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Blast adds six new players for the 2009-10 roster; NISL changes name
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Courtesy of the Baltimore Blast:
Baltimore Blast President and General Manager Kevin Healey announced today that the team has signed six players for the upcoming 2009-10 season, including forward Lucio Gonzaga who won a championship with the Blast in 2008, and forward Rod Dyachenko and defender Michael Dello-Russo who played in Major League Soccer. Forwards Max Ferdinand and Adriano Dos Santos and defender Logan Alexander will also join the defending champions when they take the field on November 13th to open the season at 1st Mariner Arena against the Rockford Rampage.
Gonzaga, who spent the 2008-09 season with the New Jersey Ironmen (XSL), was a member of Baltimore ’s 2008 championship team. He was the XSL Offensive Player of the Year and an All-XSL selection last season after recording 63 points in 19 games. Gonzaga led the XSL with 23 goals and eight three-point goals and tied to lead the league with four game-winning goals. During Baltimore ’s 2008 playoff run he was the only Blast player to score a goal in each of the team’s five postseason games.
Dyachenko played 27 games for the Minnesota Thunder (USL) this summer, recording two goals and four assists for eight points. Prior to joining the Thunder he spent most of three seasons with D.C. United after he was selected by United in the 2006 MLS SuperDraft. A former UNLV standout, Dyachenko recorded 23 goals in four years for the Rebels and was named the 2005 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Player of the Year following his senior season. He also earned three consecutive All-MPSF First-Team honors. Ferdinand, a member of the NPSL’s FC Reading Revolution, was a finalist in the Sueño MLS 2009, the nationally-televised player search. Dos Santos , who came to Baltimore from Rio de Janeiro , Brazil , previously played in the USL for Miami FC Blues.
Dello-Russo, a local product from Wilde Lake High School in Columbia, spent four seasons with MLS’s FC Dallas. A fourth-round selection in the 2006 MLS SuperDraft, he joined the Austin Aztec (USL-1) in August and saw action in seven regular season games. Dello-Russo played collegiate soccer at the University of Maryland and was the captain of the 2005 NCAA Championship Maryland Terrapins. Alexander, who played at the University of Alabama-Birmingham from 2004 to 2008, has been a member of the Bermuda National Soccer Team at every level from Under-15 to the full National Team. He also played for Bermuda 's national teams for cricket and field hockey.
Blast season tickets and five-game mini plans are on sale now through the Blast office. Single-game tickets are also on sale now and are available at the 1st Mariner Arena Box Office and at all TicketMaster outlets including TicketMaster phonecharge at 410-547-SEAT. Tickets can also be purchased online at www.ticketmaster.com. Tickets cost $30, $22, $19 and $16. For additional information on Blast tickets, call the Blast at 410-73-BLAST.
League changes name
The National Indoor Soccer League announced today that the league has changed its name to the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL). The league released its 2009-10 schedule in mid October and will move forward as planned, under the new name. The season will open in Baltimore on November 13 with the Blast hosting the Rockford Rampage in a rematch of the 2009 championship game.
“The National Indoor Soccer League (NISL) name served our league and teams very well during our 2008-09 inaugural season,” said MISL Commissioner David Grimaldi. “Recently, the opportunity to acquire the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) name and trademarks presented itself and we seized it. While changing league names after one year is not something we would normally consider from a branding perspective, we felt confident it would benefit our league and our sport. The MISL name and brand has tremendous historical significance, having been the name of the first professional indoor soccer league in North America . It is immediately recognizable in the worldwide soccer community and has terrific brand value. It pays tribute to our long heritage and was an opportunity we could not pass up”
The original MISL-style of professional indoor soccer was introduced in the United States in 1978 and is now in its third lifespan. Indoor soccer was developed to appeal to sports fans around the world. The fast-paced, fiercely competitive game is played on artificial turf on a hockey-rink-sized field surrounded by dasher boards and Plexiglas. MISL games feature multi-point scoring in which all goals scored are worth two points, except those goals scored on shot attempts from on or beyond the 45-foot arc surrounding the goal, which are worth three points. The indoor game is known for its creative dribbling, pinpoint passing, acrobatic goalkeeping, rugged defensive play as well as action-packed power plays and free substitution of players while play continues.
The MISL will consist of five member clubs in 2009-10: the Baltimore Blast, La RaZa de Monterrey, Philadelphia KiXX, Rockford Rampage and the Milwaukee Wave. The regular season will run for 18 weeks, commencing on Friday, November 13 with a rematch of the 2009 Championship game when the Baltimore Blast host the Rockford Rampage. The regular season will conclude on Sunday, March 21 and the postseason is set to start the following weekend with the top three teams qualifying. The second- and third-place teams will square-off in a home-and-home Semifinal series with the winner advancing to battle the top seed. The top seed will receive a bye in the opening round and will host the Championship Game.
Keep reading Examiner.com for the latest news of the Blast and the Major Indoor Soccer League.
