Playoff-bound Ironmen fall to Baltimore
April 4, 2008 - Major Indoor Soccer League 2 (MISL 2)
New Jersey Ironmen News Release
NEWARK, N.J. (Friday, April 4 2008)- One day after ringing the Closing Bell at NASDAQ MarketSite in Times Square, the playoff-bound New Jersey Ironmen (14-16) closed out their inaugural season against the Baltimore Blast (19-10) by falling to their first round playoff opponents, 14-6. Ironmen Head Coach Omid Namazi leads his fourth different team to the MISL postseason when New Jersey heads to 1st Mariner Arena in Baltimore this Thursday. The two clubs return to Prudential Center next weekend. Baltimore opened the scoring in the first quarter when forward Giuliano Celenza scored a P.J. Wakefield ball at 3:31, giving the visiting Blast an early 2-0 lead. Former MISL MVP Adauto Neto extended the gap to 4-0 at 7:54 by netting a feed from midfielder Robbie Aristodemo. The New Jersey defense powered down to finish out the opening stanza with defender John Krause and midfielder Stefan Stokic both making goal-saving blocks.
Aristodemo picked up his second assist at 8:32 of the second period when he set up a two-point goal for forward Denison Cabral. Baltimore would take the 6-0 edge into the locker room at halftime.
The lone goal of the third frame came at 7:03. Blast defender Mike Lookingland set up a Lucio Gonzaga two-pointer to give the visiting team an 8-0 advantage heading into the final 15 minutes.
New Jersey got on the board at 5:03 of the final stanza when forward Freddy Moojen finished a Geison assist. After Michael Millwood made it 10-2 in favor of Baltimore, Ironmen forward Shaun David scored a Dizzy Antoniuk ball to bring his team within six points, 10-4. A final New Jersey goal would come off the foot of team captain Lazo Alavanja, but the Ironmen would eventually fall to the Blast, 14-6.
The loss gives New Jersey a 14-16 record to finish the regular season and sets up a first-round series between these two clubs. The first game of the quarterfinal match up will be this Thursday at 1st Mariner Arena in Baltimore. The second game will be in Newark next weekend; the specific day will be determined Sunday night. If the two teams are tied at a game each following that second contest, an immediate golden-goal will be played to determine who will advance to the semifinals which will be played the following weekend.
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Major Indoor Soccer League 2 Stories from April 4, 2008
- Playoff-bound Ironmen fall to Baltimore - New Jersey Ironmen
- Hewerton nets a hat-trick in seven point victory over Milwaukee - Detroit Ignition
- Storm To Face La Raza In Playoffs - Chicago Storm
- Wave drops rematch at Detroit, 18-11 - Milwaukee Wave
- Storm shoot for 4-0 mark vs. Sharks in regular-season finale - Chicago Storm
- KiXX Finish Regular Season In California, April 5 - Philadelphia KiXX
- Ironmen Headed To The Playoffs - New Jersey Ironmen
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