Soccer Spotlight:
Saturday, April 14, 2007
By Tom Hushen Philadelphia, PA - The Philadelphia KiXX are headed to Detroit to play for the MISL Title after defeating the Chicago Storm in Game Two in front of 5,327 fans, and then scoring the Golden Goal in overtime to clinch the series. John Barry Nusum's shot from the corner won the series 9:32 into the frame for Philadelphia. The club will now await the winner of the Milwaukee Wave-Detroit Ignition series. The Championship game will be televised live on Versus, next Saturday, April 21 at 4:00pm ET. Nusum began scoring for the KiXX on a feed from Steve Wacker, his first of the playoffs. Dino Delevski, the two-time MVP who scored last night in Chicago, put Philadelphia up 4-0. Genoni Martinez was credited with the assist, his 17th straight game with at least one point. Player/coach Don D’Ambra scored the third unanswered goal for the KiXX, putting the club up six just six minutes into the game. Mark Ughy finally struck first for Chicago, his second of the playoffs. Sandre Naumoski gave Philly an 8-2 lead on his first goal set up by Nusum. Chicago defender Randy Soderman pulled the Storm to within four at 8-4 heading into halftime. Ptah Myers scored his first playoff goal 10:20 into the third quarter, followed by a Fabinho goal for Chicago. After a scoreless fourth quarter, the KiXX would stave off the 6th attacker efforts of Chicago to win Game Two in the series, 10-6. The “Golden Goal” overtime period saw end-to-end action, including two posts for Chicago but the KiXX would prevail as John Barry Nusum buried his second of the game 9:32 into the frame to clinch the series for the KiXX. Philadelphia will compete in its first championship game since 2002. The win was the first for D’Ambra as a coach in the playoffs, who improves to 1-5. Notes: Philadelphia was without the services of Edgar Bartolomeu and Drew Kopp; both were forced out of action after each suffered a sprained ankle in last night’s game in Chicago. D’Ambra extended his point streak to 10 games. Scoring Summary:
First Quarter - Scoring: PHI 2, Nusum (Wacker) 2:45. PHI 4, Delevski (Martinez) 4:03. PHI 6, D’Ambra (Unassisted) 8:58. CHI 2, Ughy (Kletzien) 10:04. Penalties: None Second Quarter - Scoring: PHI 8, Naumoski (Nusum) 5:23. CHI 4, Soderman (Stewart) 10:11. Penalties: None Third Quarter Scoring: PHI 10, Myers (Guastaferro) 10:20. CHI 6, Fabinho (Stewart) 12:42. Penalties: None Fourth Quarter Scoring: None Penalties: None Golden Goal Scoring: PHI 2, Nusum (Unassisted) 9:32. Penalties: None |