Syracuse Loses Overtime Heartbreaker to Milwaukee
February 25, 2018 - Major Arena Soccer League (MASL)
Syracuse Silver Knights News Release
SYRACUSE, N.Y -- One evening after clinching their first playoff berth since 2016, the Syracuse Silver Knights (12-9) dropped Sunday's matchup with the Milwaukee Wave (16-6) 8-7 in overtime.
"Obviously, we don't want to lose any games," head coach Ryan Hall said following the loss. "But it allows us to know what our weak points are and we can look at the film, regroup and refocus."
The Sunday afternoon contest started off slowly for both sides. The Wave got on the board first with a goal from Isaac Pereya with 6:48 to go in the first quarter.
Milwaukee would carry that 1-0 lead with them into the second quarter, but that's when the Silver Knights started to get going. Ben Ramin netted his 11th goal of the year only three minutes into the period to knot things up for Syracuse. Two minutes later, team captain Bo Jelovac gave the Knights the lead off a feed from goalkeeper Andrew Coughlin.
The second quarter run did not stop there. With just over six minutes to go in the period, the franchise's first and second all-time points leaders connected when Ubiparipovic found Kenardo Forbes to extend Syracuse's lead to 3-1.
The Silver Knights seemed to be in the driver's seat until Angel Curial hammered a shot past Coughlin to cut the Wave's deficit to just one with 5:04 before halftime. However, Syracuse fired back with just over one-minute left in the second quarter. Joey Tavernese earned his historic 54th point of the season by beating goalkeeper Josh Lemos to give the Silver Knights a 4-2 halftime advantage.
In the third quarter, Milwaukee's goalkeeping kept the game close. Lemos made eight saves in the period and back-up keeper Rafael Dias saved rocket penalty-shot from Forbes while Lemos was serving a blue card. Daniel Mattos scored early in the third during a power-play and Max Ferdinand would follow up with a goal of his own draw even with the Knights.
The score entering the fourth quarter was 4-4, but spoiler alert: there was a lot more to come.
Syracuse came out firing. Ubiparipovic picked up his third point of the afternoon with a goal to give the Silver Knights the lead with 12:33 remaining. Minutes later, Jake Schindler got in on the action with his sixth goal of the season and widened the Wave's gap to two. The fun did not stop just yet as Captain Bo would beat Dias for his second goal of the game to give Syracuse a commanding 7-4 advantage.
After falling behind by three goals, Milwaukee head coach Giuliano Oliviero decided with over six minutes left in regulation that it was time to replace the goalkeeper with a sixth attacker. As a result, the Wave would hammer home three goals in three minutes to tie the game at 7.
"Milwaukee exposed a lot of gaps in our six-attacker defense," Hall said. "It exposes a lot of things we really need to focus on going into playoffs."
The fourth quarter would trickle down after Marcio Leite's game-tying goal and this game got the epic conclusion that it deserved. Unfortunately for the home crowd, it did not get to see a Syracuse victory. Fans would have horrible flashbacks of the season's home-opener against Ontario when the Wave completed its comeback with a rocket off the foot of Leite 1:12 into the overtime period.
Milwaukee escaped the OnCenter War Memorial Arena with an OT win over the Silver Knights, but now can look ahead to the 2018 Ron Newman Cup Playoffs. For Syracuse, the team has one more regular season matchup before the post-season and it will be a home game against the division-leading Baltimore Blast. Kickoff is set for 4:05 p.m on Sunday, March 4. For tickets and more information, call (315)-303-7261 or log on to www.syracusesilverknights.com.
Major Arena Soccer League Stories from February 25, 2018
- Wave Defeat Syracuse Sunday Afternoon in Overtime - Milwaukee Wave
- Ambush Finish Season with Loss to Monterrey - St. Louis Ambush
- Syracuse Loses Overtime Heartbreaker to Milwaukee - Syracuse Silver Knights
- Sockers Prepare for Tough Week with Blowout Win - San Diego Sockers
- Short-Handed Comets Lose First Game South of Border - Kansas City Comets
- Barracudas lose season finale - Rio Grande Valley Barracudas FC
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.
