Restart Opportunity

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Restart Opportunity

by Steve De Rose
November 4, 2003 - Major Indoor Soccer League 2 (MISL 2)


In the late 1990's, two of the most significant operations in the National Professional Soccer League were that of the Milwaukee Wave and the Cleveland Crunch. The two teams could always be depended upon to present solid, intriguing, and typically successful, indoor soccer.

The peak of the rivalry was the 2000 Finals, when the Wave won game four in Cleveland, and then took their second championship at home in game five, 19-6.

Things have changed since then. The George S. Hoffman era of Cleveland indoor soccer ownership halted, with the return of Richard Dietrich and Paul Garofolo as the most well-known front office personnel.

For the Wave, a similar ownership transfer occurred, with Michael Bazelon and Ron Creten yielding to Timothy M. Krause.

The on-the-field teams have changed as well, as one would expect. For the Wave, Victor Nogueira has moved back to San Diego. Steve Morris has retired, and had his number retired, and become the Wave assistant coach. David Moxom, Chris Jahr, and Mike Richardson are no longer playing.

On Cleveland's part, they reverted to the Force name. While this may be the final season for Hector Marinaro and Zoran Karic, they are not the only scoring threats for the side.

This year's models of the Wave and the Force include new(er) players such as

Wave

  • Matt Stewart
  • Chris Morman
  • Giuliano Oliviero
  • Angel Rivillo
  • Nick Vorberg

Force

  • Josh Timbers
  • Nick Corneli
  • Braeden Cloutier
  • Adauto Neto
  • Ato Leone

The game between the two teams at the Wisconsin Center Arena on Friday, October 31 was, despite its eventual three-goal tilt to the Wave, very keenly contended. The Force only had the lead for a total of 4'34" after scoring the game's first goal, and taking a 4-5 edge at 13:01 of the third quarter.

There were segments of the match where the Force were clearly marauding, but were unable to get their shot into the net. The Force players' foot skills were impressive. They were attempting, and completing, one-touch volley passes from just outside their own yellow line.

The two teams were to meet the next night in Cleveland, so it may have been that at times, one or both of them was coasting. Last week, I chided the Dallas Sidekicks for only dressing one goalkeeper for their match at Baltimore. This evening, Milwaukee did not dress its backup goalkeeper Dan Green, probably because he was going to start the next night at the Cleveland State Univ. Convocation Center. The Force did not bring Zoran Karic.

The Wave were without defender Lovelace Ackah, who was serving a red-card suspension, and in the second quarter, lost Chris Morman to what appeared to be an ankle injury. He did not return. The injury resulted in more field time for Carl Schmitt and Joe Hammes, who played competently.

Several of the game's goals were rippers, which would have earned their teams three points last season. What ultimately allowed the Wave to win (8-5) were defensive lapses when Force GK Otto Orf II had either made the initial save, or needed to challenge an unchecked Wave attacker. The ball would wind up on the foot of another Wave player, who goaled. After which, we would glimpse a discontented Otto flailing his arms.

For the Force, Adauto Neto ran away from his marks, with the ball, on at least two occasions, with one goal for which to show.

For Halloween, the Wave were garbed in black jerseys. To be truthful, they looked ugly. Fortunately, they were auctioned off after the game for charity. The Force's yellow kits are keen; but their numbering style is such that from a distance; you cannot easily discern the difference between a '3', '6', '8', '9', and '0'. This could cause difficulties, and corrections to the key statistics long after a match.

Milwaukee's game-winning-goal was scored during a contentious man-advantage for them. Immediately after one shot by the Wave's Todd Dusosky beat Otto, but hit the right goal post, the Force's Nevio Pizzolitto was sent to the box for tripping outside the Force yellow line. My interpretation was that he attempted a slide kick for a bounding 50/50 ball, but wound up kicking a Wave player mostly from behind.

The Force was upset. This illustrates the other side of the single-point goal scoring scheme. If an official decides to open up the candy store (i.e.: call a time penalty) for a team desperately needing a sugar rush (i.e.: The next goal), any ensuing score will be at full value. Here is your cliché. Cut and save it for later. If spoken by a coach, it will lead to a League fine. If uttered by an on-air team broadcaster, it will draw a written warning: "It is tough to win when you are playing five versus seven."

The man-advantage goal was scored by Greg Howes at 11:47. From near the edge of the penalty box, the Force's Justin Evans blocked one shot. The carom was struck by Troy Dusosky, and Otto managed to make the save. But there was not much more that could have been done when the ball squirted over to G. Howes near the left post. The Wave got a scrambling goal from Todd Dusosky at 12:29 to make it 7-5. This, combined with a five-minute misconduct penalty on Hector (I suspect this was still related to the tripping penalty given to Pizzolitto.), signalled the end of the competitive portion of the game. But since the Wave's Joe Reiniger had yet to score anything so far this season, he was set up for a garbage goal versus Force sixth attacker John Ball to make our final scoreline.

* * *

So what were my overall impressions of the teams? Honestly, both teams look okay. The Force need a little more consistency on defense. Mental lapses in just a few minutes of the game were ultimately lethal. The first three Wave goals were scored in a 146 second span, and the game-winner and its cincher were only 42 seconds apart. Finally, recall that the Force are in a division with the Baltimore Blast and the Philadelphia KiXX. They have no easy games therein. They need to win, especially outside the division, to make the postseason.

For the Wave, I think they're still adjusting. Not just to the Wisconsin Center Arena, but to life without Victor behind them. The team has shown the ability in the past to win with Dan Green in the net, though almost always on the road. Still, Nick Vorberg is the number one guy now. They expect him to appear in 27 to 30 games this season. In December and January, the Wave have only four home games of twelve on the schedule. That's when they'll expect to cohere. But I can't envision this side missing the playoffs. That could be interpreted as the clarion of indoor soccer apocalypse.

The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central.



Major Indoor Soccer League 2 Stories from November 4, 2003


The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer(s), and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.


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