MISL 2 Milwaukee Wave

Wave begins 21st season Saturday at Chicago

Published on October 19, 2004 under Major Indoor Soccer League 2 (MISL 2)
Milwaukee Wave News Release


(Milwaukee, WI) The Milwaukee Wave kicks-off its 21st season (its fourth in the Major Indoor Soccer League) this upcoming Saturday night (10/23, 7 PM) when it takes on the Chicago Storm in the Storm's first-ever MISL regular season contest at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, IL. Fans can listen to the game on 540 AM, WRRD ("The Word") with air time for the pre-game show at 6:45 PM.

Coach Keith Tozer's squad will be making its season debut on the road for the third straight campaign. Milwaukee is 2-0 the past two seasons with both wins coming in San Diego (13-4 on 9/28/02, and 4-3 on 10/11/03). All-time, the Wave is 12-8 in season openers, including a 4-4 record on the road. (Milwaukee is also 9-11 in first road games.) The Wave also posted a league-best 11-7 road record last season on its way to an MISL-best 27-9 mark, the fifth consecutive time Milwaukee finished with the league's best record.

This season's slate includes 40 regular season contests, an increase of four from the past two seasons. The MISL will once again consist of nine teams, with Milwaukee competing in the Central Division with Chicago and St. Louis. Six teams will qualify for the playoffs (three division champions plus next best three), with the top two division winner receiving byes into the best-of-three semi-finals. The quarterfinals will be one game; the championship series will be a best-of-three.

Milwaukee's home opener is slated for Friday, October 29, 7:05 PM when the Wave hosts the Storm at U.S. Cellular Arena featuring a post-game concert by the popular local group "The Love Monkeys."

Tickets for all Wave home games ($20, $16, $14, and $12) are available at the Wisconsin Center District (WCD) Box Office, located between U.S. Cellular Arena and the Milwaukee Theater at 510 W. Kilbourn Ave., all TicketMaster Outlets, or by phone charge at 414-276-4545. Groups of 10 or more should contact the Wave's Group Sales Dept. at 414-224-WAVE (9283) for group rate discounts.

Season ticket packages, including the new VIP Elite seating packages with waiter / waitress service are on sale at the Wave / Wave United Office, 510 W. Kilbourn Ave., Suite B in downtown Milwaukee. Call 414-224-WAVE for more information, or visit www.milwaukeewave.com.

2004-05 Preseason Prospectus: The Wave returns 17 players to a squad that topped the MISL with a record of 27-9 during the 2003-04 regular season. Coach Keith Tozer's club also advanced to its fifth consecutive league championship series (its sixth in the last seven years) where it fell three-games-to-none to the Baltimore Blast in the best-of-five series. Among the key returnees to this year's squad are: MISL MVP forward Greg Howes; all-star forwards Todd Dusosky and Michael King; all-star defenders Troy Dusosky, Chris Morman, and Lovelace Ackah; and goalkeeper Dan Green, who posted the league's best goals-against-average (4.02) during the regular season.

Tozer, the winningest coach in the history of North American indoor soccer is entering his 13th season with Wave. His assistant is Steve Morris, now in his second season behind the bench with Tozer. Larry Sayles, the original member of the Wave Organization since August, 1984 will once again serve as the club's athletic trainer.

For the second straight season, the Wave's home venue will be the U.S. Cellular Arena, 400 W. Kilbourn Ave. in downtown Milwaukee. The Wave enjoyed a successful transition to the USCA last season, going 16-2 (17-4) at home following 15 years at the Bradley Center. Originally opened in 1950, extensive renovations by the Wisconsin Center District (WCD) over the past six years have made the USCA one of the finest 10,000 seat sporting venues in the country.

2003-04 Highlights:

Howes Registers MVP Performance: Wave forward Greg Howes was named MISL Most Valuable Player following an outstanding season in which he paced the league with 85 points (57 goals + 28 assists). The 27-year old Howes finished the campaign with a team-record seven hat-tricks, five of which were four-goal outings, another team record. The former Oregon State star also topped the league with nine game-winning goals. The "Howitzer" was named MISL Offensive Player of the Week on three occasions (weeks ending 11/2, 12/7, and 3/7) and was also honored as MISL Offensive Player of the Month in December, February, and March. As durable as he is talented, Howes enters the 2004-05 season with a team-record playing streak of 165 consecutive games (regular and post-season) breaking the previous mark of 161 straight set by Michael King from 1996-2000.

*The Wave's 27-9 record gave Milwaukee its third-best winning percentage mark (.750) in the club's 20-year history. Only the 2002-03 (28-8, .778) and 2001-02 (34-10, .773) squads finished with higher winning percentages. The 1995-96 squad also finished at .750 (30-10).

*Forward Todd Dusosky enjoyed another banner season with 24 goals and 36 assists for 60 points, which was second-best on the team and sixth-best in the MISL. Todd's 36 assists were also second in the league behind Baltimore's Chile Farias, who posted 43 helpers. Todd, who was the league's top playmaker in 2002-03 with 42 assists, also played in his second straight All-Star Game 2/29 in St. Louis; he was one of six Wave players who participated in the game along with Greg Howes, Chris Morman, Lovelace Ackah, Michael King and twin brother Troy Dusosky.

*The Dusosky twins combined for 35 goals and 45 assists for 80 points. Defender Troy Dusosky was also fourth on the team with 43 blocks (Ackah 67, Morman 55, White 45). The Wave's "Twin Tandem" is now eighth on the all-time indoor soccer brothers scoring list with 623 points (Todd 461 + Troy 162).

*The Wave's 2003-04 Central Division title marked the fifth consecutive campaign that Coach Keith Tozer's team captured a regular season division or conference crown. It was also the fifth straight season that Milwaukee finished with the league's best regular season record.

*Milwaukee finished second in scoring average (6.5 goals per game), first in defensive average (4.5 goals per game) and first in scoring margin (+2.0 goals per game). The Wave also topped the league in power play percentage at .500 (32-for-64) and was fourth in penalty killing at .576 (38-of-66).

*The Wave finished the regular season 10-0 against the MISL's first-year clubs (6-0 v. StL, 4-0 v. Mon.). Milwaukee also swept the season series from San Diego (4-0) to go 14-0 against the league's non-playoff qualifiers.

*The Wave's back-to-back home losses to KC on 2/5 and Phi on 2/8 were the first consecutive home losses for Milwaukee since it dropped its first two home games of the 2000-01 season. Prior to that, the Wave had not lost consecutive home games since the 1994-95 campaign.

*Despite losing three straight to Baltimore in the 2004 Championship Series, the Wave has still won 124-of-its-last-168 regular and post-season contests (.738).

*The 12/31 contest v. Monterrey was Coach Keith Tozer's 500th game as coach of the Wave. Now in his 13th season with Milwaukee, Tozer is just the third coach in North American indoor soccer history to guide one team for as many games. Only Kenny Cooper (751 games with Baltimore) and Ron Newman (701 games with San Diego) have coached more games with a single franchise.

*Assistant Coach Steve Morris made his professional head coaching debut on 12/6 @ Bal. He stepped in for Keith Tozer, who was coaching the U.S. Futsal Team in Anaheim, CA.

*Milwaukee's 9-8 (OT) loss on 12/6 @ Bal broke a five-game overtime winning streak for the Wave dating back to the 2001-02 campaign. Milwaukee was 4-0 in extra-session games in 2002-03 and 1-1 the season before.

*The Wave's 6-5 (2OT) win on 2/14 v. Dal was the eighth double OT game in team history – the Wave is 3-5 in such contests (3-1 at home).

The Wave's 7-6 (OT) loss on 3/12 @ KC dropped Milwaukee's overtime record to 2-3 for the 2003-04 season and 26-32 all-time (7-21 on the road).

*The 15 goals on 11/14 v. KC is the fourth highest total in team history. The Wave team record for most goals in a contest is 18 set on 12/6/98 v. Cle.

*Michael King's goal on 2/8 v. Phi was the 668th of his career moving him past Andy Chapman into sixth place on the all-time indoor soccer list of goal scorers. (Cleveland's Hector Marinaro is the all-time leader with 1220.) King also scored his 500th regular season goal as a member of the Wave on 3/21 @ Dal.

*Giuliano Oliviero recorded the 500th point of his career with an assist on 3/12 @ KC. He became the 70th player in North American Indoor soccer history to reach that plateau.

*Troy Dusosky and Marcelo Fontana each scored a goal to record the 150th point of their respective careers (regular season) in Milwaukee's 6-2 win over Monterrey on 12/31 @ Mil.

*After enduring a six-game goalless streak, Todd Dusosky scored the 200th goal of his career on 3/6 v. KC.

*Greg Howes current indoor consecutive games played streak is 165 straight (regular season and playoffs) surpassing Michael King (161 straight) for the longest streak in team history.

*Defender Pat White registered his 400th career block on 3/27 @ StL. White is the Wave's all-time leading shot blocker.

*Goalkeeper Dan Green set a personal record by not allowing any goals in the Wave's 7-1 victory over St. Louis on 1/31 at U.S. Cellular Arena. The 31-year old Waukesha, WI native stopped all six shots that he faced in the contest; however, the Steamers scored while he was in the penalty box. Green's scoreless streak eventually ended at 78:13 on 2/8 v. Phi.

Coach Keith Tozer: Now in his 13th season as Head Coach of the Wave (his 21st overall as a professional head coach) Keith Tozer is the winningest coach in the 25-year history of North American indoor soccer. Tozer, who became the first and only coach to reach the 500 win plateau on 4/12/02, currently sports a combined regular and post-season record of 561-354 (.613), including a 342-185 mark (.649) as coach of the Wave. The 47-year old Grosse Pointe, MI native, who is also Milwaukee's Vice President – Soccer Operations overseeing both the Wave indoor and Wave United outdoor teams, began his coaching career as a player-coach with the Louisville Thunder in 1984 following a six-year career in the original MISL. He has led Milwaukee to three league titles and six championship series appearances in the last seven seasons (five straight heading into the 2004-05 campaign). He is also a five-time NPSL / MISL Coach of the Year award winner (1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, and 2003.) Tozer also has a 5-3 record in eight all-star coaching appearances including a win as U.S. coach in the 10-1 triumph over the International squad in the 2004 MISL All-Star Game on 2/29/04 @ StL.

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Major Indoor Soccer League 2 Stories from October 19, 2004


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