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IGNITION DROP GAME 1 TO LA RAZA, 15-11, IN MEXICO

(Monterrey, Mexico – April 18, 2008) – The regular-season champion Detroit Ignition dropped Game 1 of the 2008 MISL Championship Series Semifinal round to the fourth-seeded La Raza de Monterrey tonight in Mexico. The two clubs will meet again for Game 2 on Sunday, April 20 at Compuware Arena. If necessary, a sudden death “Golden Goal” mini-match series tiebreaker will be played immediately following Game 2.

Just over three minutes into the match, forward Byron Alvarez put the home team on the board with a two-point goal off a pass from Dino Delevski. The Ignition didn’t let the early deficit keep them down for long, as Hewerton, Mike Apple and Ryan Mack each netted a goal to put the Ignition up 6-2 going into the second quarter.

At 5:14 of the second, Mack put a two-point shot past Monterrey keeper Jose Bontti to give Detroit a six point lead. At 8:06, Ivan Paredes added two more points for La Raza off a give from defender Genoni Martinez, cutting Detroit’s lead to four going into halftime.

The score remained at 8-4 until 8:33 of the third quarter, when Monterrey midfielder Victor Negrete booted an unassisted two-pointer past Danny Waltman. The Ignition didn’t let La Raza gain any momentum from the score - Vahid Assadpour buried an unassisted three-point tally just six seconds later to give Detroit an 11-6 lead at the end of the third.

The Delevski to Alvarez combination struck again just over two minutes in to the fourth quarter, cutting the Ignition’s lead to three. At 5:15, Alvarez scored his third goal of the match to bring La Raza within one. Less than two minutes later, Alvarez tallied a fourth a goal to put Monterrey ahead of Detroit for the first time since the start of the match. With 28 seconds to play, Armando Teran sealed the victory for La Raza with a three-point goal that brought the final score to 15-11.

The Ignition will host La Raza for Game 2 of the MISL Semifinals on Sunday, April 20 at Compuware Arena. Sunday’s game kicks off at 4:35 pm (EST), and will be broadcast live on Comcast Television (Channel 900).

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