MISL 2 Milwaukee Wave

Wave splits pair with Dallas

Published on March 24, 2004 under Major Indoor Soccer League 2 (MISL 2)
Milwaukee Wave News Release


(Milwaukee, WI) The Central Division Champion Milwaukee Wave is preparing for another busy week as it winds down the 2003-04 Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) regular season. The Wave will host the San Diego Sockers this Thursday, March 25, 7:05 PM at U.S. Cellular Arena before traveling to St. Louis to take on the Steamers Saturday afternoon (March 27, 1:05 PM) at Family Arena in St. Charles, MO. Both games may be heard on 540 AM, WRRD ("The Word") while Thursday's tilt will also be televised on TV-41, WMLW which is also Channel 7 on Time Warner Basic Cable. The Wave, which currently sports a league-best record of 23-9 (14-2 home / 9-7 road) will have just two games left on the regular season slate (4/2, 7:05 PM v. Philadelphia at U.S. Cellular Arena, 4/3, 6:35 PM at Baltimore) following this week's action.

The Wave enters this week's action coming off a weekend split with the Western Division Champion Dallas Sidekicks. Milwaukee defeated Dallas 5-4 in front of a season-high crowd of 8,435 Saturday night (3/20) at U.S. Cellular Arena before falling to the Sidekicks 4-3 in Dallas the following night (3/21). Those results left the regular season series tied at two-games apiece between the division champions, with each team scoring 17 goals in the tightly contested series.

Thursday's game against San Diego at U.S. Cellular Arena will feature the Victor Nogueira Jersey Retirement Ceremony presented by WKLH 96.5. The former Wave goalkeeper (now playing for the Sockers) will be honored in a pre-game ceremony in which his number (27) will be formally retired joining Pete Knezic (5) and Steve Morris (11) in that category. It's also College Night at U.S. Cellular Arena with all college students (with I.D.) admitted for just $8. 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. By virtue of Saturday's 5-4 win over Dallas, the Wave has clinched 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. 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).

Tickets for all Wave home games ($18, $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.

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 26-year old Howes had three points (two goals and an assist) in two games against Dallas this past weekend, including a fourth quarter tie-breaking goal in the first contest that turned out to be his eighth game-winner this season, which tops the MISL. The fourth-year pro from Oregon State now has league-leading totals of 52 goals and 76 points. 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.

This Week:

Day Date Event Time** Place

Tue. Mar. 23 Practice 10 AM U.S. Cellular Arena

Wed. Mar. 24 Practice 10:30 AM U.S. Cellular Arena

THU. MAR. 25 GAME V. SAN DIEGO 7:05 PM U.S. CELLULAR ARENA

Fri. Mar. 26 Travel Day

Sat. Mar. 27 Game at St. Louis 1:05 PM Family Arena, St. Charles, MO

Sun. Mar. 28 Off

**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

THU. 3/25 SAN DIEGO 7:05 PM U.S. CELLULAR ARENA 540 AM, WRRD

TV-41, WMLW**

Sat. 3/27 St. Louis 1:05 PM Family Arena, St. Charles, MO 540 AM, WRRD

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

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

M Leighton O'Brien abdominal questionable 6 – 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 two more games scheduled to be televised on TV-41, WMLW which is also Channel 7 on Time Warner Basic Cable. Upcoming games to be televised on WMLW include:

Day Date Broadcast Time* Opponent

Thu. 3/25 7 PM San Diego

Fri. 4/2 7 PM Philadelphia

*All times Central

"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) each Saturday from 10:00 – 10:30 AM throughout the remainder of the indoor 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 119-41 (.744) in its last 160 regular and post-season outings.

*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.

*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 321

assists (Todd 251 + Troy 70) for 619 points (Todd 457 + Troy 162), good for ninth on the all-time indoor soccer brothers scoring list. The Dusoskys (Todd 408 + Troy 73 = 481) are also the highest scoring brother pair in Wave history ahead of the White brothers (Pat 165 + Erik 9 174).

Brothers Scoring List** (thru 3/21/04)

**highest scoring pairs of brothers

1. Hector (1920) + Rob (8) Marinaro = 1928 pts.

2. Rudy (931) + Randy (725) Pikuzinski = 1656

3. Joe (894) + Rich (13) Reiniger = 907

4. Daryl (886) + Don (1) Doran = 887

5. Mark (684) + Kirk (20) Moser = 704

6. Bob (455) + Mike (184) DiNunzio = 639

7. Danny (583) + Chris (50) Kelly = 633

8. Andy (499) + Brian (121) Schmetzer = 620

9. Todd (457) + Troy (162) Dusosky = 619

10. Bill (593) + Joe (25) Becher = 618

11. Michael (503) + David (31) Richardson = 534

*Joe Reiniger has tallied at least one point in 21-of-29 games so far this season and 352-of-373 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 157 straight (regular season and playoffs) is the second longest streak in team history. Michael King holds the all-time record at 161 consecutive games.

*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 22 / 48

3-Lovelace Ackah 100 points / 300 blocks 45 / 41

6-Johnny Torres 50 goals / 50 points 24 / 15

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

8-Matt Schmidt 50 points / 100 blocks 22 / 29

9-Greg Howes 150 goals / 250 points 2 / 28

10-Pat White 200 points / 400 blocks 35 / 4

12-Chris Morman 100 points / 300 blocks 30 / 61

13-Michael King 700 goals / 1100 points 27 / 45 Goals: 6th (5th = 690) Points: 8th (7th = 1156)

17-Todd Dusosky 250 goals / 500 points 44 / 43

19-Troy Dusosky 100 goals / 400 blocks 8 / 74

20-Marcelo Fontana 100 goals / 200 points 13 / 42

21-Joe Reiniger 600 goals / 900 points 41 / 6 Goals: 11th (10th = 561) Points: 14th (13th = 931)

23-Giuliano Oliviero 300 goals / 550 points 24 / 49

Current Streaks: Games

Greg Howes 157 straight regular and post-season games (Wave)

Greg Howes 104 straight indoor / outdoor games combined (Wave and Wave United)

Matt Schmidt 76 straight regular and post-season games (Wave)

Matt Schmidt 104 straight indoor / outdoor games combined (Wave and Wave United)

Michael King 70 straight regular and post-season games (Wave)

Current Streaks: Points (regular season)

Todd Dusosky seven straight – goals in five straight

Greg Howes seven straight – goals in seven 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 556-351 (.613), including a 337-182 mark (.649) 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:

Sat. 3/20 @ Milwaukee Wave 5, Sidekicks 4 Attendance – 8,435

Forward Greg Howes scored at 2:36 of the fourth quarter to break a 4-4 tie and his goal stood up to be the game-winner as the defeated the Dallas Sidekicks 5-4 Saturday night (3/20) in front of a season-high crowd of 8,435 at U.S. Cellular Arena.

The Wave initially jumped out to 3-0 lead on first quarter goals by Todd Dusosky (9:34 and 12:39), as well as a second quarter tally by Joe Reiniger (4:49). Reiniger's goal came on a shoot-out following a tripping penalty against Dallas' Sinisa Alebic that occurred when Alebic hauled down Dusosky after the latter was dribbling in on a break-away against Dallas goalkeeper D.J. Horvath.

Dallas began its rally when David Doyle scored a power-play goal at 9:53 of the second. Doyle's goal was followed by Kenny Bundy's score at 12:02 that put the Sidekicks back within a goal (3-2) heading into halftime. Dallas continued its run in the third quarter when Eric Dade (8:49) and Nick Stavrou (14:31) both converted to put the Sidekicks in front 4-3. Stavrou's goal came as Dallas was killing off a penalty to Patrick Shamu; it was the Sidekicks' first short-handed goal this season and the first given up by Milwaukee.

The Wave drew even (4-4) when Semir Mesanovic blasted a shot past Horvath from 35-feet out at 1:49 of the fourth quarter. That set the stage for Howes' game-winner, a right angle shot near the boards that found its way underneath the crossbar. The Sidekicks pulled Horvath and inserted David Doyle as a sixth-attacker with 2:25 to go and nearly re-tied it on a shot from Alebic near the top of the penalty area with less than a minute remaining. However, Wave goalkeeper Dan Green capped off a fine performance with a spectacular save to help preserve the win for Milwaukee. Green (14-3) stopped 10-of-14 shots faced while Horvath (9-13) saved 13-of-18.

Sun. 3/21 @ Dallas Sidekicks 4, Wave 3 Attendance – 6,226

Patrick Shamu's rebound goal with just 21 seconds remaining broke a 3-3 tie and propelled the Sidekicks to a 4-3 victory over the Wave Sunday night (3/21) before 6,226 fans at Reunion Arena in Dallas, TX. The Dallas win enabled the Sidekicks to split the season series with the Wave at two games apiece, and it improved Dallas' all-time record v. Milwaukee to 2-8.

Following a scoreless first half, Milwaukee opened the scoring on a goal by Greg Howes at 4:50 of the third quarter. Howes out-dueled defender Eric Dade for a long ball volleyed into the offensive zone by Lovelace Ackah before slotting a 15-foot shot past Dallas goalkeeper D.J. Horvath to give Milwaukee the 1-0 lead.

The Sidekicks responded with three consecutive goals capped off by Sinisa Alebic's tally off a restart pass from Chad Deering at 6:06 of the fourth quarter. Milwaukee answered on consecutive restart goals by Michael King, who deflected in a long blast by Howes, and Joe Reiniger, who drilled a 60-foot shot past Horvath at 10:58 to knot the score at three.

Just when it looked the game was headed for overtime, Shamu converted off the end board on an off target shot by Nick Stavrou. Horvath recorded his third win over the Wave this season (one with Kansas City, two with Dallas) while Milwaukee goalkeeper Nick Vorberg took the loss despite a fine performance in which he stopped 14-of-18 shots faced.

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 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 24, 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