DALLAS -- The Sacramento Knights don't play their first playoff game until Friday, but Monday the team scored two victories. Iain Fraser, the Knights' player/coach, was voted the 1999 WISL Coach of the Year and the 1999 WISL Defender of the Year.
"Iain is so deserving of both awards," said WISL President Gordon Jago. "Not only did the Knights have the league's best record, they did it by playing good old fashioned soccer. They played hard every night and were the league's top defensive club. Iain was the inspiration for everything they accomplished."The Knights, who logged the best record in the WISL this season at 17-5, will host the Utah Freezz in a WISL semifinal matchup on Dec. 3 at ARCO Arena. A win will put the Knights, winners of 12 straight to end the regular season, in the WISL Championship against the defending champion Dallas Sidekicks on Dec. 12 in ARCO Arena.
A Utah win will send the expansion Freezz to a championship match with the Sidekicks in Dallas on Dec. 9. The Sidekicks advanced to the championship round by defeating the Monterrey La Raza 4-3 in Reunion Arena on Friday.
Fraser, 35, is in his fourth season with the Knights and second as player/coach. In 1998 Fraser led the Knights to the championship game, where they fell to the Sidekicks 6-2 in Dallas. Fraser was also instrumental in holding the league's leading scorer, Preki, to just four shots as the Knights shut out the San Jose Grizzlies 4-0 en route to the CISL championship series in 1995.
In 22 games this season, the Knights allowed just 88 goals (4.00 per game).