Sagu named MISL Goalkeeper of the Week
Published on January 23, 2006 under Major Indoor Soccer League 2 (MISL 2)
Baltimore Blast News Release
BLAST RECORD: RECENT RESULTS: NEXT GAMES: Overall: 8-4 1/21 vs. Chicago - W, 9-5 1/24 @ St. Louis - 8:35 p.m. ET Home: 5-2 1/22 @ Chicago - W, 5-4 1/28 vs. St. Louis - 7:35 p.m. ET Road: 3-2 STREAK: Won 2 1/29 @ Milwaukee - 2:05 p.m. ET
MISL STANDINGS (as of 1/23/06): GP W-L PCT GB Milwaukee Wave 14 11-3 .786 --- St. Louis Steamers 13 10-3 .769 .5 Baltimore Blast 12 8-4 .667 2.0 Philadelphia KiXX 11 4-7 .364 5.5 Chicago Storm 14 5-9 .357 6.0 California Cougars 14 1-13 .071 10.0
Blast Improves to 8-4 after Sweeping Home-and-Home Series with the Storm: The Blast defeated the Chicago Storm twice this weekend, starting Saturday night with a 9-5 win at 1st Mariner Arena and then again Sunday evening with a 5-4 win in Chicago. Sagu earned both wins this weekend and Giuliano Celenza led the offense with three goals. David Bascome, Adauto Neto and Robbie Aristodemo added two goals each over the weekend. Ibrahim Kante scored the game-winner on Sunday with just 36 seconds left in the game and rookie Sumed Ibrahim made his Blast debut in Chicago.
Sagu Named MISL Goalkeeper of the Week: Blast goalkeeper Sagu was in goal for both Baltimore wins this weekend over the Storm and was named MISL Goalkeeper of the Week after his performances. Sagu improved to 6-3 on the season and ranks second in the MISL with a .732 save percentage and a 4.61 goals against average. Sagu stopped 20 of 25 shots in Saturday night's 9-5 win over the Chicago Storm and 12 of the 16 shots he faced on Sunday in the 5-4 win over the Storm. After six seasons with the Dallas Sidekicks, Sagu joined the Blast prior to the 2004-05 season. This is Sagu's first MISL player of the week honor this season.
Blast Inducted Third Class into Hall of Fame: On January 21st the Blast inducted Joey Fink and Dave MacWilliams into the Baltimore Blast Hall of Fame. Fink and MacWilliams, teammates on the 1983-84 Baltimore Blast championship team and 1980-90 All-Decade Team, took part in the festivities during halftime of the Blast vs. Storm game. Fink currently works for Raymond James Brokerage Firm and lives in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. MacWilliams resides in Philadelphia and is the head coach of the Men's Soccer Team at Temple University.
Fink and MacWilliams joined Kenny Cooper, Stan Stamenkovic, Mike Stankovic, Tim Wittman, Bruce Savage and Earl Foreman (the original commissioner of the MISL) in the Baltimore Blast Hall of Fame.
Next Games: The Blast (8-4, third place in the MISL) will play the St. Louis Steamers (10-3, second place) tomorrow night at 8:35 p.m. at the Savvis Center. The teams have met twice already this season, with each team winning at home. The Blast will return to Baltimore to host the Steamers Saturday night at 1st Mariner Arena and then will travel to Milwaukee Sunday morning for a 2:05 p.m. match at U.S. Cellular Arena.
Cabral Out for Remainder of Season: In a repeat of last season, Blast forward Denison Cabral will miss the remainder of the season with a torn ACL in his left knee. Cabral, who ranked third on the Blast in points after eight games this season, went down in the fourth quarter of Baltimore's 8-2 win over the Philadelphia KiXX on December 30th. Cabral left last season's November 12 game (vs. the Wave) with a right knee injury and missed the rest of the season after undergoing surgery. He returned to the playing field for this year's season opener (11/11) after missing 364 days of game action. In his first game back this season, Cabral recorded one goal and one assist, helping the Blast to a 9-4 win over the California Cougars. In eight games this season, he recorded eight goals and three assists for 11 points and ranked seventh in the League at the time of his injury. Cabral is Baltimore's all-time leading scorer with 720 points and ranks 29th all-time in the MISL in points.
In other injury news, Jonathan Steele and Machel Millwood left the January 7th game against the Wave with ankle injuries. Steele will be out for approximately a month with an ankle sprain and Millwood could return to game action this week.
Injury Report: Player Status Injury Total Games Missed (Due to Injury) Denison Cabral Out for season Knee 4 Jonathan Steele Out Ankle 2 Machel Millwood Questionable Ankle 8
Baltimore All-Time Regular-Season Records: Season Regular-Season Record Postseason 1992-93 27-13 0-2 1993-94 26-14 0-2 1994-95 23-17 1-2 1995-96 25-15 3-3 1996-97 21-19 3-2 1997-98 12-28 DNQ 1998-99 19-21 DNQ 1999-00 26-18 2-2 2000-01 22-18 3-2 2001-02 18-26 0-1 2002-03 18-18 4-1 2003-04 25-11 1-0 2004-05 15-24 DNQ 2005-06 8-4
THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE: Tuesday, January 24 - Game @ St. Louis - 8:35 p.m. Wednesday, January 25 -Travel Day Thursday, January 26 - Practice - noon - location TBD Friday, January 27 - Practice - noon - location TBD Saturday, January 28 - Game vs. St. Louis - 7:35 p.m. Sunday, January 29 - Game @ Milwaukee - 2:05 p.m. *Practice times and location are subject to change; to confirm times and locations, call the Blast office at 410-558-4294
For Tickets: Blast season tickets and mini-plans are on sale now by calling the Blast office at 410-73-BLAST. Single-game tickets cost $20 and $17 and are available at the 1st Mariner Arena Box Office and by calling TicketMaster at 410-547-SEAT or online at www.ticketmaster.com. For additional information on all Blast tickets, call the Blast office at 410-73-BLAST.
-- Blast --
For additional Baltimore Blast public relations information, please contact Amy Keller, Director of Public Relations, at 410-558-4294 or akeller@baltimoreblast.com or visit the Blast website at www.baltimoreblast.com
MISL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK - Monday, January 23, 2006
GOALKEEPER OF THE WEEK Sagu, Baltimore Blast Sagu is a proven commodity as one of the better goalkeepers in the Major Indoor Soccer League, and in earning two victories for the Baltimore Blast this past weekend he once again played like one of the best. In stopping 20 of 25 shots in Saturday night's 9-5 win over the Chicago Storm at Baltimore' s 1st Mariner Arena, the Brazilian native stopped 80 percent of the shots he faced. Sunday afternoon, he held the Storm to four goals and improved to 6-3 on the season with Baltimore's 5-4 win at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago. He saved 12 of 16 shots in that game (75 percent), and improved his overall save percentage to .732, which now ranks second just behind Milwaukee Wave All-Star Nick Vorberg at .734. Sagu inched ahead of St. Louis' All-Star goalkeeper Brett Phillips with a 4.61 goals against average to rank second to Vorberg's 4.29. Baltimore (8-4) scores an MISL-best 6.9 goals per game and allows 4.9 goals, to rank third. In the 2004-05 season the now 32-year-old, eighth-year professional, who first spent six seasons in Dallas, ranked fifth in the MISL with a .697 save percentage and sixth with a 5.62 g.a.a. for Baltimore.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK Drew Kopp, Philadelphia KiXX Drew Kopp may be a sixth-year professional in the MISL and with the Philadelphia KiXX, but the Bridgeport, Conn., native and former University of Pittsburgh standout is having his most productive season to date as a defender now showcasing his offensive attacking abilities from along his position on the KiXX backline. Following a strong defensive effort in Philadelphia's 8-5 win this past Monday (Jan. 16) at California, in which the Cougars couldn't crack the KiXX' for a goal for nearly one half, Philadelphia entered this past weekend with MISL All-Star defender Pat Morris and veteran defensive standout Vlatko Andonovski both inactive and injured. Therefore the KiXX leaned heavily upon Kopp in their home-and-home series versus the MISL-leading Milwaukee Wave, dropping both games but getting two more outstanding performances from their defender. Kopp totaled four goals on Friday and Saturday. The 29-year-old scored three goals at U.S. Cellular Arena on Friday, his career first hat trick, in a 10-5 loss at U.S. Cellular Arena. He then added a goal the following night in a 7-4 loss before a Wachovia Spectrum crowd of 8,047. Kopp is tied with veteran Goran Vasic for the KiXX' season scoring lead with 12 points on eight goals and four assists in 11 games. Those totals surpass Kopp's total production in 33 games last season. He is within four points of establishing a new career-high for points. Kopp played forward and midfielder at Pittsburgh from 1995-98 and finished tied for fifth all-time in points for the Panthers. He was selected All-State as a senior at Cedar Crest High School in Lebanon, Penn.
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK Greg Howes, Milwaukee Wave Greg Howes had the kind of weekend that Wave fans are accustomed to seeing, and the kinds of performances that further substantiate Howes's reputation as one of the MISL's elite goal-scoring threats that he's earned over the past several seasons. Howes' four goals, three assists, and two blocks, including the game-winning goal Friday and game-winning assist Saturday, helped Milwaukee snap a rare two-game losing streak with back-to-back wins over the Philadelphia KiXX, and the defending MISL Champions reclaimed sole possession of first-place in the MISL standings (11-3), one-half game ahead of St. Louis (10-3). Howes, the MISL's two-time defending Spalding Scoring Champion, and two-time defending MISL MVP, enhanced his candidacy towards claiming a third Spalding award and another Hector Marinaro Trophy by becoming the MISL's first 30-point scorer of the season (17 goals, 13 assists). He and teammate Todd Dusosky (27 points) passed Baltimore's Adauto Neto (26) in the points' race for the first time since early November, and all three forwards rank in the League's top-four in points, goals, and assists. Howes is the League's leader in shots (75) with 28 more than his closest challenger. Most impressively, he's moved slightly ahead of Neto in the points per game statistic. Howes averages 2.308 points each match, slightly better than Neto's 2.167. This is his second MISL Player of the Week award of 2005-06 (November 7, 2005). Last season, the now 28-year-old native of Tacoma, Wash., scored 41 goals and 32 assists and finished with 73 points for the 2005 MISL Champions. --MISL--
Major Indoor Soccer League 2 Stories from January 23, 2006
- Steamers Push for First - St. Louis Steamers
- Blast Improves to 8-4 after Sweeping Home-and-Home Series with the Storm - Baltimore Blast
- KiXX battles the Chicago Storm in a home-and-home series commencing Saturday, January 28 - Philadelphia KiXX
- Sagu named MISL Goalkeeper of the Week - Baltimore Blast
- Wave's Howes named MISL Offensive Player of the Week - Milwaukee Wave
- Steamers Battle Baltimore Tuesday At Savvis - St. Louis Steamers
- Drew Kopp Named MISL Defensive Player of the Week - Philadelphia KiXX
- MISL names Players of the Week - MISL 2
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