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Storm One Win From Semifinals

April 12, 2008 - Major Indoor Soccer League 2 (MISL 2)
Chicago Storm News Release


HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. - The Chicago Storm have an opportunity to capture their first playoff series victory in the organization's fourth season. Fifth-seeded Chicago heads to Mexico to take on fourth-seeded La Raza de Monterrey for Game 2 of its Major Indoor Soccer League Championship Series quarterfinal series at 6:05 p.m. (CST) Sunday, April 13, at Arena de Monterrey.

With a Storm win, the team would wrap up its first MISL playoff series victory. Chicago captured Game 1 of the series with a thrilling 10-8, overtime victory against La Raza on Thursday, April 10, at the Sears Centre Arena. Fabinho scored two goals, including the game-winner, to lift the Storm.

The quarterfinal and semifinal series are two-match formats. If Monterrey wins Game 2, the series goes to a "Golden Goal" match that immediately follows. The first team to score a goal advances to the next playoff round.

MISL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

Playoff picture: The Detroit Ignition and Milwaukee Wave earned the top two seeds, respectively, in the MISL Championship Series. Detroit faces the lower- seeded quarterfinal winner and Milwaukee faces the higher-seeded quarterfinal victor. If the fifth-seeded Storm advance past Monterrey and the third-seeded Blast top the New Jersey Ironmen, Chicago would face Detroit. However, if the Storm reach the semifinals and sixth-seeded New Jersey upsets Baltimore, Chicago takes on Milwaukee in the semifinals.

If the Storm advance ... : Chicago hosts a semifinal match at noon Saturday, April 19, at the Sears Centre Arena. Visit ChicagoStorm.net for further details as the quarterfinals wrap up this weekend.

2-0 at Sears Centre: With the Storm's 10-8 victory against Monterrey on Thursday, Chicago improved to 2-0 in MISL playoff games at the Sears Centre. The Storm captured their first playoff win last season, an 11-8 decision against the eventual MISL champion Philadelphia KiXX on April 13, 2007.

A game of firsts: In Game 1 of their quarterfinal series Thursday, the Storm had some groundbreaking moments across the board. Goalkeeper Jeff Richey, who is playing in his third MISL postseason, picked up his first playoff victory to improve to 1-2. Richey made 12 saves against La Raza. Andy Rosenband, competing in his third postseason, notched his first career playoff goal at the 8:08 mark of the third quarter. His goal gave the Storm a 6-4 lead. Rookie Ian Bennett had tied the score at 4-4 before Rosenband's goal at the 1:37 mark of the third. It marked Bennett's first playoff goal in his first MISL postseason.

La Raza duo shut down: A key to the Storm's Game 1 victory was the defensive play against Monterrey's top two scorers - Dino Delevski and Genoni Martinez. Delevski and Martinez did not contribute a single point in the Storm's victory. During the regular season, Deleveski (108) and Martinez (96) ranked second and third, respectively, among MISL points leaders. Only Milwaukee's Greg Howes scored more points (130) than La Raza's duo.

STORM UPDATE

Points leaders: Carlos "Chile" Farias led the Storm with 62 points and 26 assists during the regular season. He scored 16 goals, including two game- winning goals and four on the power play. Farias currently is serving a suspension. Matthew Stewart was second on the Storm with 58 points. Stewart led the team with 23 goals (all two-pointers) and assisted 12 other scores. Mariano Bolella was third with 50 points, ranking second on the team in assists (19) and fourth in goals (15). Bollella currently is serving a suspension.

Storm's La Raza connection: Mariano Bollella and Fabinho won a championship for La Raza when the Mexican-based team was part of the World Indoor Soccer League, and Bollella was the league's most valuable player that 2000 season.

Road/home tendencies: The Storm posted a 9-6 regular-season record at the Sears Centre this season, bettering last season's eight-win home total. Chicago was 6- 9 on the road in the regular season. Monterrey was one of four MISL teams to post 10 or more losses away from home. La Raza went 5-10 on the road and 11-4 on their home field, Arena de Monterrey.

LA RAZA UPDATE

Chicago ties: La Raza forward Byron Alvarez played for the Storm during their 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons. In 45 regular-season games, Alvarez scored 35 points and 25 goals. His 21 goals in 2004-05 ranked second on the Storm. For Monterrey, Alvarez recently had a four-goal, nine-point effort against New Jersey on Thursday. ... Monterrey head coach Erich Geyer made his head coaching debut with the Chicago Sting of the original Major Indoor Soccer League from 1986 to 1988.

La Raza vs. Storm, head-to-head: Monterrey and the Storm split their regular- season matches, 2-2. The Storm topped host Monterrey, 16-12, on Nov. 1, 2007, during La Raza's MISL debut, with Stephen Armstrong and Chile Farias each scoring two second-half goals. On Jan. 4, La Raza clipped the Storm, 16-14, at the Sears Centre. Victor Negrete's goal with 50 seconds remaining in regulation gave La Raza the two-point advantage. On Feb. 28, Monterrey scored 13 second- quarter points and defeated the visiting Storm, 24-12. Finally, on March 8, the Storm's Edgar Rivera tallied a two-point goal with 18 seconds remaining as Chicago came from behind to beat La Raza, 11-9, at the Sears Centre. Rivera currently is serving a suspension.

The Chicago Storm are members of the Major Indoor Soccer League. Storm offices are located at 5333 Prairie Stone Pkwy., in Hoffman Estates. For more information on all aspects of Storm soccer, including season tickets, group outings, birthday parties and more, call (866) STORM-81, or visit ChicagoStorm.net.



Major Indoor Soccer League 2 Stories from April 12, 2008


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