Force look to bounce back

It was fast, frenzied and furious. It was the Major Indoor Soccer League at its finest. Fans that tuned into Saturday's live prime time telecast of Game One of the MISL Championship Series Finals on ESPN2 were rewarded with end-to-end dramatics that produced a 10-9 overtime result for the host Milwaukee Wave against the second-seeded Cleveland Force.

The good news for fans catching that telecast, or those now thinking of giving it a try, is that they will have one more chance during this 2004-05 MISL season. Game Two of the Championship Series will also come to you live on ESPN2, this Saturday beginning at 7 p.m. (EST) from St. Louis' Savvis Center. It's a two-game series, meaning the 2005 MISL Champion will be decided that night. If Milwaukee wins, it's a done deal. If Cleveland strikes back with a victory, all bets are off, as the result will come down to a "golden goal" session that would immediately follow Game Two.

Professional indoor soccer has been around for approximately three decades in this country, and many close to the sport are calling the May 14 match-up one of the most entertaining pairings they've seen in years.

Take just a few of the storylines that developed during the game. Cleveland fell behind 1-0, then reeled off five straight scores to lead 5-1 midway through the second period. Down but not out, the Wave, led by two-time reigning MISL MVP and scoring champion Greg Howes, scored five of the next six. Howes at one point powered in four consecutive Milwaukee goals by himself.

The Wave claimed its first lead in more than 46 minutes of play, at 8-7, when Howes poured in his fifth goal of the game and 10th of the postseason. Cleveland got two more scores, making it 9-8, before the Wave completed the improbable comeback in front of a screaming crowd at U.S. Cellular Arena. Michael King, the franchise's all-time leading scorer, tied the match with 22 seconds left in regulation. The game-winner came from midfielder Johnny Torres at 6:05 of overtime.

Two members of the ESPN2 broadcast team for the game, Bill Clement and Al Pawlowski, have since commented that it was one of the most "exciting" and "thrilling" events either had covered in years. Howes, who had a goal featured on SportsCenter's "Top 10" that evening, said he believed the game could have re-aired Sunday as an "Instant Classic" on ESPN Classic.

Now, days before take two of the showdown, these rivals with 47 seasons of history between them are preparing to go at it again. If there was any lack of fresh build-up heading into this one, Cleveland head coach Omid Namazi might have provided the fuel for the fire on Tuesday when he said, "I don't believe the better team won on Saturday night. I just think that the MVP of this league put his team on his back and carried his team to victory."

Namazi, the reigning MISL Coach of the Year, echoed his players who praised Howes and Todd Dusosky, who tied a League postseason record with six assists, and the comeback effort shown by the Wave. But nevertheless vowed to play a similar game and this time come away with a victory.

Target Aaron Susi had three goals and an assist for the Force, leading his team in scoring, and putting forth a standout performance according to Namazi, who also recognized the work of goalkeeper Jim Larkin and rookie forward Kyt Selaidopoulos.

"I don't know if you can completely stop a player like Greg Howes, Susi said. "He gets a couple of good looks where I think our goalkeeper was blinded, and I think two others might have come off of deflections. I thought our defenders played alright against him. You can't necessarily shut him down completely. You just can't let him have five or six goals."

Susi, who came over to Cleveland after being waived by the St. Louis Steamers in mid-season, has been a consistent producer for the Force. He's more familiar with playing at Saturday's neutral site - St. Louis' Savvis Center - than perhaps anyone else on either team, and believes it plays to Cleveland's advantage. Both teams, however, have winning records in games at Savvis this season, which offers a more spacious field than either team's home arena.

"We're a run-and-gun type of a team," Susi said. "With the extra space, it's going to be tougher for them to stay with us and it should open up some opportunities for us."

Howes countered that idea. "With more space they've going to have less of an opportunity to put pressure on us, and that should lead to fewer turnovers and less counterattacks for Cleveland," Howes said. "They're used to playing on a smaller field in Cleveland, and they might again come out flying early. But as the game wears on, instead of having to run 120 feet from their position to the goal, they might be running 190 feet. Fitness could be an issue. But I don't think either team is going to use the field as an excuse."

What it really boils down to are a few specific matters. For Milwaukee to win its fourth League Championship, and snap a streak of three consecutive losses in the MISL Finals, it must keep that offense going - whether that means getting two more "dynamic" performances from Howes and Dusosky with help from players like King, Marcelo Fonatana, Giuliano Oliviero and Torres, or it must find the widespread attack it was better known for in recent years. "Todd and I have been different roles than we have been in years past," said Howes. "We used to always have three, four or five players on the top of the scoring leaderboard for the MISL.

"This year, as it has turned out, it has been more about me being a goal scorer, and as a goal scorer I love it. I had five this last game, I wanted six, seven or eight. But from a team standpoint, you'd probably like to have those three, four or five guys, instead of just two. Individually, I like this role. That, and I have tons of confidence in my teammates."

Defensively, head coach Keith Tozer has the system and the talent to shut down Cleveland if it can again limit All-MISL forward John Ball to just two shots and one goal and two assists, and force the opposition into the aggressive play that caused mounting foul trouble for Cleveland and second half power play opportunities for Milwaukee.

For Cleveland, the plan is clear. "We're going to have to get a little more stingy on defense and pay attention to Howes," Namazi said. "Todd (Dusosky) sets him up, but in the flow of play, Howes creates plenty on his own."

Namazi calls Howes "the most complete player" in the game today. But Namazi admits he doesn't really like the idea of man-to-man marking of the Milwaukee star or any player for that matter. He would rather see his defense do a better job of pushing the 28-year-old striker into areas on the field in which he's less comfortable and force him to take his cracks at the goal from there. "You can't double-team or triple-team in indoor soccer unless the ball is dropped into the corner for a target player, and Greg is not playing that much target right now," he said. "We can't be too slow rotating, and we have to get behind the ball on defense."

Another area where Cleveland must cut its losses is in its number of fouls. The Force was charged with 31 in the game to the Wave's 16, was issued four blue cards to Milwaukee's three, and hit with three misconducts to the Wave's one. A yellow issued to Ball in the third quarter cost the Cleveland captain and energy source five minutes in the box as the momentum continued to swing Milwaukee's way.

Similar to Ball, Cleveland target Chris Handsor is a veteran of 10 seasons in the League with a few championships to his credit. He contributed an assist off the boards to Antonio Sutton in the first quarter, and scored what appeared at the time to be the game-winner with 2:55 left in the fourth.

"We had mental breakdowns," Handsor said in explaining the loss. "At times we have to have guys to settle the game down. At times we have to put the game away. We had way too many guys get excited. Personally, I take responsibility for not speaking out enough during the game to get guys to settle down, to settle the team down."

2004 MISL Championship Series Most Valuable Player Scott Hileman, a goalkeeper and teammate of Handsor's on Baltimore's second of consecutive title-winning teams. He retired over the summer following a distinguished career in the league.

"It was a good game to watch," Hileman said. "Cleveland did what it was trying to do. It did a good job of executing its opportunities and Aaron Susi has become a pretty key player for them. I thought John Ball played a really good game myself. He's the type of player that can win balls and create havoc with his work rate.

"In my opinion, the biggest play of the game was a block late in the game on Cleveland (All-MISL) defender Genoni Martinez. For me as a goalkeeper, it was a play that really stuck out. It probably would have been a goal, and the player getting the block was Greg Howes. When you have your leading scorer getting back and blocking those kinds of shots & what are you going to do?"

Hileman, and most others asked, predict a lower scoring Game Two. But that will only occur only if Howes, Dusosky & Co. can be slowed. Milwaukee held a 50-32 shots advantage in Game One, against a Cleveland team that led the league in average goals (six) and shots (33) during the regular season.

Howes took 18 shots on Saturday. "Over the course of the year, I took around seven or eight shots per game," Howes said. "After I scored the goal that made it 5-3, I was trying to explain to Todd the excitement of that moment. We were still down 5-3, but for me it felt like the Finals had officially started."

Howes said he could feel his legs and overall fitness improving as the game ensured.

"We got 50 shots?" Howes then asked. "Our goal was to take at least 40."

"We battled back from a deficit and that emotion carried us," he added. "But with our Finals, that win won't have any real meaning unless we also win Game Two."