Excite to Meet Steamers in "Summit in St. Louis"

The Cincinnati Excite’s 2005-06 pre-season begins on October 29th, when the team takes on the MISL's St. Louis Steamers in St. Louis at the SAAVIS Center. Kickoff is at 7:05PM.

This will be the second time that the Excite has met a foe from the MISL. A year ago, the "Red and Black" played the Cleveland Force in a home and home series. Although the Excite dropped both matches, it was a good test for the first-year club. It proved especially profitable for Excite midfielder Connolly Edrozien, who signed a short-term contract with the Force directly after the game.

The Steamers, under legendary player/coach Daryl Doran, finished the 2004-05 MISL season in fourth place with a 20-20 record. The team was eliminated in the League’s semi-finals of the playoffs by the eventual league champion Milwaukee Wave.

More recently, the Steamers announced former Cleveland Force coach, Omid Namazi, as the team's new head coach – moving Doran to the front office while he continues recuperating from injury. Last season while with the Force, Namazi engineered a ferocious comeback that brought the team from last place in January to within an overtime loss of winning the MISL Championship. Also last season, the Steamers shocked the sports world by signing the MISL's first female player, forward Lindsey Kennedy. Although Kennedy played in just three games, she garnered some much-needed media coverage for the league, appearing in USA TODAY as well as other publications.

The SAAVIS Center will be, by far, the largest stage the Excite has ever performed upon. The 19,000 seat arena is not only the home of the Steamers, but is also of the St. Louis Blues and St. Louis University Billikens.

The Cincinnati Excite are a member of the American Indoor Soccer League, a "Division II" indoor soccer league with offices in West Springfield, MA (Administrative) and Cleveland, OH (Media Relations). For more information on the AISL, contact commissioner Paul LaPointe at (413) 569-1920 or director of media relations Rich Paschette at (216) 741-4144 or AISLPR@aol.com. Information on the league can also be found on the AISL's official website, www.aisl.org.