Kalamazoo tops West Michigan, 2-1

Story courtesy TKO Public Relations

Grand Rapids, MI (June 11, 2008) - The Kalamazoo Outrage PDL side improved to 5-2-1 and jumped to the top of the Central Conference Midwest Division standings Wednesday night with a 2-1 victory over the West Michigan Edge in Grand Rapids.

Kalamazoo native Eric Alexander scored the winning goal in the 87th minute of play against his old club to cap off an excellent week for the Indiana University starlet who was also named to the PDL team of the week for his hand in the Outrage's 2-0 victory over Cincinnati on Sunday.

The Outrage made hard work of a match they completely dominated and had to wait until the 74th minute before Marco Stencel headed home an inviting Mark Briggs cross. Following good work from Terry Alvino and Tyler Rosenhagen, Briggs' curling cross picked out Stencel who powered his header firmly past Edge custodian Jeremy Clark.

Incredibly, within 2 minutes the Edge were level! Outrage defender Blaine Veldhuis could only flick on a Ben Pirimann free kick and burly striker Louis Stephens was in the right place at the right time to chest the ball down and smash it past Mitch Hildebrandt in the Outrage goal from close range.

The Outrage who amassed 18 shots on goal throughout the match finally got their reward in the 87th minute when Luigj Djokic found Eric Alexander at the back post with a beautiful cross from the left wing. Alexander gleefully headed past Clark into the top corner of the Edge net to send the traveling fans into raptures and his side to the top of the table.

Outrage Head Coach Stu Riddle praised his sides resilience "We know we should have won by more but we must shelve any disappointment and move forward to focusing on our next challenge. We showed great character and I always had faith that we would find a winning goal".

The Outrage managed the win with 6 players unable to suit up for the match due to injury, injuries Riddle hoped would not keep any of the 6 players out of this weekend's games "A number of guys had niggling injuries and we just didn't want to risk them tonight. We had the opportunity to use some guys who haven't seen a great deal of playing time and they did well".

18 year old youth stars Doug Raak and Noble Sullivan were on the bench for the Outrage but neither managed to get on the field "Ive always said if you are good enough you are old enough and had it not been such a tight game both lads would have made their debuts" said Riddle.

The Outrage have a tough 4 days ahead of them with matches away to the Ft Wayne Fever Friday night and then at home to Indiana Invaders in a re-scheduled match on Sunday night. The match against the Fever will kick off at 7.30pm at the Hefner Stadium in Ft Wayne, IN.

Scoring Summary:
OUTRAGE: Marco Stencel (Mark Briggs) - 74th minute
EDGE: Louis Stephens (Unassisted) - 76th minute
OUTRAGE: Eric Alexander (Luigj Djokic) - 87th minute

Outrage Line Up: Hildebrandt; Howard; Muckey (Veldhuis 45); Musa; Alvino; Briggs; Alexander; Simpara (Djokic 73); Stencel; Oatley (Rosenhagen 60); McGreal (Corricelli 65) Subs Not Used: Sullivan, Raak