Wisconsin Soccer Central

The Milwaukee Wave remained in prime position in the Major Arena Soccer League Central Division playoff chase, posting two victories in less than 24 hours this weekend.

Ian Bennett had six goals on the weekend and Tony Walls (Wauwatosa East/UW-Green Bay) added four as the Wave (10-6) dropped the Detroit Waza Flo 9-4 on Saturday night in Melvindale, Mich., before thumping the Wichita B-52s 12-4 on Sunday afternoon at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.

Milwaukee finished strong in both games, scoring five fourth-quarter goals in each match.

On Saturday, Bennett finished off a four-goal performance as the Wave snapped a 4-4 tie and sent the Waza Flo (3-11) to their seventh straight loss. After a back-and-forth first half ended with Milwaukee ahead 4-3, neither team scored until Zane Polack pulled Detroit level 4:02 into the final quarter.

But Bato Radoncic gave Milwaukee the lead for good 59 seconds later and newly acquired Stefan St. Louis and Marcio Leite also scored along with Bennett as the Wave put the game away. Goalkeeper Jeff Richey also came up with a huge performance for the Wave, making 30 saves to hold Waza Flo at bay in a match watched by 641 fans.

Walls led the attack on Sunday back home against the B-52s (8-7), recording his first career hat trick in front of a crowd of 2,000. Bennett, Radoncic and Luan Sales Oliveira each contributed a pair of goals as Milwaukee scored a season-high 12 goals.

Oliveira's second-quarter goals, sandwiched around one by defender Jonathan Greenfield, was followed by Walls' first of the day in a surge that gave the home side a 5-1 lead early in the second half.

Bennett scored late in the third and fourth quarters, boosting his team-best total to 25 – he's scored in eight straight games and is tied for sixth in the league in goals. Leite, meanwhile, had three assists after posting two in Detroit and now has 16 on the season, which is tied for ninth in the MASL.

Walls wrapped up his hat trick with an empty-net goal with 6:02 left, his 12th of the season, and J.C. Banks (Milwaukee Riverside/UW-Green Bay) picked up his 16th of the season with another empty-netter with 2:07 remaining. Goalkeeper-assistant coach Nick Vorberg needed to make just eight saves in the win.

The Wave moved a half-game ahead of the Chicago Mustangs (8-5) in the race for second place in the Central, behind runaway leader Missouri (15-0); however, the Mustangs have played three fewer games. The top three teams in each division qualify for the playoffs.

Milwaukee, which has four games left in the regular season, is off next weekend and plays at the Tulsa Revolution (1-11) and Wichita on Feb. 6 and 7.