with a visit from the defending Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) Champion Baltimore Blast on Saturday, March 27. The night, dubbed "Girl Scout Night," offers special discounts and promotions to area Girl Scout troops. Game-time is slated for 7:05 pm ET, with doors opening at 6:00 pm ET.
The club then entertains the Dallas Sidekicks to conclude the back-to-back set on Sunday, March 28. KiXX mascot SocceRoo will team-up with local mascots to provide an entertaining halftime show with a mascot soccer game for all fans in attendance. The game is scheduled for 1:05 pm ET start time and will be televised on CN8 at 2:00 pm ET.
This Week's Itinerary:
Monday, March 22, Off-Day
Tuesday, March 23, Practice, Tri-State Sports, 10:00 am to 12:00 pm
Wednesday, March 24, Practice, Tri-State Sports, 10:00 am to 12:00 pm
Thursday, March 25, Practice, Tri-State Sports, 10:00 am to 12:00 pm
Friday, March 26, Practice, Tri-State Sports, 10:00 am to 12:00 pm
Saturday, March 27, KiXX vs. Blast, Wachovia Spectrum, 7:05 pm
Sunday, March 28, KiXX vs. Sidekicks, Wachovia Spectrum, 1:05 pm
*all times are Eastern Standard and subject to change
Injury Report:
Player Injury Status
Shawn Boney Foot Out
Matt Brooks Abdominal Probable
Joel Shanker Hamstring Questionable
KiXX vs. Blast
2003-2004: 3-2 Home: 2-0 Away: 1-2
Overall: 31-22 (home 17-9, away 14-13)
Philadelphia avenged last season's 8-6 loss in the Eastern Conference Finals to the Blast with a 5-3 victory in Baltimore's home-opener on October 11, courtesy of three points from Goran Vasic and an impressive performance from goalkeeper Peter Pappas, who was named the MISL Goalkeeper of the Week for shutting down the high-powered Blast offense. The club's second meeting on November 1, the KiXX home-opener of the current campaign, witnessed captain Kevin Sloan exploding for four goals, as the team cruised past Baltimore 9-4. Sloan's four-goal performance tied his highest output as a member of the KiXX. The Blast rebounded to knock-off the team, 8-4, at the 1st Mariner Arena on December 26, but the KiXX quickly responded to defeat Baltimore, 9-3, in the clubs' meeting on February 7. Three-late goals from Blast forward David Bascome edged Baltimore past the KiXX in the team's most recent outing in Baltimore on March 5. Last season, the KiXX dominated the meetings early, knocking off the Blast in the first four match-ups ... Baltimore, however, proved to be a season-spoiler, defeating the KiXX in the final two meetings, including a 12-7 victory on February 26 that broke Philadelphia's 15-game home winning streak.
KiXX vs. Sidekicks:
2003-2004: 1-2 Home: 1-0 Away: 0-2
Overall: 5-3 (home 4-0, away, 1-3)
The KiXX endured their first defeat of the 2003-04 campaign with an 8-4 loss at the hands of the Dallas Sidekicks on October 22. Beau Brown led the way with a pair of goals, while Nick Stavrou added a goal and two assists for three points. Shawn Boney led Philadelphia with a pair of tallies for two points. The January 11 meeting was forced to overtime, where KiXX forward Nikola Vignjevic registered a shoot out goal past David Doyle just over the 13-minute mark of the extra stanza to give Philadelphia a 5-4 victory. Doyle, who replaced Sagu in net after the Sidekicks goalkeeper was called for a two-minute tripping penalty, finished the contest with a game-high three goals. Vignjevic's tally marked his first for both the season and as a member of the KiXX franchise. Sagu sought his revenge, posting a 1-0 shutout (the first of his career) in the team's most recent head-to-head match-up on January 25. Philadelphia and Dallas met for the first time last season with the KiXX taking the upper hand in four of the five contests; the Sidekicks earned the victory in the first meeting with a last-second goal from player/coach Tatu, but Philadelphia rebounded to knock-off the Sidekicks in the next four meetings, including two overtime victories. The January 25 contest is the third of four overall meetings between the two clubs this season.
KiXX by the Numbers: The Philadelphia KiXX offense has recorded 179 goals in 32 contests this season to post an average of 5.6 goals scored per game ... the average ranks the club fifth in the nine-team League, trailing the Milwaukee Wave, Kansas City Comets, Baltimore Blast and the Dallas Sidekicks ... the team's defense has allowed 164 goals for an average of 5.1 goals per contest ... the average sits the squad third in the MISL, trailing Dallas and Milwaukee ... the complete breakdown of the team's goals per game is listed below.
Goals per Game 1st 2nd 3rd 4th OT TOTAL
KiXX 39 51 38 50 1 179
Opponents 36 29 44 53 2 164
Failing With/Versus Man Advantage: The KiXX have suffered both with and defending the power play this season ... the team currently sits seventh in the MISL on the one-man advantage situations, connecting on the power-play 38.9 percent (14-of-36) of the time ... the club failed to connect on either of their two attempts versus St. Louis (3/20) and have failed to convert their last four opportunities ... Philadelphia's defense, however, has fallen victim to the power-play, turning away only 22-of-the-44 situations or 50.0 percent of the time they have defended the man advantage, ranking the club ninth in the nine-team League on the penalty-kill
Fourth Seed Clinched: With the team's 7-3 victory over the St. Louis Steamers on March 20 and the Kansas City Comets' 8-7 overtime loss to the Cleveland Force, the Philadelphia KiXX are guaranteed at least the top wild-card spot (fourth seed overall) in the 2004 MISL Playoffs ... the KiXX who trail the defending League Champion Baltimore Blast by three and one-half games for the top spot in the Eastern Division are still mathematically alive for the division title, but one loss or one Baltimore win, will secure the Eastern Division Crown for the Blast ... with the fourth seed, Philadelphia will host the fifth-place team in the one-game opening round.
Attendance Keeps Rising: The club's attendance is on the rise during the 2003-04 campaign ... through 15 home games this season, the KiXX have hosted an average 5,265 patrons each outing, including a season-high school day crowd of 10,153 fans versus the Cleveland Force on February 11 ... the average ranks the club fifth in the nine-team MISL this season ... last season, the club averaged 4,006 fans through the first 15 home games of the 2002-03 season ... the 1,259 fans per contest difference equals an increase of 31% this season.
Rookies Make Their Mark: Newcomers Byron Carmichael and David DiPlacido notched their first professional goal in the team's 7-3 victory over the St. Louis Steamers on March 20 ... DiPlacido registered his score on a pass from teammate Tony McPeak at 3:28 of the second period, while Carmichael, a native of Lumberton, NJ, connected on a dish from KiXX defender Pat Morris for a restart goal at 3:54 of the third quarter.
Back-to-Back: Philadelphia split their eighth set of back-to-back games, dropping an 8-3 decision to the Cleveland Force at the Convocation Center at CSU on March 19, then earning a 7-3 victory over the St. Louis Steamers at the Wachovia Spectrum on March 20 ... the KiXX, after splitting the two decisions in each of their first four series of back-to-back games, dropped both games in their fifth set with losses to the Monterrey Fury (1/24) and the Dallas Sidekicks (1/25), then swept their sixth set with back-to-back wins over the Baltimore Blast (2/7) and the Milwaukee Wave (2/8) and then fell victim to the sweep with consecutive 8-3 losses in St. Louis (2/21) and versus Milwaukee (2/22)
Next Iron Man: Philadelphia native Pat Morris has become a permanent fixture for the KiXX backline and is truly becoming the franchise's iron man ... the five-year veteran defender has appeared in 179 of the team's 196 total contests since he first stepped onto the floor as a rookie in the 1999-00 season ... Morris did not miss a single game in both the 2000-01 and the 2002-03 campaigns and is currently in the midst of a franchise-best 97 consecutive games played streak.
Last Time Out: KiXX 7, Steamers 3 (3/20): Philadelphia bolted out of the gates, registering the first five scores of the contest, before Steamers forward Jake Bleyenberg broke St. Louis' scoring drought on a pass from player/coach Daryl Doran with just 14 seconds (14:46) remaining in the first half. KiXX player/coach Don D'Ambra sparked the team's attack, collecting his own rebound and depositing a shot into the net at 3:36 of the first stanza, recording his seventh first goal of the season. A mere seven seconds later (3:43), midfielder Ze Roberto stripped the ball from goalkeeper Brett Phillips and recorded his second goal in as many nights, before KiXX midfielder Kevin Sloan closed out the first-period scoring with an unassisted notch at 9:11. Newcomer David DiPlacido extended the team's advantage to four, 4-0, with his first tally of the season and his professional indoor career at 3:28 of the second quarter. Sloan then added his second unassisted tally of the contest to provide the club with a five-point cushion, 5-0, at 11:27. Lumberton, NJ native Byron Carmichael headed in a Pat Morris rebound to record the first professional indoor goal of his career and extend the KiXX lead to 6-1 at 3:52 of the third. St. Louis's Fernando Errecalde then registered a power-play goal from Doran at 11:57 to cut into the deficit, 6-2, courtesy of a two-minute holding infraction on Philadelphia defender Jeremy Aldrich, but McPeak quickly answered back on a pass from Sloan at 1:17 of the fourth. Doran cut the gap to four, 7-3, as he connected with goalkeeper Nando Hernandez at 3:52, but the KiXX held on to earn the victory. Peter Pappas (16-9) earned the victory between the posts for Philadelphia (11 saves on 14 shots), while Hernandez (0-4) took the loss for the Steamers with 10 saves on 14 chances.
Force 8, KiXX 3 (3/19): Philadelphia's Tony McPeak opened the scoring on a feed from defender Jeremy Aldrich at 3:46 of the first quarter, but the Force responded with five unanswered goals to steal the momentum and the game. Braeden Cloutier started the scoring spree with a header at 4:#4 of the first, followed by notches from Adauto Neto (10:31), Zoran Karic (11:56), Lee Edgerton (7:56 of the second) and Hector Marinaro (6:47 of the third). Defender Mauricio Vincello finally snapped Cleveland's string of unanswered goals with a big left-footer, 40-feet out from McPeak at 7:54 of the third, before Ze Roberto cut the deficit to two, 5-3, with a strike from defender Pat Morris at 3:19 of the fourth. Karic and Marino sealed the Force victory, each connecting on their second tally of the night, followed by a score from defender Josh Timbers to secure a 8-3 win. The victory marks the first win for the Force against Eastern Division opponents this season and the first versus Philadelphia since the 2002-03 campaign when Cleveland knocked-off the KiXX, 11-8 on March 23, 2003. Lee Edgerton registered the game winner for the Force at 7:56 of the second period. Peter Pappas (15-9) took the loss in net for Philadelphia with eight saves, while Jim Larkin improved to 9-15 with 23 saves for the Force.
KiXX on the MISL Leaderboard (as of 3/22):
#10 Goran Vasic
3rd MISL with 32 assists
10th MISL with 44 points
#11 Don D'Ambra
1st MISL with seven first goals
Tied 2nd MISL with five game-winning goals
3rd MISL with 34 total goals
13th MISL with 42 points
#17 Pat Morris
4th MISL with 62 blocks
#22 Peter Pappas
1st MISL with a .765 save percentage
2nd MISL with 16 victories
3rd MISL with a 4.58 goals against average
4th MISL with 372 saves and 1494 minutes played
Future Games: After this weekend, the team concludes the 2003-04 regular season with a back-to-back set of games, kicking-off with a trip to the U.S. Cellular Arena to battle the Milwaukee Wave on Friday, April 2. The KiXX then return to the Wachovia Spectrum to host former player/coach Omid Namazi and the Cleveland Force on Saturday, April 3. Game-time for the KiXX-Force contest is scheduled for 7:05 pm ET. For more information or to purchase tickets for any remaining KiXX home contest, contact the club's Executive Office at 1-888-888-KiXX (5499) or log onto the team's official website, www.kixxonline.com.
KiXX RECORD:
Overall: 19-13
Home: 11-4
Road: 8-9
vs. Eastern Division Opponents: 7-3
vs. Central Division Opponents: 6-5
vs. Western Division Opponents: 6-5
LAST WEEK'S RESULTS:
3/19 @ Cleveland Force â L, 8-3
3/20 vs. St. Louis Steamers â W, 7-3
THIS WEEK'S GAMES:
3/27 vs. Baltimore Blast â 7:05 pm ET
3/28 vs. Dallas Sidekicks â 1:05 pm ET
• Discuss this story on the Major Indoor Soccer League 2 message board...
Major Indoor Soccer League 2 Stories from March 22, 2004
- Playoff-hungry Steamers prepare for season home-finale, March 27 - St. Louis Steamers
- Cleveland Grabs MISL Weekly Honor For Third Consecutive Week - Cleveland Force
- Philadelphia splits back-to-back set; clinches fourth seed in MISL Playoffs - Philadelphia KiXX
- MISL names players of the week - MISL 2
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