Sidekicks host Cleveland Fri. Dec. 12 - 7pm

Published on December 10, 2003 under Major Indoor Soccer League 2 (MISL 2)
Dallas Sidekicks News Release


The Dallas Sidekicks (6-5) continue their three-game home stand as they face the Cleveland Force (4-5) for the second time this season. Cleveland defeated the Sidekicks 6-5 earlier this season on October 19th in Dallas. Since then, the Sidekicks have gone 5-3 and are on a four-game home-game winning streak.

Dallas is currently 1-2 against the strong Eastern Division overall and 1-1 at home against the East.

RADIO: All Sidekicks regular season games are on KSKY 660 AM as well as at www.dallassidekicks.com. All broadcasts begin fifteen minutes prior to listed kickoff. Pete Stein calls the action and Robert Trammel serves as the analyst. Shawn Matthews handles sideline reporting duties.

SIDEKICKS ON TV: Dallas has nine road games on KFWD Channel 52 this season. The next game is Saturday December 20 at the San Diego Sockers. The Sidekicks are 1-0 on KFWD this season after a 5-2 victory at St. Louis November 22. 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 69-58 (.543) 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 (Hector Marinaro of Cleveland - 666, Michael King of Milwaukee - 659), second for goals with 857 (Marinaro of Cleveland - 1204), second in assists with 728 (Zoran Karic of Cleveland - 830), second in points with 1585 (Marinaro - 1892, Karic is third at 1584), second in shots with 4396 (Marinaro - 4906), tied for second in game-winning goals with 77 (Marinaro - 99, 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 1021 points from 618 goals and 403 assists. Doyle is in the top-20 on the career list of almost every offensive category. He is eighth in goals with 618 (Michael King of Milwaukee - 659), 16th in assists with 403 (Goran Hunjak - 437, Kim Roentved - 437), tenth in points with 1021 (King- 1033, Andy Chapman - 1027), tied for third in power play goals with 86 (Tatu - 113, Steve Zungul - 89), and fourth in game-winning goals with 67 (Hector Marinaro of Cleveland - 99, Tatu - 77, Zungul - 77). Doyle is near the top of the Sidekicks record book in several categories. He is fifth in games with 301 (Wes McLeod - 321), second in goals with 391 (Tatu - 736), third in assists with 293 (Tatu - 672, Kevin Smith - 299), second in points with 683 (Tatu - 1408), second in shots with 2014 (Tatu - 4182), fourth in blocks with 349 (Smith - 387), second in power play goals with 60 (Tatu - 98), second in game-winning goals with 44 (Tatu - 68), and tied for third in overtime goals with 4 (Tatu - 7, Mark Karpun - 6, Doc Lawson - 4). He has been selected to play in seven All-Star games. 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 106 regular season games and eight postseason games. He has accumulated 6,139 minutes in goal. He faced 2631 shots, saving 1595 and allowing 446 goals for a save percentage of .781. His record is 51-50 (.505) in four seasons. Sagu holds the record for most assists by a Sidekicks goalkeeper with 16. He also holds the Sidekicks record for penalty minutes served by a goalkeeper with 64. He is ranked in the top three of the Sidekicks record book in almost every goalkeeper category. He is third in minutes with 5,757 (Krys Sobieksi-10,785, Joe Papaleo-10,529), third in shots faced with 2406 (Papaleo-5565, Sobieski-4752), and third in saves with 1457 (Papaleo-2363, Sobieski-2014). He is also third in wins with 49 (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 (0.776 save percentage) and 26 goals allowed. 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 280 (David Doyle-301). He is ranked in the top five of the Sidekicks record book in almost every offensive category. He is third in goals with 188 (Tatu-736, Doyle-391), and fourth in assists with 153 (Kevin Smith-299, Doyle-293), in points with 340 (Doyle-684, Smith-454), and in shots with 918 (Smith-962). He is also fifth in blocks with 344 (Smith-387, Doyle-349). 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, Bet-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 second meeting between these two teams & the final game in Dallas. Cleveland leads the series 1-0. 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.

TURNING IT AROUND: Dallas has seen a tremendous turnaround in goals scored & goals allowed compared to the 2002-03 season. After the first 11 games, Dallas is on average defeating their opponent by over 2 goals, as opposed to last season when they were on average defeated by one goal.

ONE IS THE LONLIEST NUMBER: Dallas is 0-2 in games decided by one goal in 2003-04. This continues a ten game losing steak of games decided by one goal. The last time the Sidekicks won a game that was decided by one goal was 9/28/02 vs. Philadelphia in the 2002-03 season opener.

OVERTIME, UNDER-PLAYED: Dallas' 5-4 overtime loss in Monterrey (11/30) extends a seven-game losing streak of overtime games. The last time Dallas won a regular season overtime game was on October 21, 2001 at Utah (3-2, OT).

FINDING MIDDLE GROUND: For most of the season, Dallas has led the league in goal differential in the first & fourth quarters. For the first six games, Dallas was outscored in the third quarter by eight goals, placing them 9th in the league. In the last five games, Dallas has outscored their opponent by five in the third.

ONCE IS NOT ENOUGH: The Sidekicks play the same opponent in consecutive games seven times this season. Dallas is 3-0 in the first game and 1-2 in the second game.

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Major Indoor Soccer League 2 Stories from December 10, 2003


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