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MASL Milwaukee Wave

Busy Weekend Ahead for Wave

February 20, 2020 - Major Arena Soccer League (MASL)
Milwaukee Wave News Release


The Milwaukee Wave head out the road to the Kansas City Comets in their fifth and final meeting this regular season.

Kickoff is scheduled for Friday, February 21st at 7:05pm from Silverstein Eye Centers Arena.

The Wave sit at 3-1 against the Comets this year, which part the reason that this game bears great importance for both teams. For the Wave, it's all about locking down one of the top two spots in the Eastern Division.

Meanwhile, Kansas City is in must-win territory, with any loss possibly being a deathblow to their playoff chances in all but name only. The Wave have outscored Kansas City 35-23 this season and are definitely a major why the Comets are hovering around .500 with just a 9-plus goal differential (at time of writing) this season.

Still the Wave will not take Kansas City lightly, as the Comets always fight with grit and tenacity. Wave Coach Giuliano Oliviero made clear the challenges of facing Kansas City, stating "it's definitely a rivalry, I think we have played more than any other team in the last decade. It's always a battle with a lot of familiar faces and extremely high levels of talent on both sides of the field." Coach Oliviero stressed the toughness of the game considering the high stakes Kansas City has riding on every game.

Wave Captain Ian Bennett also stressed the intensity that will be on display the game, outright stating that it will be a battle. "They are going to put everything they into this game" Bennett said, "and we wouldn't have it any other way, because we are coming ready for anything."

The Milwaukee Wave will return home a mere 48 hours removed from a 1 game road trip against the Kansas City Comets to battle fellow Midwest rival the St. Louis Ambush.

Much like Kansas City, St. Louis (8-9) is in must-win territory to have any hope of claiming the fourth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Division. The Wave (10-4) meanwhile are trying to string together a series of victories to not only maintain their grip on third place in the Eastern Division, but also surpass Utica City FC, who (at time of writing) are not only the second place team in the division at 11-3, but are also riding a 5 game winning streak.

Speaking our winning streaks, since a 5 game winning streak that began on December 8th and ended on January 12th, the Wave are just 4-3, although they do come in riding a wave (no pun intended) of momentum after becoming the only team to beat the Eastern Division leading Florida Tropics not once, but twice this season.

Matchup wise, the Wave have dominated the scoreboard against the Ambush this season (the Wave have outscored the Ambush 20-11). However, the Wave are 2-1 against St. Louis, with their sole loss coming at home in an 8-7 overtime matchup on January 12, which snapped the Wave's aforementioned 5 game winning streak. In fact, no home team has won a game between these two this season, with Milwaukee winning the first two in decisive fashion in St. Louis. This will be the second to last matchup between the two teams, with the Wave scheduled to make one more stop in St. Louis on March 13th.

Although Wave Captain Ian Bennett may be one of the top goal scorers in the Major Arena Soccer League with 28, forward Max Ferdinand is more than making his case for Wave team MVP this season. Ferdinand is second on the team in points (31), just one behind Bennett, with 11 goals and 20 assists this year. What's even crazier to consider is that Ferdinand has had at least one point in every game this season plus last year's championship game, giving him at a team best 15 game point streak. Max remained humble despite his obvious and continued success saying, "I don't even think about that stuff, I just go out and give it 100% out there and do everything I can make sure the team wins, one game at a time."

Coach Giuliano Oliviero plans to bring the team's A-game for this very difficult set of matchups, both Friday in Kansas City and at home against St. Louis. Coach Oliviero said that due to the physical, "up and down nature" of their games with Kansas City, combined the "short turnaround with a long bus trip, which was brought to our (the team's) attention during practice this week, we have paid extra time to giving the players the best opportunity to have our best legs on the game field."

Injury-wise, Coach Oliviero said that both Rafa Dias and Marcio Leite would not be joining the team for the trip to Kansas City, with no indication if they would be ready or not for the match against St. Louis, but did state that both Daniel Chamale (who returned in this past Sunday's win against Florida) and Stuart Grable, who missed the last two games with an injury, would both be in the lineup against both Kansas City and St. Louis.

The Wave take on the St. Louis Ambush on Sunday February 23 at UW Panther Arena with a 1:07 pm first kick. Join us for our Doggy Rave with the Wave, Team Zoom Canine Entertainment & Sunday Funday! Bring your pup to the arena with the purchase of a special Wave dog ticket!

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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