Milwaukee Wave In Missouri Tonight For Game 1 Of Playoffs

The MISL playoffs begin tonight, and for the past two seasons the Milwaukee Wave have taken the crown. They will look to hold off three other teams in order to capture their third straight MISL Championship. Their first opponent in their title defense will be the Missouri Comets, who finished the regular season with a 13-13 overall record. Game one takes place at 7:35 p.m. tonight in Missouri. Game two is set for Sunday, March 10th at 3:10 p.m. at the U.S. Cellular Arena.

"It's going to be tough because they're good offensively; we just have to dig deep play defense, and they'll be ready to go, but so are we," said Wave forward Ian Bennett on the upcoming series against Missouri. The two teams split the regular season series 2-2.

Game one saw Missouri tie the game late in regulation, and come out with a win in overtime. #22 Joe Hammes of the Wave put the Wave up 2-0 on a restart, but that was matched by #23 Byron Alvarez goal to tie things at 2-2. Missouri went on top 4-2 on a goal from #25 Brian Harris, but the Wave regained the lead on a three point goal from #7 Luan Oliveira. The Wave added one more goal to take a 7-4 lead into the second half. #27 Ryan Junge of Missouri tied the game at 7-7 with a three point goal of his own. The Wave went up 11-7 on goals from #10 Jonatan Santos and #28 Jonathan Greenfield. Missouri's Alvarez scored his second goal of the game, and then with a sixth attacker on the field Missouri tied things at 11-11, and the game went into overtime. In the golden goal overtime #15 Coady Andrews of Missouri put one in the net to allow Missouri to come away with a 13-11 win.

In the second meeting the Wave defeated Missouri 18-6. #4 Josh Rife and #24 Marcelo Fontana each scored a goal in the first quarter to give the Wave a 4-0 lead. No scoring occurred in the second, but Milwaukee got things going once again in the third, with goals from Oliveira, and Rife (his second of the game) to make it 8-0. A Missouri score by Alvarez made it 8-2 heading into the final quarter. Hammes and #14 Nick Perera scored to extend the Wave's lead to 13-2. Following those goals Oliveira and Fontana each added their second goals of the game to clinch the win.

The third matchup between the two teams went back and forth until Milwaukee pulled away late to get a 29-15 victory, and home-field advantage in the first round of the MISL Playoffs. Missouri went up 5-0 early on goals by Alvarez and Jeff Hughes. The Wave came back with goals from #25 Israel Sesay and #26 Ian Bennet to put the score at 5-4. Each team added another goal and at the end of the first quarter it was 7-6. #7 Vahid Assadpour pushed Missouri to a 9-6 lead, but the Wave's Fontana cut the deficit to 9-8 with a goal of his own. Harris scored for Missouri, but Wave goals by #79 Hewerton and #21 Giuliano Oliviero gave the Wave a 12-11 halftime lead. Missouri's Assadpour and Milwaukee's Oliveira scored their second goals of the contest, and #8 Fabinho of the Wave hit a three point shot to give them a 17-13 advantage heading into the final quarter. #14 Leo Gibson from Missouri nailed a two point shot to make things interesting at 17-15, but the Wave ran away with the game, scoring 12 straight points en route to the win.

The Wave had a 16 game winning streak heading into the two team's final meeting. That streak came to an end as Missouri won 17-9. Ian Bennett connected on two goals to put Milwaukee in front 4-0 after the first quarter. Missouri came back in the second when Leo Gibson scored two goals of his own, to tie things at 4-4 at the midway point. Missouri gained their first lead of the game in the third quarter on a goal from Byron Alvarez. #18 Bryan Perez of the Wave scored his first goal for the team to tie thing up, but #11 Mads Falck's goal helped Missouri regain the lead at 8-6. Alvarez added his second goal to start the fourth, but Bennett completed his hat trick with a three point goal to put the score at 10-9. That would be as close as the Wave would get, as Vahid Assadpour added two goals, and Gibson completed his hat trick with a three point goal to get Missouri the win.