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Figueroa Selected Offensive Player of the Month
Tuesday Nov 28, 2006
The Major Indoor Soccer League today named Cougars forward Vicente Figueroa the league’s Offensive Player of the Month for November. Despite playing in just four of five Cougars games, missing one due to injury, the reigning MISL Rookie of the Year has validated his first MISL season in which he scored 26 goals in playing 26 of 30 games, by leading MISL scorers and exiting the month of November with the early lead in the PUMA Scoring Champs race with 16 points in those four game, trailed closely by teammate Enrique Tovar, who has 15 points, but in five games rather than Figueroa’s four for the 2-3 Cougars.
In addition, Figueroa, a San Jose native, leads the MISL in three-point goals (2), power play goals (4), and is tied with Tovar for the MISL lead in total goals (6). The “cardiac cougars” as they could be nicknamed, have only scored first in one of five games, have shown their unquestionable offensive resiliency in November, when despite slow starts the club led the MISL in points per game (12.6), and 28 fourth quarter points. That fourth quarter output was most closely trailed by several units at 17 points in a quarter in the season’s first month, including their own team, who added 17 points in the first quarter.
“It surprises me and makes me happy. This makes me want to get back on the field and work harder,” said Figueroa on learning of his selection. “I thank my teammates and the fans for the support and I want to be part of a team that brings a championship to Stockton,”
Like his teammates, who have been economical with their touches near the opposing net, Figueroa has 16 points on only 14 shots through November, averaging an MISL-leading 4.0 points-per-game.
The speedy 5-6, 145 pound forward has already recorded a hat trick this season, that coming at Milwaukee (Nov.18) and earned his second career MISL Offensive Player of the Week Award (Nov. 20). The 29-year-old Figueroa now totals 32 goals and seven assists in 30 career Major Indoor Soccer League games.
GOALKEEPER OF THE MONTH
Sanaldo, Detroit Ignition, has lived up to his billing as the No. 1 overall selection in the 2006 MISL Detroit Ignition Expansion Draft, leading the Major Indoor Soccer League with his 7.72 points per game average, through the season’s first, as well as the Ignition’s first month of end-to-end MISL action.
Sanaldo, has blended with an Ignition defense, whose initial roster was not finalized until the waning days of training camp, to rank in the top half of the League in points allowed per game (9.3) shots allowed per game (24.3) and penalty kill percentage (66.7). One astounding statistic for Detroit’s Sanaldo-led defense is that through four games, the Ignition has allowed just one second quarter goal. In starting four of four games for the Ignition (2-2), Sanaldo has accumulated 257:28 minutes played, absorbed 59 shots-on-goal, saved 42, yielded 17 two-point goals while not allowing an opponent a single three-point goal from or beyond the 45-foot arc. Sanaldo’s 71.2 save percentage ranks second only to former Baltimore Blast teammate Sagu (76.9) and is well ahead of the rest of the MISL goalkeeper field. With a career regular season record of 23-23 in an MISL career that began in the 2002-03 season, Sanaldo continues to improve his productivity while maintaining his acrobatic style in net.
Before coming to the Detroit Ignition, Sanaldo was named to the MISL All-Rookie team with the Kansas City Comets in his first of two seasons there. With Baltimore last season, Sanaldo helped lead the club to its third MISL Championship Series in the last four seasons. Forced into the starting role in the Finals due to an injury to Sagu, Sanaldo was 2-1 with 40 saves on 45 chances for the 2006 MISL Champions.
This season Sanaldo was awarded the MISL Player of the Week award on Nov. 13 for the Detroit Ignition, his second such honor in as many seasons.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE MONTH
Troy Dusosky, Milwaukee Wave, has proven an overwhelming bright spot in an otherwise frustrating start to the season for the revamped Milwaukee Wave which has been plagued by narrow losses this month, earns the Major Indoor Soccer League Defensive Player of the Month honor for November, after having arguably the most productive month of any player at the defender poisition throughout the 2006-07 season’s first four weeks.
Dusosky, who is ranked fifth in the League in points (13), commands a Milwaukee defense and has improved his back-to-front attack, as is evidenced by his five, two-point goals, three assists, and five blocks on defense – all numbers which rank among MISL and team leaders among defenders.
Already Dusosky has two, MISL Defensive Player of the Week awards to his credit this season (Nov. 6, Nov. 20). Simply put, playing on a team with numerous new faces, Dusosky has been all over the field for the Wave. In securing the club’s first win of the season on Sept. 18 versus California, he scored two goals, and assisted on another, to help the Wave build a 12-point advantage in the fourth quarter with consistent defense against one of the MISL’s more potent attacks.
During the Wave win, Dusosky even spent three minutes defending the Milwaukee goal. He came through with a rare shootout save in the third period. Dusosky is a 30-year-old native of Anoka, Minn, and a 12-year veteran of the League having spent the last six seasons as a fixture along the Wave’s backline.
Dusosky’s impressive career regular season marks have increased to 118 goals in 319 games. This year, in addition to the impressive League rankings mentioned previously, Dusosky has scored at least one goal in each game. He leads the MISL in restart goals (two), and is tied for second in power play goals (two).
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