Sidekicks (17-12) @ Cleveland - Mar. 14, 4:05 PM

March 12, 2004 - Major Indoor Soccer League 2 (MISL 2)
Dallas Sidekicks News Release


The Dallas Sidekicks (17-12) make their way to Cleveland to battle the Force (9-20). Cleveland leads the series 2-1, winning the first contest 6-5 at Reunion Arenaon 10/19, as well as the most recent game 7-6 in Cleveland on 2/15. Dallas won the second game 8-2 in Dallas on 12/12. Dallas has not won a road game vs. Cleveland since 3-31-1991 during the original MISL. The Sidekicks have a 5 game lead on the San Diego Sockers (12-17) in the MISL Western Division. The Sidekicks magic number to clinch the Western Division is two.

RADIO: All Sidekicks regular season games are on KSKY 660 AM as well as at www.dallassidekicks.com and www.ksky.com. All broadcasts begin fifteen minutes prior to listed kickoff. Pete Stein calls the action with Robert Trammell serving as analyst. Shawn Matthews and Robert Barowski host the halftime and postgame shows.

SIDEKICKS ON TV: Dallas has nine road games on KFWD Channel 52 this season. The Sidekicks are now 1-4 on KFWD this season. The television package also includes all Dallas Sidekicks' road playoff games for the 2004 Major Indoor Soccer League playoffs. Pete Stein will call the action and Robert Trammel will serve as the analyst. Prior to this season, the Sidekicks last televised game was on KSTR 49 December 22, 2001 when the Sidekicks defeated the San Diego Sockers for the 2001 World Indoor Soccer League championship. The Sidekicks most recently televised regular season games during the 1997 season, the final year of the Continental Indoor Soccer League.

HEAD COACH TATU: Tatu is in his sixth season as the Head Coach of the Dallas Sidekicks. Tatu led the Sidekicks to the World Indoor Soccer League finals in each of his first four years as head coach, winning the 1998 and 2001 titles. In 1998, Tatu replaced Gordon Jago, who retired as head coach. He has a 80-65 (.552) regular season record, and 7-3 (.700) postseason record. On March 23, 2003, Tatu retired from playing 21 seasons of indoor soccer, 18 seasons with the Sidekicks. Tatu is near the top of the career list in several categories. (Updated through 3/10/04) He finished his career second with 21 seasons played (Victor Nogueira of San Diego - 24), seventh with 633 games played (Michael King of Milwaukee - 678, Hector Marinaro of Cleveland - 678, Andy Chapman - 670), second for goals with 857 (Marinaro of Cleveland - 1217), second in assists with 728 (Zoran Karic of Cleveland - 845), third in points with 1585 (Marinaro - 1911, Karic - 1604), second in shots with 4396 (Marinaro - 4966), tied for second in game-winning goals with 77 (Marinaro - 100, Steve Zungul - 77), and first with 113 power play goals. He has been part of all four Sidekicks' championship teams, winning titles in 1987, 1993, 1998, and 2001. Tatu is a six-time MVP, 11-time scoring champion, 12-time all-star, and three-time championship series MVP. Tatu is the only person to earn Player of the Year and Coach of the Year awards in the same season accomplishing this great achievement in 1998. He also holds Sidekicks franchise records for seasons - 18, games - 557, goals - 736, assists - 672, points - 1408, shots - 4182, power play goals - 98, game-winning goals - 68, and overtime goals - 7.

DAVID DOYLE: This is Doyle's 12th season with the Sidekicks, the 19th of his career. He has accumulated 1036 points from 630 goals and 406 assists. Doyle is in the top-20 on the career list of almost every offensive category. He is eighth in goals with 629 (Michael King of Milwaukee - 670, Andy Chapman - 667), 16th in assists with 406 (Goran Hunjak - 437, Kim Roentved - 437), ninth in points with 1035 (Pato Margetic - 1056, King- 1052), tied for third in power play goals with 86 (Tatu - 113, Steve Zungul - 89), and fourth in game-winning goals with 68 (Hector Marinaro of Cleveland - 100, Tatu - 77, Zungul - 77). Doyle is near the top of the Sidekicks record book in several categories. He is fifth in games with 312 (Wes McLeod - 321), second in goals with 403 (Tatu - 736), third in assists with 296 (Tatu - 672, Kevin Smith - 299), second in points with 699 (Tatu - 1408), second in shots with 2069 (Tatu - 4182), fourth in blocks with 360 (Smith - 387), second in power play goals with 60 (Tatu - 98), second in game-winning goals with 45 (Tatu - 68), and third in overtime goals with 5 (Tatu - 7, Mark Karpun - 6). He has been selected to play in eight All-Star games, including the 2003-04 MISL All-Star game in St. Louis. He was the WISL MVP in 1998, and has been named to the All-League First Team six times. In 2001, he was named the Dallas Sidekicks MVP by the Dallas All Sports Association. Since his acquisition before the 1991-92 season, the Sidekicks have won Championships in 1993, 1998, and 2001.

SAGU: Sagu is in his fifth year with the Sidekicks as well as the fifth of his career. He has played a total of 119 regular season games and eight postseason games. He has accumulated 6,928 minutes in goal. He faced 2,830 shots, saving 1,727 and allowing 513 goals for a save percentage of .771. His record is 59-54 (.522) in five seasons. Sagu holds the record for consecutive shut out minutes at 118:14 from 1/24 - 1/31/04, most assists by a Sidekicks goalkeeper with 16 and penalty minutes served by a goalkeeper with 61. He is ranked in the top three of the Sidekicks record book in almost every goalkeeper category. He is third in minutes with 6,546 (Krys Sobieksi-10,785, Joe Papaleo-10,529), third in shots faced with 2,605 (Papaleo-5565, Sobieski-4752), and third in saves with 1,589 (Papaleo-2363, Sobieski-2014). He is also third in wins with 57 (Papaleo-104, Sobieski-98). He has recorded 451:12 minutes in the postseason with a record of 6-2 (0.75). He has faced 144 shots, recorded 90 saves (.776 save percentage) and 26 goals allowed. Sagu will make his first All-Star appearance in the 2003-04 MISL All-Star game in St. Louis on the International Team. This season, he was named MISL Goalkeeper of the month of December, and named MISL Goalkeeper of the week three times. He was named WISL Goalkeeper of the year in 2000 and 2001 when he was also named to the All-WISL First Team.

NICK STAVROU: This is Stavrou's 12th season with the Sidekicks. Stavrou has spent his entire professional career with the Sidekicks. He is ranked sixth on the Sidekicks all-time list in games played with 296 (David Doyle-312). He is ranked in the top five of the Sidekicks record book in almost every offensive category. He is third in goals with 200 (Tatu-736, Doyle-403), and fourth in assists with 161 (Kevin Smith-299, Doyle-296), in points with 361 (Doyle-699, Smith-454), and third in shots with 969 (Doyle-2069). He is also fifth in blocks with 354 (Smith-387, Doyle-360). He is first in vs. sixth attacker goals with 8 (David Reichart-5, Doyle-4, Tatu-4) and fifth in game-winning goals with 15 (Mark Karpun-21, Beto-17). The Sidekicks made the playoffs each of his first ten seasons where he played 44 games with 26 goals and 20 assists for 46 points. Named to the All-WISL Second-Team two times. He was part of the 1993, 1998, and 2001 Championship teams.

SERIES HISTORY VS. CLEVELAND: This is the fourth & final meeting between these two teams. Cleveland leads the series 2-1. Game 26 - 2/15/04 at Cleveland: The Dallas Sidekicks lost 7-6 to the Cleveland Force at the Cleveland State Convocation Center on Sunday. Adauto Neto had a hat trick and the game-winner at 6:45 of the fourth quarter to give Cleveland (8-16) the win. The Sidekicks tied the game after Justin Evans knocked the ball into his own net off of a Martin Dugas cross. The goal tied the game at six, the fourth tie of the game. Neto's and Dugas' tallies were there only scores in the second half. The Force stopped a second quarter scoring surge by the Sidekicks at 9:16 when Neto tallied his second goal of the game. Karic would add one more for Cleveland to go into halftime leading 6-5. The Sidekicks (14-12) started the second quarter with three goals within the first six minutes. Martin Nash scored his second goal of the game, and his 10th in the last three games at 1:22 on a restart. Mark Rowland followed with his second goal of the game after Ricardinho fed him a pass at 2:55. Kiley Couch gave Dallas their only lead of the night at 6:05, putting Dallas ahead 5-4. Cleveland shot out 2-0 in the first quarter with goals from Neto at 2:30 and John Ball at 3:16. Nash interrupted the Force scoring drive at 4:52 of the first with a power play goal after Cleveland's Joel Bailey was called for tripping. Rowland evened the game at two less than two minutes later at 6:49. Omid Namazi and Myles Stoddard would add two more for the Force with restart goals at 7:49 and 13:03 respectively to finish the first quarter scoring. Dallas holds a 2 game lead over the San Diego Sockers (11-13) in the MISL Western Division. Game 12 - 12/12/03 vs. Cleveland: Seven different Dallas Sidekicks scored in the first half en route to an 8-2 win over the Cleveland Force at Reunion Arena Friday. The Sidekicks have won five straight home games and are 7-5 on the season. The Sidekicks set an aggressive tone when David Doyle scored on an assist from Patrick Shamu 17 seconds into the game. Dallas scored three more in the opening quarter in a span of 1:32. Leo Pernia connected at 5:36, Ricardinho at 6:14 and Eric Dade at 7:08. Cleveland (4-6) got on the board next with a goal from Lee Edgerton at 12:51. Dallas followed with three more goals in the second quarter on just three shots. Rookie forward Shaun David added his tenth of the season at 4:20. Martin Nash followed at 7:27 and Nick Stavrou found the net at 9:53. Doyle assisted the Stavrou goal and now has 294 with the Sidekicks, five behind Kevin Smith for second in Sidekicks history. The Force scored quickly to open the third period when Chris Dore tallied 19 seconds into the quarter. The Sidekicks defense held the rest of the night. Doyle added his second goal of the contest at 5:33 of the fourth when Stavrou toed the ball away from a defender near midfield and Doyle lobbed the ball over the top of Force goalkeeper Otto Orf. Doyle now has 1024 points on 620 goals and 404 assists. He is three away from tying Andy Chapman for ninth all-time. Chapman finished his career with 1027 points on 667 goals and 360 assists. Sidekicks goalkeeper, Sagu, continued to frustrate opposing defenses, allowing two goals on seven shots faced. He is now 7-4 with a league leading 3.33 goals against average. The Sidekicks have a two and a half game lead on the Monterrey Fury (3-6) and San Diego Sockers (3-6) in the MISL western division. Game 3 - 10/19/03 vs. Cleveland: The Sidekicks fell to 1-2 on the season with a 6-5 loss to the Cleveland Force in front of 4,421 at Reunion Arena Sunday. Lee Edgerton broke the 5-5 tie as he tallied the winner for Cleveland with 3:47 to play. Nevio Pizzolitto got the ball near midfield and threaded a pass to Edgerton on the right side, who hit the lower-left corner past a diving Sagu. Beau Brown had tied the game for Dallas at 7:04 of the fourth quarter. Brown scored from the middle of the keeper area when Martin Dugas passed from a double-team on the left side. Cleveland (1-0) had trailed 4-1 late in the second period before scoring four unanswered goals. John Ball started the rally just before the half ended. Ball stole a pass headed for David Doyle from Sidekicks goalkeeper Sagu and placed it over the net-minder to close the gap to 4-2 at the break. Ato Leone and Adauto Neto teamed for the next two Force tallies. Leone scored from Neto at 1:58 of the third quarter; then Neto buried a Leone pass at 6:29. Neto also assisted Lee Edgerton on the next goal at 8:43 of the third period. The Sidekicks earned the 4-1 lead with four unanswered goals of their own after Justin Evans gave the Force a 1-0 edge 5:23 into the game. Martin Nash started the Sidekicks scoring on a Doyle assist at 12:05 of the opening quarter. Doyle followed with a goal 54-seconds later on a Frank Filo setup. Dugas assisted Nick Stavrou 21 seconds into the second period and then scored a goal of his own at 8:52 of the same stanza. Doyle's became the 32nd player in indoor soccer history to play 500 regular season games.



Major Indoor Soccer League 2 Stories from March 12, 2004


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