Steamers Suffer Fourth Straight Loss
February 27, 2005 - Major Indoor Soccer League 2 (MISL 2)
St. Louis Steamers News Release
Whatever the answer is, the Steamers haven't found it. Already dealing with their longest losing streak of the season, St. Louis dropped their fourth straight game Sunday (February 27) in a 6-5 heartbreaker against the Force at the Wolstein Convocation Center in Cleveland. The Steamers have lost seven of their last ten games and fall 2½ games behind the league-leading Milwaukee Wave. With Sunday's loss, the Steamers' record drops to 15-12, while Cleveland improves to 12-13.
Neither team scored in an uneventful first quarter. St. Louis got on the board first when forward Marco "Chikis" Lopez scored a restart goal at 6:24 of the second. Midfielder Mariano Bollella put the Steamers up 2-0 at 13:59 and St. Louis carried the lead into the halftime break.
Cleveland opened the second half scoring on a goal by forward John Ball at 1:08 of the third quarter. The Force tied the game (2-2) when former Steamer Sipho Sibiya played a pass to the back post and Cleveland forward Chris Dore tapped it into the net at 5:59. The Steamers went back up by one (3-2) when forward Mike Apple stole a feed from Force goalkeeper Jim Larkin at midfield and buried the shot past Larkin at 7:26. Cleveland tied the game again (3-3) when Ball scored his second goal of the quarter as he took the pass from defender Genoni Martinez at midfield and put a shot into the upper left corner of the goal at 13:23. The third stanza ended with the game tied at three.
The Steamers regained the lead when speedy St. Louis midfielder Addae Rique beat a Force defender and buried a shot in the goal at 1:30 of the fourth quarter. Former Steamer forward Aaron Susi, facing his old team for the first time since being released on January 21, scored off a pass from Genoni Martinez to tie the game (4-4) at 11:00 of the fourth. Susi has scored four goals and an assist in four games since being signed by Cleveland earlier this month.
St. Louis midfielder Jeff DiMaria scored his 15th goal of the season to put the Steamers back on top (5-4) at 12:19 of the fourth. The Force tied the game for the fourth time (5-5) when forward Chris Handsor scored off a feed from Cleveland sixth attacker Robbie Aristodemo at 13:47. Ball scored at 14:34 to net the game winner and a hat trick.
The Steamers' next home game is the annual School Day Game on Thursday, March 3 at 11:05 a.m. against the Milwaukee Wave. The Steamers have teamed with youth organizations such as DARE and Tobacco Free Missouri to bring local schools to the annual event. Schools are invited to visit educational booths in the concourse beginning at 10:00 a.m. Student tickets are eight dollars. If your school is interested or for more information, please call the Steamers at 314-613-1883. The unique start time of the March 3 contest make it a great opportunity for fans who work downtown to come to the game on their lunch breaks. Each Steamers fan who shows their business card at the game will receive a free DVD copy of the premier of "Red Card".
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Major Indoor Soccer League 2 Stories from February 27, 2005
- Force Steams Past St. Louis For Comeback Victory - Cleveland Force
- Steamers Suffer Fourth Straight Loss - St. Louis Steamers
- Chicago Storm Defeated by Baltimore Blast 6-5 - Chicago Storm
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