MISL 2 Milwaukee Wave

Stirring Rally Gives Wave Bye, Sole Possesion of First

Published on March 30, 2008 under Major Indoor Soccer League 2 (MISL 2)
Milwaukee Wave News Release


MILWAUKEE (March 30, 2008) -- Playing on short rest and trailing 8-2 at half in the most important game of the season, the Milwaukee Wave didn't panic, and didn't shrink from the moment. They instead emerged from the locker room and unleashed a masterful half of indoor soccer, outscoring the Detroit Ignition 16-4 to win 18-12 and take over sole possession of first place in the MISL. They also clinched a bye in the first round of the MISL playoffs. Troy Dusosky, Greg Howes and Brett Wiesner each scored two goals, and Wave legend Michael King tied the game 8-all with career goal No. 708 as the Wave (21-7) poured it on against the stunned Ignition (20-8), who had won eight consecutive games.

Jamar Beasley scored 30 seconds into the game for Detroit and for the third game in a row, the Wave fell behind early. "We were down 7-2 in Philadelphia (on Saturday), and the big thing was, nobody panicked," said Wave coach Keith Tozer. "Down 8-2, same thing."

After beating Philadelphia 15-13 in overtime on Saturday, the Wave roared back to knock off their nemesis with an amazing rally that began with a meek goal in the third period. Howes, on the seat of his pants, tried to center a ball from the corner and it deflected off a Detroit defender into the net. From that point, the Wave fired nothing but rockets.

A quick restart by Giuliano Oliviero fed Dusosky, who smoked a left-footer to make it 8-6. Then Michael King got free on the backside and one-timed Jonathan Santos' diagonal pass to make it 8-all. Finally, Howes blistered a 3-pointer with 1:24 remaining in the quarter that almost defied description. On a restart, his shot cleared a sliding shot-blocker but stayed under the crossbar, all while bending away from Detroit keeper Danny Waltman. It found the far corner for an 11-8 lead.

Milwaukee pushed the margin to 13-8 before ex-Wave players Hewerton and Jonathan Greenfield scored to close the gap to a point, but then Marcio Leite delivered the final, crushing blow. Moving to his right outside the 3-point line, he hammered a ball back to the left corner that eluded Waltman's dive and slammed into the upper 90 to make it 16-12. Wiesner scored against the sixth attacker to cap it.

"To play and run into overtime last night, then get on a plane, then a bus, and then get down 8-2, it shows a lot of character and a lot of heart to come back and win the game," Tozer said. Howes finished with six points to go to 120 for the season, and Leite also had six points to climb to 76. Nick Vorberg made 14 saves to collect his second win in less than 24 hours and push his record to 16-7.

Friday, the teams meet again at Compuware Sports Arena in Detroit in a game beamed live back to Milwaukee on Time Warner Sports at 6:30 p.m. Finally, the Wave close out the regular season at 6 p.m. Saturday against La Raza de Monterrey at the U.S. Cellular Arena. It's Fan Appreciation Night presented by New Land Enterprises, and the Wave will give away prizes that include Road Runner high-speed data service for a year. It's also Midwest Airlines "Kicks for Tix" night, and one fan will win roundtrip airline tickets for two. If that's not enough, it's the final regular-season home game for Michael King.

Tickets are available by calling (414) 224-9283 or through Ticketmaster.

Check out the Milwaukee Wave Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Major Indoor Soccer League 2 Stories from March 30, 2008


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.

OurSports Central