Kixx closing in on playoffs, redemption

With a little luck and a win tonight over the Baltimore Blast, the Kixx will have put last year's mess behind them and all but clinched a spot in the Major Indoor Soccer League playoffs.

"There are no guarantees," Don D'Ambra, the Kixx' player-coach and leading scorer with 26 goals, said of his team's postseason prospects. "But I think we'll make it. It's in our hands."

The Kixx (15-11) are in second place in the standings behind the Detroit Ignition (17-10). Defending champion Baltimore (15-12) is a half-game behind the Kixx after losing last night.

If the Kixx reach the postseason, they will have rebounded from a forgettable, almost regrettable 2005-06 season. They went 10-20 and failed to make the playoffs for the first time in the franchise's 11-year history.

The problems were attributed mostly to a rash of injuries. D'Ambra (hamstring and back) was among those sidelined. Frustrated, he ended up doing himself and the team no favors by trying to return too early.

"I ended up being out half the season," said D'Ambra, a North Catholic High and St. Joseph's University graduate.

Hitting bottom served as something of a wake-up call. In the off-season, the Kixx went to work searching for talent, with an eye toward youth.

"We wanted to improve immediately, and we had an opportunity to get these people," D'Ambra said. "We just weren't good enough without our full squad."

In Pat Hannigan, 24, a Temple and Frankford High product, they got a goalkeeper for the future. From the dispersal draft, after the Kansas City Comets folded following the 2005 season, they grabbed a strong defender in 28-year-old Casey Barton.

Two new midfielders also came on board. Edgar Bartolomeu, 30, who played for the Kixx from 2001 to '05, returned. Sandre Naumoski, 27, who spent last season with the St. Louis Steamers, was another pickup from the dispersal draft.

The key addition offensively, however, has been Genoni Martinez, 32, also from St. Louis, who has collected 64 points to join D'Ambra (69) in the league's top five.

"Genoni has a very hard left-footed shot, and he is good as a defender," D'Ambra said. "With Pat Morris, that adds a lot of skills. They are very effective."

The coach said he thought the team was too slow the last couple of years, which only was compounded when the injuries started to mount.

"It gets magnified then," he said, "so you are left evaluating. Young legs is one thing you can improve. This year, we are a younger, fitter team."

The result has been a "good year," as D'Ambra sees it.

With only the California Cougars (6-21) definitely out of the four-team playoffs, D'Ambra sees this evening's game against the Blast as a "must win." Scheduled for 5:05 p.m., it can be seen on Versus.