Kixx lose game, but get playoff spot

The Kixx couldn't beat Milwaukee on the scoreboard yesterday but secured a much bigger prize - a berth in the Major Indoor Soccer League soccer playoffs by virtue of a tiebreaker rule.

The tiebreaking triumph came at the expense of the Wave, the 18-10 winner of yesterday's game at U.S. Cellular Arena in Milwaukee.

Under MISL rules, if at the end of the regular season, two teams are tied in the won-lost columns, the tiebreaker is the head-to-head record. But the Wave, currently 14-14, and Kixx, 16-12 with two regular-season games remaining, tied their season series at three wins apiece.

That deadlock caused a third determining rule for postseason - head-to-head point differential - to come into play. And the Kixx edged the Wave in that category by a mere point.

The second-place Kixx are just one game behind the first-place Detroit Ignition, who will come to the Wachovia Spectrum for the regular-season finale Saturday. The team's next-to-last game will be Friday in Baltimore against the Blast.

Yesterday, the Wave were powered by veteran Michael King's hat trick and Greg Howes' two three-pointers.

The Kixx got two goals from Dino Delevski and two-pointers from player/coach Don D'Ambra, Pat Morris and Genoni Martinez.