BILL SEDGEWICK AND HICHAM AABOUBOU JOIN THE IMPACT

PRESS RELEASE: August 1, 2006

Bill Sedgewick and Mauro Biello are once again teammates.

MONTREAL – The Montreal Impact announced, Tuesday, that it had come to terms with defenders Bill Sedgewick and Hicham Aaboubou, before the July 31 roster freeze. Sedgewick is returning with the club after having played the 1997 and 1998 seasons in Montreal. The 34-year-old defender subsequently played the following seven seasons with the Rochester Raging Rhinos. He was released before the beginning of the 2006 season. He scored a total of 14 goals and added 18 assists for 46 points in 16,893 minutes of play over his career in the United Soccer Leagues First Division. He has won two championships with the Rhinos, in 2000 and 2001.Sedgewick was recently with the California Cougars of the MISL indoor soccer league and is joining the Impact on loan.

Aaboubou, a 28-year-old Canadian defender-midfielder originally from Morocco, played with the Laval Dynamites in 2006. He scored two goals with the Dynamites this season in the Canadian Soccer League and also played in Morocco, with first-division club Kawcab Athletic Club de Marrakesh.

“The addition of Sedgewick and Aaboubou will give us even more depth in the line-up,” said Montreal Impact head coach Nick De Santis. “Sedgewick is an experienced player who always has the desire to win. He is a player that has the motivation to play every game and he will be instrumental in the playoffs. Aaboubou is a good technical player. We mostly signed him in preparation for next season, but it will be good for him to be with the team this year.”

The Impact also announced that it loaned midfielder Ibrahim Baldeh to the Laval Dynamites, where he will have more playing time. Baldeh had signed with the team on May 9.

The Impact’s new acquisitions will be available for the team’s next games games, against the Mariners in Virginia Beach on August 4 and 6.

BIELLO AND BRAZ ON THE TEAM OF THE WEEK
Impact captain Mauro Biello and defender Adam Braz were selected on the United Soccer Leagues First division Team of the Week (Week 15). Biello scored the game-winning goal in stoppage time, last Friday, in a 2-1 win over the Silverbacks in Atlanta. Braz helped the Impact shut out the Seattle Sounders 1-0, on July 26, at Claude-Robillard Sports Complex.

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Source: Patrick Vallée, Montreal Impact
Info: 514-328-3668, ext. 27