Outrage teams ready for season opener

Story courtesy TKO Public Relations

(May 15, 2008) - The Kalamazoo Outrage PDL and W league staff has been waiting a year for this day - the regular season opening night Friday May 16th. The PDL side is buoyed by a highly impressive 4 game unbeaten streak in pre season highlighted by the Old Burdick’s Challenge victory over the Michigan Bucks on Tuesday. They will take on the West Virginia Chaos at Mayors Riverfront Stadium starting at 8pm. The women’s side has been training hard for several weeks and is also looking forward to their first match. They will host the FC Indiana Lionesses at 6pm in the first game of the doubleheader.

Outrage PDL head coach Stu Riddle said the players are itching to take the field, "The work rate and attitude from the players in pre season has been outstanding. The results we have got show that we can compete with anyone but we will have to be at our best to beat a very strong Chaos side". The Chaos, coached by Riddle's close friend Englishmen Luke Ibbetson have also been in impressive form in the pre season notching 2 victories over Ashland Park FC and a Charleston (WV) selection. "Luke (Ibbetson) will have this side well prepared and versed on what they need to do to be successful at this level. His recruiting has been good and I expect a very competitive battle" said Riddle. While not giving away any hints on his starting 11 Riddle confirmed that former Sheffield Wednesday midfielder Scott Ellis had passed a fitness test and that he would be in the squad. "Scotty has had some trouble adjusting to the hard surfaces and thankfully his blisters are now healed. We are going to have some good players miss out on the 18 man squad which is a great position for this club to be in strength and depth wise".

The club also announced today that striker Troy Mellanson has been called into the Antigua National Team camp. Mellanson flew to Antigua on Wednesday to meet up with his teammates as they prepare for their World Cup Qualifiers against Cuba.

The women’s side coached by current Central Michigan head coach Tony Ditucci is also itching to take the field. The women are comprised of mainly local talent with most girls coming from Portage, Kalamazoo, Mattawan or WMU. Several girls have previous W League experience and along with the current and former college players on the roster, they are primed to compete. In their first game they will face another new entry into the USL in FC Indiana. The lionesses have won two National Championships in the Women’s Premier Soccer League before making the jump to USL.

Tickets are available at the gate or at SoccerZone in Portage (children aged 6-13 $2, adults 14 and up $3) and will get you into both games.

For information on the Kalamazoo Outrage visit www.kalamazoooutrage.com