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Feb 18, 2008 from the AISL Newswire |
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Week 12 Recap-A Pair of Thrillers! Excite, Rampage Hold On For Wins
Two American Indoor Soccer League teams escaped with narrow victories last night, as the Rockford Rampage and Cincinnati Excite managed to walk out of the arenas after being given all they can handle by the so-called “underdogs”.
In Cincinnati, the Excite roared out to a 5-1 halftime lead over the Tulsa Revolution, which they extended to 8-1 midway through the third quarter. The Revs, who seemingly were getting over the effects of a 11 hour drive from Tulsa, came alive in the third quarter, narrowing the lead to 9-8 with less than a minute to play.
However, Matt Brienes’ fifth tally of the night iced a 10-8 win for the Excite (5-6) in front of a crowd of 553 at the Game Time Training Center.
Despite coming out on the long end of the score, Brienes was somewhat unhappy with the play of the Excite.
“We did the same thing in Tulsa”, said Brienes. “We lacked possession and were ignorant. We need to possess the ball better and have more discipline.”
The Excite’s Randy Walters scored a pair of one-pointers, and Shawn Rockey, Rick Wood, and Miles Sinclair each chipped in a goal of their own.
Dave Leung led the Revs (1-5) in scoring, banging home a two-pointer and a pair of one-pointers. Michael Poneys added a pair of one-pointers, and John Michael Waite and Dominique Nayaga each lit the lamp once.
Zac Van Frank got the win in goal for the Excite, entering the game in the second half in relief of starter Jim Adams. Stephen Hendrix took the loss for the Revs.
In Waukegan, the plucky Northern Illinois Rebels would give the league-leading Rockford Rampage all they could handle for the entire match before succumbing 4-3 at the Lake County Sports Center.
Amazingly, the Rebels kept the Rampage’s high-powered offense in check for much of the early part of the game, taking a 0-0 tie into the third quarter, until the Rampage finally got on the scoreboard.
The Rampage would score three consecutive goals in the third and early in the fourth quarter. The hard-working Rebels refused to quit, knotting the score to 3-3 with three minutes remaining in the final frame. However, Rockford’s Marco Sullo ended the proceedings with two minutes left in the fourth.
“It was a very good game, very hard fought,” said Rebels coach Salvador Morote after the game. “It went all the way to the end. I couldn’t have asked for much more.”
In addition to Sullo’s tally, Bato Radoncic would add a pair of one point goals for the Rampage (11-0) and Zlatko Zebic would score a one-pointer of his own.
Rafael Berretta, Marvin Ibarra, and Jaime Morote each scored a single for the Rebels (3-7).
Dimitri Meletis won his eleventh game of the season for the Rampage and Ahmed “Tommy” Hassan took the loss in the nets for the Rebels.
The American Indoor Soccer League will return to the pitch this weekend with two games. On Saturday night, the Massachusetts Twisters will face the Cincinnati Excite at the Game Time Training Center, in what might be the biggest game remaining in the season. The Excite hold a one game advantage over the Twisters for the final spot in the 2008 AISL Championship Game. Should the two teams finish in a tie, the Twisters hold the tie-breaking edge on the “Road to Rockford”.
In the weekend’s other match, the Northern Illinois Rebels will travel to Tulsa to take on the Revolution on Sunday afternoon at 2:00PM CST.
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Now in
it's third season, the American Indoor Soccer League has offices in West
Springfield, MA (Administrative) and Cleveland, OH (Media Relations). For
more information on the AISL, contact commissioner Paul LaPointe at (413)
569-0088 or director of media relations Rich Paschette at (216) 741-4144.
Information on the league can also be found on the AISL's official website,
www.aisl.org.
Questions or Comments? aislpr@aol.com
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