MISL 2 Milwaukee Wave

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Published on April 25, 2005 under Major Indoor Soccer League 2 (MISL 2)
Milwaukee Wave News Release


MILWAUKEE (April 25, 2005) – An exciting 11-8 win yesterday against the Baltimore Blast, clinched the 2004-05 Major Indoor Soccer League Regular Season title for the Milwaukee Wave. The win also secured the number one seed for the Wave heading into this week's semifinal round of the playoffs. The Wave will take on the number four seed St. Louis Steamers in a two-game home-and-home series this weekend, with the winner advancing to the 2005 MISL Championship Series Finals. The first game will be played in St. Louis on Friday, April 29, with kick-off set for 7:35 p.m. at the Savvis Center. Game two will be in Milwaukee on Sunday, May 1 at 1:00 p.m. at the U.S. Cellular Arena.

The Wave's 11 points yesterday were the most scored by the team in a regular season game in 2004-05. Goalkeeper Nick Vorberg also recorded the first goal of his professional career and became the first goalkeeper in the 21-year history of the Wave to tally a goal by throwing the ball into the back of the net. (Victor Nogueira kicked in two goals during his tenure with the Wave, 1992-2003.)

This Week's Itinerary:

Monday, April 25 – Day Off

Tuesday, April 26 – Practice 10 a.m. @ Uihlein Soccer Park, weight training 1:00 p.m.

Wednesday, April 27 – Practice 10 a.m. @ Uihlein Soccer Park

Thursday, April 28 – Practice 10 a.m. @ Uihlein Soccer Park

Friday, April 29 – Semifinal Game One - Wave @ Steamers, 7:35 p.m. – Savvis Center

Sunday, May 1 – Semifinal Game Two - Wave vs. Steamers, 1:00 p.m. – U.S. Cellular Arena

*Subject to change

Injury Report:

Player Injury Status

Troy Dusosky Knee Out - IR

Giuliano Oliviero Hamstring Probable

Wave vs. St. Louis Steamers

2004-05 Series: 5-3

Overall: 11-3

Greg Howes has been able to break down the Steamers defense this season, collecting seven goals and nine assists in seven appearances. On the defensive side, goalkeeper Nick Vorberg has won 4-6 appearances between the posts against St. Louis. In total, he has stopped 67-of-89 shots, with a 3.70 gaa in those six games. Milwaukee won the final regular season meeting between the two teams 7-2 on Saturday, April 16 at the Savvis Center. Angel Rivillo collected the first hat trick of his professional career, and Greg Howes added two goals and two assists to lead the Wave in the win. Milwaukee also took a 6-4 victory on March 20 at "The Cell," behind a four-point effort from Howes. The teams met in St. Louis on March 3, with the Steamers recording a 6-5 win. Joe Reiniger collected two goals and an assist, and Daryl Doran recorded a goal and an assist in his return to the Steamers line-up following arthroscopic knee surgery. The Wave won the first two matches of the season series, 6-4 (12/3) and 3/2 (12/11). The Steamers then bounced back to claim the next two games, 6-5 in double overtime (1/7) and 5-4 (2/4). The teams have traded victories in the last three games, with Milwaukee claiming 7-3 (2/19) and 6-4 (3/20) victories and St. Louis a 6-5 win (3/3).

Last Time Out: 4-23 @ Cleveland - The Cleveland Force got the early lead as Antonio Sutton took the pass from Gary DePalma at 2:24 of the first period. Milwaukee answered Cleveland's score with an unassisted goal by Johnny Torres, who sent a low bouncer off the left post past Cleveland's keeper Jim Larkin. After battling back and forth, the first half of competition ended tied at 1-1. The Force opened up the second half of the match with a restart goal by Aaron Susi at 2:21 of the third. Cleveland then scored back-to-back power-play goals by Susi (7:26) and Ball (10:02) following penalties on Ricardinho and Chris Morman. Adauto Neto keep Cleveland's momentum going as he converted at 16 seconds into the last period of regulation. Milwaukee then collected three unanswered goals by Angel Rivillo (2:34) Morman (3:07) and Greg Howes to cut the Force's lead to one. Cleveland responded and increased its lead back to two with its third power-play goal by Neto at 9:17, putting an end to the Wave's rally in the final period.

4-24 vs. Baltimore - The Blast took an early 2-0 lead off of goals by P.J. Wakefield and Marcos Chantel in the first quarter. The two teams then traded goals through the rest of the first half, tying the game at 5-5 headed into the intermission. Wave captain Michael King tallied the first goal for Milwaukee from the top of the arc off the pass from Marcelo Fontana (10:54). Baltimore answered as Wakefield tallied his second goal of the day, but a minute later Greg Howes found Todd Dusosky to cut the lead back to one. Scott Schweitzer tallied for the Blast before a double penalty on Joe Hammes and Wakefield awarded the Wave a penalty kick, that Howes converted at 3:53 of the second. Regis converted one more goal for Baltimore before back-to-back goals by Angel Rivillo (10:25) and Chris Morman (14:07) tied the game at 5-5. The Wave caught a break to take its first lead of the game, as a Wave shot deflected off a Blast defender and into the back of the net. Schweitzer recorded his second goal of the game, before the Wave rattled off three unanswered goals by Howes, Matt Schmidt and King. Schweitzer tallied his third goal of the match and Danny Kelly added another, but the three-goal lead the Wave had built was insurmountable as Pat White and Nick Vorberg both responded with goals for the Wave. Vorberg's goal at 13:31 of the final period was the first of his professional career.

2005 Playoff Picture Fully Developed: The St. Louis Steamers secured the fourth and final playoff spot on Saturday by defeating the Chicago Storm 4-2. The Cleveland Force wrapped up the number two seed and the Philadelphia KiXX the number three seed. With its win on Sunday, Milwaukee took the number one seed, as well as the Regular Season title. The 2005 playoffs mark the twelfth consecutive post season appearance for the Wave under the direction of head coach Keith Tozer. In those twelve years, the Wave has won three league titles (1997-98, 1999-2000, 2000-01) and has made six Championship Series appearances. This season the playoffs take on a new look, with the top four teams qualifying. The four teams will compete in a two-game, home-and-home series (April 29-May 1), with St. Louis drawing Milwaukee and Cleveland meeting Philadelphia. The higher seed reserves the right to choose home field for either game one or game two. Should the semifinalists split their two games, a "golden-goal" overtime period determines the series winner, which advances to the MISL Championship Series Finals.

Post Season Schedule

o Cleveland at Philadelphia – Friday, April 29 - 5:00 p.m. CDT at the Savvis Center

o Milwaukee at St. Louis - Friday, April 29 - 7:30 p.m. CDT at the Savvis Center

o St. Louis at Milwaukee – Sunday, May 1 – 1:00 p.m. CDT at the U.S. Cellular Arena

o Philadelphia at Cleveland – Sunday, May 1 – 4:00 p.m. CDT at the Wolstein Convocation Center

Milwaukee to Host MISL Championship Game One: Milwaukee Wave Chief Operating Officer Mike Lafferty and the Major Indoor Soccer League announced that the city of Milwaukee has been chosen to host the first match in the 2005 MISL Championship Series Finals on May 14 at 7:35 p.m. at "The Cell," U.S. Cellular Arena. The format for the finals is a two-game series in which the city of St. Louis has been chosen to host the second match on May 21 at the Savvis Center. If the two teams in the Championship Series Finals split the series, a "golden-goal" overtime period will determine the 2005 MISL Champion.

King Records 1600 Career Point Against Force: Milwaukee Wave team captain, Michael King recorded another milestone in his illustrious career as he collected an assist in Saturday night's match (4/23), giving him 1600 career points (includes seasons with multiple point and single point scoring). He finished fourth in team scoring with 32 points on 17 goals and 15 assists. The 41-year old also appeared in his 700th regular season game on December 3, 2004 against the Chicago Storm, making him just the fourth player to reach the milestone. He holds several Wave records, including games played (455), points (1320), goals (518) and assists (305). His career totals are games played (725), points (1602), goals (671) and assists (398).

Howes Looks to Repeat as MVP: Howes once again has been an instrumental part of the Wave's success, his stats make that clear. He led the league in several categories, including points (73), goals (41) and assists (32). It marks the second straight season in which the Tacoma, Washington native has led the league in both points and goals. In the 15 Wave losses this season, the 27-year-old has only collected thirteen points, in four of the losses he had no points and he did not play in one because of U.S. National Futsal team commitments. In the 24 Wave wins this season, he knocked in 60 points, including 18 games in which he scored at least two points or more. The forward surged to the top of the rankings following a 12-point weekend in back-to-back games (2/25, 2/26) against Kansas City. In total, he tallied 30 goals and 20 assists in the last 15 games of the regular season.

Vorberg Makes Wave History: Wave goalkeeper Nick Vorberg made history in the Wave's 11-8 victory over the Baltimore Blast on Sunday, April 24 when he converted a goal at 13:31 of the final period. It was the first goal of Vorberg's professional career and the first goal scored by a Wave goalkeeper by throwing the ball into the back of the net in the team's 21-year history. Vorberg has been impressive in goal all season for the Wave, surging ahead of his fellow MISL keepers, making him a likely candidate to win ‘Goalkeeper of the Year.' It would be the first such honor in Vorberg's six-year career. The 29-year-old earned his league leading 22nd win between the posts on Sunday against the Blast, and continues to lead the league in goals against average (3.96) and save percentage (.762). He has won 13 of his last 18 games in goal for Milwaukee, including a six-game winning streak that helped Milwaukee vault into the top spot in the MISL. Vorberg was also named the ‘Goalkeeper of the Month' in December and February.

White Records 450th Career Block: Milwaukee native Pat White tallied his 450th career block in Sunday's match (4/24) against the Baltimore Blast. In two-games this weekend, the ten-year Wave veteran recorded eight total blocks and also added a goal in Sunday's game. For his efforts, he was named the MISL Defensive Player of the Week for the final week of regular season honors; this is his first honor of the 2004-05 season. His 50 blocks this season are second on the Wave team and fifth in the MISL. Last season, the 30-year-old defender became the Wave's all-time leader in blocks. His current career totals include 368 games played, 110 goals, 66 assists, 289 points and 452 blocks.

Wave Defense Holds Strong at Top of the League: Milwaukee currently boasts the top defensive attack behind MISL leading goalkeeper Nick Vorberg with a 3.96 goals-against average. Vorberg has recorded 22 wins in 32 appearances between the posts for the Wave. The team also leads the league in goals against average, allowing opponents to convert just 4.4 goals per game on average; the next lowest team is Philadelphia (5.0). Milwaukee is also the most effective in the league on the man down team, killing an opponents power play 65% of the time. The Wave has also held opponents to just 70 goals in its last 17 games, while Milwaukee's offense has exploded for 111 goals.

2005 Summer Soccer Camps Just Around the Corner: The Milwaukee Wave and Wave United, Wisconsin's premiere soccer organizations, announced the celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the Wave Summer Soccer Camp Program. The program began in 1984, skipping only one summer, and has provided quality, personal instruction to soccer enthusiasts for 20 years. The dates and locations for the 2005 Wave Summer Soccer Camp Program presented by Piggly Wiggly were also released.

For more information and to receive a camp brochure or registration form, contact the Milwaukee Wave at 414-224-WAVE (9283). Campers can also register online at www.milwaukeewave.com by following the Camps & Clinics link on the left-side navigation bar. The online registration site is secured through VeriSign.

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Major Indoor Soccer League 2 Stories from April 25, 2005


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