Sidekicks (19-14) at Philadelphia Sun
Published on March 24, 2004 under Major Indoor Soccer League 2 (MISL 2)
Dallas Sidekicks News Release
The MISL Western Division Champion Dallas Sidekicks (19-14) travel to Philadelphia to take on the Kixx (19-13) for their last meeting of the 2003-04 season. Dallas leads the series 2-1 with the home team winning each contest. In their last meeting, Dallas shut out the Kixx with a score of 1-0 in Dallas on 1/25. Dallas is currently 0-5 on the road against teams in the Eastern Division.
PLAYOFFS: Dallas claimed the Western Division Championship and third seed in the MISL Playoffs. The Sidekicks clinched the division with an 8-3 victory over the St. Louis Steamers on March 17. This will be the Sidekicks 16th trip to the playoffs in 19 seasons. The Sidekicks will also finish with a .500 or better record for the 15th time in 19 seasons. The Sidekicks are third seed in the MISL playoffs and will host the yet to be determined number six seed at Reunion Arena Saturday April 10 at 7:35 p.m. This is a one-game semifinal. Dallas is 14-3 at Reunion Arena so far this season. The winner would advance to play at the second seeded team, which will be either the Baltimore Blast or Milwaukee Wave.
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 while Joel Brewer and Herman Hudson serve as the analysts. Robert Trammell, Shawn Matthews, Robert Barowski, and Mike DePuy will cover the halftime and postgame shows.
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 an 82-67 (.550) 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. He finished his career second with 21 seasons played (Victor Nogueira of San Diego - 24), seventh with 633 games played (Michael King of Milwaukee - 682, Hector Marinaro of Cleveland - 682, Andy Chapman - 670), second for goals with 857 (Marinaro of Cleveland - 1220), second in assists with 728 (Zoran Karic of Cleveland - 847), third in points with 1585 (Marinaro - 1920, Karic - 1608), second in shots with 4396 (Marinaro - 4984), 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 1038 points from 632 goals and 406 assists. Doyle is in the top-20 on the career list of most offensive categories. He is eighth in goals with 632 (Michael King of Milwaukee - 673, Andy Chapman - 667), 16th in assists with 406 (Goran Hunjak - 437, Kim Roentved - 437), ninth in points with 1038 (King- 1055), third in power play goals with 87 (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 316 (Wes McLeod - 321), second in goals with 405 (Tatu - 736), third in assists with 296 (Tatu - 672, Kevin Smith - 299), second in points with 701 (Tatu - 1408), second in shots with 2091 (Tatu - 4182), fourth in blocks with 362 (Smith - 387), second in power play goals with 61 (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.
Doyle has 701 points with the Sidekicks on 405 goals and 296 assists. He became the sixth player ever to reach 700 points with one franchise with a restart goal at 12:52 of the first quarter vs. St. Louis (3/17).
POINTS (G+A)
1 1,736 Marinaro, Hector - Cleveland Crunch/Force (2)
2 1,423 Karic, Zoran - Cleveland Crunch/Force (2)
3 1,408 Tatu - Dallas Sidekicks
4 789 King, Michael - Milwaukee Wave
5 710 Wade, Wes - Kansas City Comets (2)/Attack
6 701 Doyle, David - Dallas Sidekicks
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 301 (David Doyle-316). He is ranked in the top five of the Sidekicks record book in almost every offensive category. He is third in goals with 204 (Tatu-736, Doyle-405), and fourth in assists with 163 (Kevin Smith-299, Doyle-296), in points with 367 (Doyle-701, Smith-454), and third in shots with 981 (Doyle-2091). He is also fifth in blocks with 357 (Smith-387, Doyle-362). He is first in vs. sixth attacker goals with 9 (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 - PHILADELPHIA: This is the fourth and final meeting between these two teams. Game 22 - 1/25/04 vs. Philadelphia: The Dallas Sidekicks extended their home-winning streak to four games with a 1-0 decision over the Philadelphia Kixx Sunday at Reunion Arena. The shutout was the eighth in franchise history and the third for Sidekicks' goalkeeper Sagu. That ties him with Krys Sobieski for the most in team history. It was also only the seventh 1-0 game in indoor soccer history and third in Sidekicks history. The most recent pair both involved the Sidekicks, including a regular season loss to the Tacoma Stars at Reunion Arena on April 6, 1989 and a game-seven loss in the MISL semifinals at the San Diego Sockers May 20, 1989. The lone goal came when Patrick Shamu found the net at 4:56 of the third quarter. Nick Stavrou assisted Shamu's score. This is the third time in two seasons that the Sidekicks have scored one goal in a game, including an 11-1 loss at Philadelphia February 28, 2003 and a 3-1 loss at San Diego November 6, 2003. Shamu has netted the only goal for Dallas in each game. Philadelphia (11-8) managed just nine shots in the game, setting a new record for the fewest in a game by a Sidekicks' opponent. Sagu went seven-of-seven on save opportunities and has not allowed a goal in 89 minutes after the Sidekicks defeated Baltimore 7-6 in overtime Saturday. His previous two shutouts came during the 2001 season. The Sidekicks hold a two-game lead on the San Diego Sockers (10-10) in the MISL Western Division. Game 20 - 1/11/04 at Philadelphia: David Doyle scored a hat trick and his 400th career goal with the Sidekicks as Dallas fell 5-4 in overtime to the Philadelphia Kixx at the Wachovia Spectrum Sunday afternoon. Nikola Vignjevic scored for Philadelphia at 13:04 of overtime on a shoot out with David Doyle in net for the Sidekicks. Dallas' goalkeeper Sagu was called for tripping at 13:01 in overtime as Don D'Ambra was on a break-away towards the Sidekicks goal, giving the Kixx the scoring opportunity. Beau Brown tied the game on a sixth-attacker goal just 53 seconds after Doyle entered the game to give the Sidekicks an offensive advantage. Doyle kept the Sidekicks (11-9) in the game by putting Dallas on the board at 4:16 of the third and by scoring on two more shots at 4:46 of the fourth on a restart, and 7:02 of the fourth. Doyle's second goal marked his 400th career goal with the Sidekicks, only the second player in team history to reach that mark. Tatu finished his career with 736. The Kixx followed up each of Doyle's first two tallies with goals in the fourth from Les Lunsford at 4:06 and Joel Shanker at 5:03. Philadelphia (10-6) scored the only two goals of the first half, scoring both within a minute of opening play in the first and second quarter. Kixx player/coach D'Ambra scored at 0:54 into the first, and Shawn Boney scored at 0:09 into the second. This was the third time this season the Sidekicks have been shut out in the first half, with each game ending in a loss. The Sidekicks hold a one game lead in the Western Division over the 9-9 San Diego Sockers. Game 4 - 10/22/03 vs. Philadelphia: The Sidekicks scored six second-half goals en route to an 8-4 victory over the Philadelphia Kixx in front of 8651 at Reunion Arena Wednesday. The win moves Dallas to 2-2 on the season and broke a four-game losing streak to Philadelphia (2-1). David Doyle gave the Sidekicks breathing room with a milestone goal at 3:41 of the forth quarter. The penalty kick gave Doyle 385 goals with the Sidekicks, tying him for sixth all-time with a single franchise. Joe Reiniger had 385 with the St. Louis Ambush. The score also gave him 59 power play goals in Dallas moving him to sole possession of fourth all-time with a single team, passing Kim Roentved of the Wichita Wings. Leo Pernia tallied the next goal for the Sidekicks with 2:43 to play. Martin Nash accounted for the assist by passing off the boards after winning a loose ball in the corner. The final goal came from Sidekicks' goalkeeper Sagu, who threw the ball over the head of Goran Vasic, the Philadelphia sixth-attacker. It was the third goal of Sagu's career and his first since the 2000 season. The game was tied at 3-3 until Beau Brown gave Dallas the lead for good at 12:58 of the third quarter. Brown followed at 1:32 of the fourth on a feed from Nick Stavrou. Shawn Boney pulled Philadelphia within one goal 30-seconds later, but Dallas shut down the Kixx offense the rest of the way. Pat Morris opened the scoring for Philadelphia with a restart goal at 3:01 in the first when Kevin Sloan fed him on a kick-in. The Sidekicks evened the match when rookie forward Shaun David scored his third goal of the season at 8:34 of the opening stanza. Stavrou earned the first of his two assists by pushing the ball to David from the defensive zone. Martin Nash gave Dallas its first lead on his second score in as many games. Doyle fed Nash for the go-ahead score with 29 seconds left in the opening period. Sloan was the only player to find the net in the second quarter, scoring at 4:04 as the teams went to the intermission tied at 2-2.
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