Wave United Clinches Central Division Title
September 2, 2003 - A-League (A-League)
Milwaukee Wave United News Release
(Milwaukee, WI) Milwaukee Wave United, the Wave's A-League (outdoor) team captured the 2003 Central Division title as well as the A-League regular season championship by sweeping three games during the final week of the regular season. Milwaukee upended the Minnesota Thunder in its regular season home finale (3-1 on 8/27) before going on the road to win at Cincinnati (6-0 on 8/29) and Indiana (1-0 on 8/31) to finish 18-10-0 for a total of 54 points. The results enabled Coach Art Kramer's team to edge out Minnesota for the division crown as the Thunder finished 17-9-2 (53 points) by losing at Charleston (0-3 on 8/30) and tying at Atlanta (1-1 on 8/31).
Wave United also claimed the A-League regular season title by posting a league-high 18 wins, which was two more than Northeast Division Champ Montreal (16-6-6, 54 points), the only other team to earn as many points.
Milwaukee is now preparing to meet Minnesota in the A-League playoff quarterfinals (Central Division Finals) which will see the teams square off two more times in a total goal playoff series this upcoming weekend. Game One takes place Friday, September 5, 7:35 PM at Uihlein Soccer Park, while Game Two is slated for Sunday, September 7, 5:05 PM at the National Sports Center in Blaine, MN. The winner moves on the A-League Western Conference Finals against either Seattle or Vancouver in another two-game total goal series the following weekend.
Playoff Tickets: Tickets at $14 (adult general admission) and $10 (under 12 general admission) are available at all Wave ticket outlets, including the Wave / Wave United Office, 1040 N. Water St. in downtown Milwaukee, the Uihlein Soccer Park Ticket Office, all TicketMaster outlets, and through phone charge at 414-276-4545. Groups of 10 or more should contact the Wave / Wave United Group Sales Dept. at 414-224-WAVE for group rate discounts.
Special Discounted Tickets for September 5 to help benefit "Huey Fund": A portion of the proceeds from specially discounted tickets for the September 5 playoff game will be donated to the "Huey Fund," a fund that has been established to assist former Rampage star Mike Huwiler with the expenses of his medical treatment and recovery. The Wauwatosa native, who played on the 1992 U.S. Olympic Team before beginning his professional career, was diagnosed with cancer two months ago. Special discounted tickets at $12 apiece are available through the Wave Office by calling 414-224-WAVE (9283) and mentioning the "Huey Fund."
Last Week's Recap:
Wed. 8/27 @ Milwaukee Wave United 3, Thunder 1 Attendance: 2,519
Wave United kept its Central Division title hopes alive with a 3-1 win over the division leading Minnesota Thunder in front of 2,519 fans at Uihlein Soccer Park. The win improved Milwaukee's record to 16-10-0 (48 points) while Minnesota dropped to 17-8-1 (52 points). The Wave United victory enabled Milwaukee to split the season series at three games apiece as Coach Art Kramer's team notched its first home win over the Thunder in 2003.
Rookie midfielder Nick Walls opened the scoring in the 21st minute when he took a long pass from John Ball and scored one v. one against Minnesota goalkeeper Brad Swenby. It was the seventh goal of the season for Walls, who has racked up all of his tallies in the second half of the campaign.
Forward Digital Takawira registered the next two scores in the 31st and 34th minutes, respectively. Takawira's third of the year made it 2-0 when he nodded in a header cross from Chad Dombrowski. His fourth of the season, which put Milwaukee up 3-0, came from 12 yards out off a centering pass from Greg Howes.
Minnesota's lone tally came on a penalty kick from John Menyongar in the 79th minute. He scored his eighth of the campaign when he beat Milwaukee goalkeeper Jeff Richey following a Troy Dusosky foul in the box on Marshall Morehead.
Richey posted five saves to earn his seventh win in eight decisions. Swenby, who took his first loss in three verdicts, had two saves in the first half before yielding to Josh Lynk in the second half.
Linescore 1-2=F Shots Fouls Off. CK GK (W/L, Rec.) SF-SA
Minnesota 0-1=1 15 12 3 3 Swenby (L, 2-1-0) / Lynk 9-2 / 2-1
MILWAUKEE 3-0=3 11 9 2 5 Richey (W, 7-1-0) 15-5
Minnesota: Swenby (Lynk 46), Wheaton, Hudson, Schulte (Eyre 46), Vorenkamp, Llamas, Willan, Kilickan, Mark (Menyongar 46), Tarley, Morehead (Branan 79)
MILWAUKEE: Richey, Troy Dusosky (Fadeski 79), Morman, Hammes (Lawrence 46), White, Ball, Aldrich (Dombrowski 6, Timbers 68), Walls (Schmidt 58), Rivillo, Howes, Takawira
Scoring: MILWAUKEE â 21 â Walls (7) from Ball
MILWAUKEE â 31 â Takawira (3) from Dombrowski
MILWAUKEE â 34 â Takawira (4) from Howes
Minnesota â 79 â Menyongar (8) â PK
Cautions: Minnesota â 64 â Vorenkamp
Fri. 8/29 @ Cincinnati Wave United 6, Riverhawks 0 Attendance: 419
Milwaukee exploded for a team record six goals in the first half to romp over the Riverhawks in a game that was called after 46 minutes due to lightning in the vicinity of the Town and Country Sports Complex in Wilder, KY. The win enabled Wave United (17-10-0, 51 points) to sweep the four game season series from Cincinnati (9-19-0, 27 points) and preserved Milwaukee's hopes for the Central Division title as Coach Art Kramer's team pulled within one point of the idle Minnesota Thunder.
Matt Schmidt, Greg Howes and Digital Takawira each scored twice for Wave United. Schmidt's header off a right side cross from Chad Dombrowski in the fourth minute proved to be the game-winner.
Goalkeeper Jeff Richey had two saves en route to his eighth win in nine decisions. It was also his third shutout of the season and the ninth for Wave United as a team. Cincinnati's Matt Reid also registered two saves for the Riverhawks.
Linescore 1-2=F Shots Fouls Off. CK GK (W/L, Rec.) SF-SA
Milwaukee 6-0=6 15 7 0 2 Richey (W, 8-1-0) 3-2
CINCINNATI 0-0=0 3 3 0 2 Ried (L, 0-7-0) 15-2
Milwaukee: Richey, Fadeski, Lawrence, Morman, Miller, Timbers, Dombrowski, Walls, Schmidt, Howes, Takawira
CINCINNATI: Reid, DiGuardi, Vehr, Micustan (Radcliffe 46), McAlpine, Monbeck, Rillo, Alavanjo, Matis, Wallace, Robey
Scoring: Milwaukee â 4 â Schmidt (4) from Dombrowski
Milwaukee â 11 â Howes (10) from Schmidt
Milwaukee â 31 â Schmidt (5) from Takawira
Milwaukee â 32 â Takawira (5) from Dombrowski
Milwaukee â 42 â Takawira (6) from Howes
Milwaukee â 44 â Howes (11) from Takawira
Sun. 8/31 @ Indiana Wave United 1, Blast 0 Attendance: 1,287
Todd Dusosky's goal in the 90th minute from Greg Howes was the difference in the contest as Wave United edged the Blast 1-0 before a rain soaked crowd of 1,287 fans at Kuntz Stadium in Indianapolis, IN. Dusosky, who was not inserted into the lineup until the 76th minute, scored from eight yards out near the left post after receiving a pass from Greg Howes, who had taken the ball down the right hand side of the penalty area to the end line. The victory enabled Milwaukee to claim the season series from the Blast with a mark of 3-1-0.
By closing the season with three straight wins, Milwaukee (18-10-0, 54 points) claimed the A-League's Central Division title as well as the A-League regular season championship.
Jim Larkin registered his seventh shutout by stopping two of five shots faced. Armando Femia, who replaced starter Matt Reiswerg at halftime, had one save of the four shots that he faced.
Linescore 1-2=F Shots Fouls Off. CK GK (W/L, Rec.) SF-SA
Milwaukee 0-1=1 7 16 4 5 Larkin (W, 10-9-0) 5-2
INDIANA 0-0=0 5 21 9 4 Reiswerg / Femia (1-10-1) 3-3 / 4-1
Milwaukee: Larkin, Fadeski, Morman, Lawrence, White, Timbers (Ball 61), Schmidt, Dombrowski, Walls, Howes, Takawira (Todd Dusosky 76)
INDIANA: Reiswerg (Femia 46), McMillan, Prosser, Pickup, Higgenbotham, Lucas, Tenoff, Lemons, Costa (Dolegowski 89), Quiroz (Dagnogo 82), Mucino (Beasley)
Scoring: Milwaukee â 90 â Todd Dusosky (11) from Howes
Cautions: Milwaukee â Ball (69)
INDIANA â Lucas (30), Lemons (61), Higgenbotham (79)
Injury Report:
Player Injury Status*
Jeremy Aldrich hamstring doubtful
Steve Bernal knee doubtful
Troy Dusosky toe probable
Joe Hammes groin probable
Anthony Maher abdomen questionable
*probable = 75% chance of playing questionable = 50% chance doubtful = 25% chance
Suspensions: none
Notes: *Wave United established a new season high (and an all-time Milwaukee A-League record) by scoring six goals in the first half @ Cin on 8/29. The previous team mark for a half was five v. Cin on 8/15.
*Wave United finished the season as the A-League's highest scoring team with 61 goals. Milwaukee also led the league in goal differential at +29 (61-32). The all-time Milwaukee A-League record for goals scored in a season is 69 by the 2000 Rampage, which is the only other Milwaukee squad to win as many as 18 games in a campaign (18-9-1).
*Goalkeeper Jim Larkin registered seven shutouts during the 2003 regular season, the second highest total in Milwaukee A-League history. The single season record for Milwaukee A-League goalkeeper shutouts is eight set last season by current LA Galaxy goalkeeper Dan Popik.
*Forward Todd Dusosky scored the first goal in Wave United history (46th minute from Jeremy Aldrich on 5/23 v. Charlotte) and the fastest goal in Milwaukee A-League history when he found the back of the net just 44 seconds into the match on 8/3 v. Ind. He finished second on the Wave United scoring list with 29 points (eleven goals, seven assists).
*Forward Greg Howes tallied 11goals and 12 assists to lead Wave United in scoring with 34 points. He finished fourth in the league behind Pittsburgh's Thiago Martins (51 points), Virginia Beach's Dante Washington (41 points) and Rochester's Doug Miller (38 points). He was also fourth on the team in minutes played with 1891.
*Despite missing the last three regular season games, midfielder Dino Delevski finished third on the team in scoring with 22 points (eight goals, six assists).
*Forward Digital Takawira's finished fourth on the club in scoring (along with John Ball) with six goals and four assists for 16 points. He is Milwaukee's all-time A-League goal scoring leader with 44 goals and 26 assists for 114 points. Takawira still ranks third on the Kansas City Wizards (MLS) all-time list with 28 goals from 1996-99.
*Midfielder Steve Bernal was forced to leave the 7/23 match v. the Bavarians with a left knee injury sustained in the 78th minute. He has not played since.
*Midfielder Jeremy Aldrich suffered a hamstring injury in the sixth minute v. Minnesota on 8/27. He has not played since.
*Wave United's 3-2 win @ Cin on 7/19 was the 100th regular season victory in Milwaukee A-League History (1997-Present)
*Midfielder Josh Timbers became the first player to appear in 100 Milwaukee A-League regular season games when he started @ Atl on 8/22. He surpassed former Rampage star Jason Willan (now with Minnesota) who had appeared in 99 games from 1997-2001
*Midfielder Matt Schmidt was one of just two players (along with Greg Howes) to play in all 28 regular season matches. He led the team in minutes played with 2304 minutes and finished sixth on the team in scoring (along with Nick Walls) with five goals and four assists for 14 points.
*Defender Troy Dusosky started every game until missing four of the last five due to a toe injury. He still finished third on the team in minutes played with 2016.
*Despite missing the six of the last seven games due to a groin injury, rookie defender Joe Hammes finished sixth on the club in minutes played with 1801. Hammes played every minute of every game from 5/23 â 8/9, a span of 22 games including the two U.S. Open Cup matches.
*Rookie defender Chad Dombrowski finished second on the club in minutes played with 2060. He was also second among rookie goal scorers with five, two behind midfielder Nick Walls who finished with seven.
*Rookie defender Steve Lawrence finished fifth on the club in minutes played with 1880 despite the fact he did not play a single minute in the first four games.
Upcoming Schedule: HOME GAMES in CAPS
Day Date Opponent Time (CST) Venue Broadcast
FRI.** SEPTEMBER 5 MINNESOTA 7:35 PM UIHLEIN SOCCER PARK 540 AM, WRRD
Sun.** September 7 Minnesota 5:05 PM National Sports Center 540 AM, WRRD*
*Tape delayed broadcast to begin at 8 PM CDT
**Central Division Finals (quarterfinal round of A-League playoffs)
Wave MISL (indoor) Season Set to Begin October 11 / Home Opener at U.S. Cellular Arena October 18: The Wave will begin its 20th season (its third in the Major Indoor Soccer League) October 11 against the San Diego Sockers at San Diego. Milwaukee returns for its home opener October 18 v. the Baltimore Blast. All Wave home games will be played at the U.S. Cellular Arena at the corner of 4th St. and Kilbourn Ave. in downtown Milwaukee. Season Tickets are on sale at the Wave / Wave United Office, 1040 N. Water St. Call the Wave / Wave United Office at 414-224-WAVE for more information, or visit www.milwaukeewave.com.
A-League Stories from September 2, 2003
- Wave United Clinches Central Division Title - Milwaukee Wave United
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