Vaccaro

Cris Vaccaro, who in the disappointment of the Spirit's loss in the playoffs last April said he was retiring, is back in his old job, with an added responsibility.In addition to goaltending, Vaccaro, 35, will be new coach Dave MacWilliams' assistant. Vaccaro also will coach the Spirit's farm team, which will play in at least one local indoor winter league."I've wanted to become involved in coaching," Vaccaro said. "It'll be comfortable working with Dave. We've known each other a long time and played with and against each other."

Former players Pat Ercoli and Cris Vaccaro will be inducted into the Baltimore Blast Hall of Fame on March 6 at halftime of the team's game against Monterrey La RaZa. Ercoli, a forward, played for the original Blast from 1981 to 1985, and was the second-leading goal scorer (34) and fourth-leading point-scorer (49) during the 1983-84 championship season. He ranks ninth on the original Blast's all-time scoring list with 176 points and is tied for fifth on the postseason all-time scoring list with 43 points.

Goalie Cris Vaccaro's Spirit teammates believe it all comes down to learning tendencies. Their tendencies. Opponents' tendencies.That partly explains how Vaccaro, at 35 and in his 14th pro indoor season, is on the way to matching his performance last season that gained him the National Professional Soccer League's Goalie of the Year award."

COLLEGE PARK -- Paul Nisenson was one of the 20 or so students who waited in line last night to talk some more to Sonny Vaccaro. Vaccaro spent a lifetime, made a nice living and a far-less-nice reputation talking to young men Nisenson's age, on the cusp of adulthood, eager for riches and immersed in sports. For nearly all of those years, those kids were basketball players. Now, because he has something else to sell besides shoes, Vaccaro's audience is students such as Nisenson, a freshman from New Jersey, and some 200 of his classmates at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business.

COLLEGE PARK -- Paul Nisenson was one of the 20 or so students who waited in line last night to talk some more to Sonny Vaccaro. Vaccaro spent a lifetime, made a nice living and a far-less-nice reputation talking to young men Nisenson's age, on the cusp of adulthood, eager for riches and immersed in sports. For nearly all of those years, those kids were basketball players. Now, because he has something else to sell besides shoes, Vaccaro's audience is students such as Nisenson, a freshman from New Jersey, and some 200 of his classmates at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business.

After learning that he had been named the Major Soccer League's Defensive Player of the Week for the second straight week, Baltimore Blast goalkeeper Cris Vaccaro proved to be as adept at deflecting praise as he is at deflecting shots on goal."

Maryland Bays goalkeeper Steve Powers was signed to a 15-day contract yesterday by the Baltimore Blast and started last night's game against the Dallas Sidekicks at the Baltimore Arena.Powers, who has worked out 15 times this season with the Blast to be ready for a possible backup role, replaces veteran goalkeeper Cris Vaccaro on the Blast roster. Vaccaro was placed on the disabled list yesterday and must miss at least one game.Vaccaro strained a neck muscle Friday night against the Cleveland Crunch, when he took a shot by Dave Hoggan in the face with seven minutes left in the game.

The Spirit said yesterday that goalkeeper/assistant coach Cris Vaccaro will coach the club while head coach Mike Stankovic serves his three-game suspension for pulling the team off the floor to protest an incorrect call by the officials in Sunday's loss to the defending league-champion Cleveland Crunch.Vaccaro, who will not play during the stretch, will direct the team when the Spirit plays host to the Buffalo Blizzard on Saturday, Tampa Bay Terror on Sunday and Detroit Rockers on Jan. 18.Stankovic, who is still allowed to coach the Spirit during practice, will return when the team travels to Edmonton on Jan. 22 to face the Drillers.

It's Cris Vaccaro vs. Victor Nogueira. No. 1 vs. No. 2. A clash of goalies who once were traded for each other.When the Spirit visits the Milwaukee Wave tonight, Vaccaro and Nogueira again will be at opposite ends of the floor.How many times has it been? They have lost count.Vaccaro, 35, has been in pro soccer since 1980, when he came out of the University of Baltimore. Nogueira, 34, born in Africa and now a U.S. citizen, entered pro soccer in this country in 1982.Back in the summer of 1987, it wasn't Vaccaro against Nogueira but Vaccaro for Nogueira.

The look on Cris Vaccaro's face was different this time as he sat on his stool in the Spirit locker room.His face had the appearance of a gathering storm the night before, but it had a more pleasant look Saturday night.Just goes to show what a difference a night makes in the life of an indoor soccer goalie.After being shelled for 28 points in a 30-14 loss to the Buffalo Blizzard on Friday night, Vaccaro came back to tend goal in Saturday night's tidy 11-6 victory over the Detroit Rockers.

On September 15, 2006, WILBUR F. "Schilly" SCHILLENBERG, retired Baltimore City Police Officer; beloved husband of the late Ethel M. Schillenberg; loving father of Joanne Vaccaro and her husband Robert, Michael Schillenberg and his wife Maggie; cherished grandfather of Lisa Vaccaro, Robert Vaccaro and his wife Melinda, Andrew Vaccaro and his wife Theresa, Patricia Morano and her husband Steve, Melanie Whay and her husband David and Michael Schillenberg, Jr.;...

Just in time for summer, a Little Italy tradition has come to Canton. Now, when you finish your dinner at one of the many restaurants around Canton Square, you can drop by Vaccaro's for some sinful dessert. That venerable Baltimore dessert shop plans to open its seventh store this week. The others are in Harborplace, Owings Mills Mall, Annapolis Mall, Union Station in D.C., at 2000 Pennsylvania Ave. in D.C. and the original at 222 Albemarle St. "I think Canton is hot," says Maria Vaccaro, who owns the chain with husband Nick.

IT'S A LITTLE before 9 p.m., and Chris Vaccaro has just arrived home from another nearly 15-hour day at work. The doorbell rings, dinner arrives, and while Vaccaro, the athletic director at Digital Harbor, should stop to eat, who's got the time? Rosters for the coming spring sports have to be readied, there are questions over whether there will be enough eligible kids to stock the junior varsity badminton team, and the baseball diamond at Swann Park isn't ready for his team to play. In other words, there's a ways to go before Vaccaro will be able to eat in peace.

The coaches"If everything is done in the summer, that becomes more important, and the danger is that the people who run the summer aren't under any rules."Mike Krzyzewski, Duke,the president of the National Association of Basketball Coaches"I tell kids, 'We're going to Hawaii this season.' Well, they've been to Europe already."Fang Mitchell, Coppin State"Too many kids think that, in order to be successful, you have to be an athlete, or an entertainer or a drug dealer."Meredith Smith, Southern HighOpponent"The NCAA has to realize, that as long as they're in bed with the shoe companies, they can't legislate morality."

For more than 30 years, Elkridge Community Association has lobbied on behalf of more than 400 homeowners on such issues as a controversial solid-waste trash transfer station and a single ZIP code for the area.That could all change -- not the purpose, but the name.Members are considering changing the group's name because the area the association represents has grown to include parts of Dorsey, Ellicott City, Hanover and Jessup.Members weighed in with their votes for a new name during the group's meeting Thursday night, according to Daniel Vaccaro, an association board member who distributed a survey.

Joe Mallia has no intention of stepping outside Baltimore, but the Spirit had to go all the way to Morocco to find his replacement.After Mallia decided to remain at Loyola College as a full-time assistant women's soccer coach and at least temporarily suspend his playing career, the Spirit signed Khalil Azmi, 33, of Morocco to a one-year contract.Azmi was the starting goalie for Morocco in the 1994 World Cup and has appeared in 73 international games. He played for the Charleston (S.C.) Battery last summer and the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer in 1996.

Just in time for summer, a Little Italy tradition has come to Canton. Now, when you finish your dinner at one of the many restaurants around Canton Square, you can drop by Vaccaro's for some sinful dessert. That venerable Baltimore dessert shop plans to open its seventh store this week. The others are in Harborplace, Owings Mills Mall, Annapolis Mall, Union Station in D.C., at 2000 Pennsylvania Ave. in D.C. and the original at 222 Albemarle St. "I think Canton is hot," says Maria Vaccaro, who owns the chain with husband Nick.

If there is a Major Soccer League goal to defend at the Baltimore Arena this season, former Tacoma goalkeeper Cris Vaccaro, not longtime All-Star Blast goalie Scott Manning, will be doing it.Tacoma general manager Earl Powell said last night that Vaccaro has been signed by Baltimore."

Citing a desire to spend more time with his family, Cris Vaccaro, the holder of every major goal-keeping record in Spirit history, announced his retirement yesterday, ending a professional indoor soccer career that spanned 17 years.Vaccaro's announcement came on the same day the Spirit announced the signing of goalie Jim McCombs to a three-year contract."This is the hardest decision of my life, but this chapter is closed," said Vaccaro, who plans to continue coaching at the collegiate and recreational level in Berlin, N.J., where he lives with his wife, Maureen, and their teen-age sons Christopher and David.

Joe Mallia will become the first goalie other than Cris Vaccaro to start a National Professional Soccer League playoff game for the Spirit when the club entertains the Philadelphia Kixx in the first round at 7: 35 p.m. tomorrow at Baltimore Arena.Vaccaro, who has been in goal for 740 of the Spirit's 787 playoff minutes, all against the Harrisburg Heat, the past four seasons, is recovering from a pulled hamstring and is questionable for the best-of-three series."Joe is playing well and has more playoff experience than Jimmy," player-coach Mike Stankovic said, referring to rookie Jim McCombs.