MISL 2 Milwaukee Wave

Wave getting ready for final week of regular season

Published on March 29, 2004 under Major Indoor Soccer League 2 (MISL 2)
Milwaukee Wave News Release


(Milwaukee, WI) Coming off another successful week in which it captured two more victories (9-4 v. San Diego on 3/25, 5-4 at St. Louis on 3/27) the Milwaukee Wave (15-2 home / 10-7 road / 25-9 overall) is preparing for another pair of games as it enters the final week of the 2003-04 Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) regular season. The Wave will host the Philadelphia Kixx this Friday, April 2, 7:05 PM at U.S. Cellular Arena before traveling to Baltimore the following day (Saturday, April 3, 6:35 PM) to take on the Blast at 1st Mariner Arena. Saturday's game at Baltimore could determine the league's #1 seed for the upcoming MISL post-season. The Wave currently leads the Blast (24-10) by one game in the overall standings heading into this week's action.

Friday, April 2 will also be Fan Appreciation Night at U.S. Cellular Arena featuring the annual Battle of the Mascots Soccer Game presented by Verlo Mattress Factory Stores and 103.7 KISS FM. Call the Wave Office at 414-224-WAVE (9283) for tickets or more information, or visit www.milwaukeewave.com.

Wave Clinches First Round Bye for MISL Playoffs – Will Host Semi-Final on Friday, April 16, 7:35 PM at U.S. Cellular Arena. Since it has clinched one of the top two seeds based on its regular season record, the Wave will have a first round bye for the upcoming MISL Playoffs. Milwaukee's first game will be a one-game semi-final match against an opponent yet to be determined on Friday, April 16, 7:35 PM at U.S. Cellular Arena. The winner of that contest will advance to the best-of-five MISL Championship Series beginning the following weekend. Individual play-off tickets ($20, $16, and $14) as well as Wave Playoff 4-Packs (two dollar discount per ticket) are available through the Wave Office at 510 W. Kilbourn Ave. (Suite B), or by calling 414-224-WAVE (9283). Anyone who purchases a Wave Playoff 4-Pack will also receive two tickets for the Milwaukee Wave United A-League (outdoor) season opener on Friday, May 14, 7:05 PM v. the Edmonton Aviators at Uihlein Soccer Park.

Tickets for all Wave home games 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.

This Week:

Day Date Event Time** Place

Mon. Mar. 29 Practice 10 AM Uihlein Soccer Park

Tue. Mar. 30 Practice 10 AM U.S. Cellular Arena

Wed. Mar. 31 Practice 10 AM U.S. Cellular Arena

Thu. Apr. 1 Practice 10 AM U.S. Cellular Arena

FRI. APR. 2 GAME V. PHILADELPHIA 7:05 PM U.S. CELLULAR ARENA

Sat. Apr. 3 Game at Baltimore 6:35 PM CST 1st Mariner Arena

**Practice dates and times are subject to change. Please contact the Wave Media Relations Dept. at 414-908-6338 / 6339 if you plan to cover any session. Uihlein Soccer Park is located at 7101 W. Good Hope Rd. on Milwaukee's northwest side.

Upcoming Schedule: HOME GAMES in CAPS

Day Date Opponent Time (CST) Venue Broadcast

FRI. 4/2 PHILADELPHIA 7:05 PM U.S. CELLULAR ARENA 540 AM, WRRD

TV-41, WMLW**

Sat. 4/3 Baltimore 6:35 PM 1st Mariner Arena 540 AM, WRRD

FRI. 4/16 MISL PLAYOFF* 7:35 PM U.S. CELLULAR ARENA 540 AM, WRRD

* One-game semi-final playoff against opponent to be determined

**Channel 7 on Time Warner Basic Cable

Howes Emerging as MVP Candidate: Wave forward Greg Howes continues to assert himself as a potential candidate for the 2003-04 MISL MVP Award. The 27-year old Howes currently leads the league with 52 goals and 78 points. The fourth year pro from Oregon State also tops the league with eight game-winning goals. The "Howitzer" has been named MISL Offensive Player of the Week on three occasions (weeks ending 11/2, 12/7, and 3/7) and he was also honored as MISL Offensive Player of the Month in both December and February.

Green Among Favorites for Goalkeeper of the Year: Wave goalkeeper Dan Green has put himself in solid position for the 2003-04 MISL Goalkeeper of the Year Award. The 31-year old Waukesha, WI native currently leads the league's goalkeepers with a record of 16-3 and a 3.87 GAA. The former Northern Illinois star, now in his fifth season with the Wave, has won his last six decisions, equaling an earlier streak in which he won six-in-a-row from 12/14 – 1/10. He was also named the league's Goalkeeper of the Week for the week ending 1/4.

Injury Report: Pos. Player Injury Status GM – DLP**

D Troy Dusosky knee questionable 1 – 3/25/04

M Leighton O'Brien abdominal questionable 8 – 2/22/04

* probable = 75% chance of playing; questionable = 50%; doubtful 25%; out = will not play

**Games Missed due to current injury – Date Last Played

Suspensions: none

Wave on Radio: All Wave games home and away may be heard live on 540 AM, WRRD ("The Word") with air time for each broadcast approximately 20 minutes prior to kick-off.

Wave on TV: The Wave has one more regular season game scheduled to be televised on TV-41, WMLW (Channel 7 on Time Warner Basic Cable.)

Day Date Broadcast Time Opponent

Fri. 4/2 7 PM Philadelphia

"Wave Insider" TV Show: The Wave's weekly half-hour television show "Wave Insider" may be seen on TV-41, WMLW (Channel 7 on Time Warner Basic Cable) every Saturday morning from 9:00 – 9:30 AM throughout the remainder of the indoor season, as well as throughout the upcoming Wave United outdoor season. The weekly half-hour show will include highlights and analysis from past games, previews of upcoming games, and interviews with Wave players, coaches, and other Wave / Wave United personalities.

Wave Notes: *The Wave is now 121-41 (.747) in its last 162 regular and post-season outings.

*The Wave finished the regular season 10-0 against the MISL's first-year clubs (6-0 v. StL, 4-0 v. Mon.)

*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.

*The 12/31 contest v. Monterrey was Coach Keith Tozer's 500th game as coach of the Wave. Now in his 12th 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 last year and 1-1 the year before.

*The Wave's 6-5 (2OT) win on 2/14 v. Dal was 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 this 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 is 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.

*The Wave's "Twin Tandem" - Todd and Troy Dusosky - has now combined for 298 goals (Todd 206 + Troy 92) and 323

assists (Todd 253 + Troy 70) for 621 points (Todd 459 + Troy 162), good for eighth on the all-time indoor soccer brothers scoring list.## The Dusoskys (Todd 410 + Troy 73 = 483) are also the highest scoring brother pair in Wave history ahead of the White brothers (Pat 165 + Erik 9 = 174).

## The Marinaros (Hector 1922 + Rob 8 = 1930) are the highest scoring pair of brothers.

*Joe Reiniger has tallied at least one point in 23-of-31 games so far this season and 354-of-375 career NPSL / MISL regular season contests. Reiniger still holds the league's second longest scoring streak at 105 straight games (ended on 3/17/02).

*Greg Howes has six hat-tricks so far this season (including a team-record five 4-goal outings) which ties the team record set by Joe Reiniger during the 2000-01 season.

*Howes current indoor consecutive games played streak is currently 159 straight (regular season and playoffs) is the second longest streak in team history. Michael King holds the all-time record at 161 consecutive games.

*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.

Upcoming Regular Season Milestones:

Player Milestone Needs All-Time Rank

2-Matt Stewart 50 points / 100 blocks 20 / 45

3-Lovelace Ackah 100 points / 300 blocks 44 / 33

6-Johnny Torres 50 goals / 50 points 22 / 13

7-Leighton O'Brien 50 goals / 50 points 26 / 10

8-Matt Schmidt 50 points / 100 blocks 20 / 27

9-Greg Howes 150 goals / 250 points 2 / 26

10-Pat White 200 points / 500 blocks 35 / 100

12-Chris Morman 100 points / 300 blocks 27 / 55

13-Michael King 700 goals / 1100 points 27 / 44 Goals: 6th (5th = 690) Points: 8th (7th = 1156)

17-Todd Dusosky 250 goals / 500 points 44 / 41

19-Troy Dusosky 100 goals / 400 blocks 8 / 73

20-Marcelo Fontana 100 goals / 200 points 11 / 40

21-Joe Reiniger 600 goals / 900 points 39 / 4 Goals: 10th (9th = 574) Points: 14th (13th = 931)

23-Giuliano Oliviero 300 goals / 550 points 23 / 47

Current Streaks: Games

Greg Howes 159 straight regular and post-season games (Wave)

Greg Howes 106 straight indoor / outdoor games combined (Wave and Wave United)

Matt Schmidt 78 straight regular and post-season games (Wave)

Matt Schmidt 106 straight indoor / outdoor games combined (Wave and Wave United)

Michael King 72 straight regular and post-season games (Wave)

Current Streaks: Points (regular season)

Greg Howes nine straight

Joe Reiniger eight straight

Leighton O'Brien four straight

Coach Keith Tozer: Now in his 12th season as Head Coach of the Wave (his 20th 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 558-351 (.614), including a 339-182 mark (.651) as coach of the Wave. The 46-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 five championship series appearances in the last six seasons. 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 @ StL.

Last Week's Recap:

3/25 @ Milwaukee Wave 9, Sockers 4 Attendance – 6,966

The Wave honored legendary goalkeeper Victor Nogueira prior to the start of Thursday night's game at U.S. Cellular Arena before going out and defeating Nogueira and the San Diego Sockers 9-4 in front of 6,966 fans. Marcelo Fontana led Milwaukee's attack with two goals and an assist as eight different players scored for the Wave. Goalkeeper Dan Green (15-3) anchored Milwaukee's defense by stopping 14-of-18 shots faced; it was the third time this season he out-dueled ex-teammate Nogueira as the Wave completed a four game sweep of the season series with San Diego.

Nogueira (13-18), whose number 27 was retired in a pre-game ceremony commemorating his 11 spectacular seasons with the Wave (1992-2003), was victimized for four goals in the opening period as Milwaukee built up an early advantage. Ex-Socker Matt Stewart scored off a rebound at 2:09 of the first quarter after Nogueira had initially stopped a shot by Michael King. Semir Mesanovic (3:58) and Matt Schmidt (7:30) both followed with goals on assists by Todd Dusosky to make it 3-0. After Paul Wright converted a free kick from 35 feet to get San Diego on the board, Fontana answered with his first of the night at 10:48 to put the Wave up 4-1.

Brad Flanagan pulled one back for the Sockers when he scored off a re-start pass from Wright at 8:22 of the second. However, the Wave pushed its lead back to three (5-2) when Chris Morman scored on a hard bouncer from 60 feet out with just eight seconds remaining in the first half.

Rookie Joe Hammes scored his first professional goal in the third quarter (3:28) to give Milwaukee a 6-2 lead. Nino DaSilva's power play goal off a re-start pass from Wright at 9:54 drew the Sockers back within three (6-3). The two teams exchanged goals to make it 7-4 before Johnny Torres and Fontana both scored against San Diego's sixth attacker to account for the final margin.

3/27 @ St. Louis Wave 5, Steamers 4 Attendance – 3,418

Joe Reiniger's power play goal at 6:54 of the fourth quarter proved to be the game-winner as Milwaukee topped the St. Louis Steamers 5-4 Saturday afternoon (3/27) at Family Arena in St. Charles, MO. Reiniger's goal put the Wave ahead 5-3 just before Mike Apple's tally at 9:08 of the final period accounted for the final score. Apple, who had a power play tally of his own earlier in the quarter (5:04) also had a chance for the equalizer on a penalty kick attempt following a controversial holding call against the Wave's Marcelo Fontana with 2:55 left in the contest; however, his PK attempt was off target and Milwaukee held off the ensuing St. Louis power play to claim the victory.

Chris Morman and Giuliano Oliviero each had a goal and an assist to pace Milwaukee's attack. Oliviero's score at 4:59 of the third capped off a four-goal run that put the Wave on top 4-1 before St. Louis began its comeback. Johnny Torres and Lovelace Ackah also scored for the Wave, which completed a six-game sweep of the season series with the Steamers.

Wave goalkeeper Dan Green turned in another outstanding performance to earn the victory as he stopped 16-of-20 shots faced. Counterpart Brett Phillips took the loss despite saving 19-of-24.

Wave United to Open 2004 A-League Campaign on May 14, 7:05 PM at Uihlein Soccer Park: Milwaukee Wave United, the Wave's A-League (outdoor) team will kick-off the 2004 season on Friday, May 14, 7:05 PM when it hosts the Edmonton Aviators at Uihlein Soccer Park. Coach Art Kramer's team, which finished the 2003 campaign with the league's best regular season record (18-10-0, 54 points) will once again feature many players from the current Wave indoor squad during the upcoming outdoor season. Call the Wave / Wave United Office at 414-224-WAVE (9283) for tickets or more information, or visit www.milwaukeewaveunited.com.

Wave / Wave United Camps: The 2004 Wave / Wave United Summer Camp Program begins the week of June 14 with camps at five different locations. All told, the 2004 Camp Program will include 57 different sessions in 33 locations throughout Southeastern Wisconsin and Northern Illinois. Highlighting this year's summer camp schedule is the 2nd annual Wave European Academy (held in conjunction with Queens Park Rangers FC) July 23-August 1 in London, England. Call the Wave / Wave United Office at 414-224-WAVE (9283) to request a camp brochure and registration form, or visit www.milwaukeewave.com. Campers may also register online at www.milwaukeewaveunited.com.

Check out the Milwaukee Wave Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Major Indoor Soccer League 2 Stories from March 29, 2004


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central