Wisconsin Soccer Central

The Milwaukee Wave closed out the Major Arena Soccer League regular season with a 12-6 victory over the Detroit Waza Flo on Saturday night at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena, an interesting match that saw the home side score all but three of their goals either with an extra attacker or into an empty net.

A season-high crowd of 5,138 watched Stefan St. Louis record a hat trick and Ian Bennett, Marcio Leite and Marcelo Fontana add two goals apiece for the Wave (13-7), who swept all four of their games against the Waza Flo (4-14) this season and finished second in the Central Division behind the Missouri Comets (20-0).

“I thought we had a great crowd tonight and our players put on a great show for the fans," Milwaukee coach Giuliano Oliviero said in a news release. "There are a few things we need to iron out on the defensive end, but I think we are heading in the right direction."

The Wave faces the third-place Chicago Mustangs (11-9) in the two-game divisional playoff series, with Game 1 at 7 p.m. Thursday in Hoffman Estates, Ill. Game 2 is set for 3:05 p.m. March 7 at Panther Arena – if the teams split the games, a 15-minute mini-game will be played immediately after the second game. The winner advances to play at the Comets in the divisional final on March 12.

The Mustangs, who won the Professional Arena Soccer League title last season, beat the Wave 5-4 back on Nov. 29 in Illinois, while Milwaukee won the return match 8-5 at Panther Arena on Jan. 10.

Recently signed goalkeeper Matt Eisold (Burlington/Wisconsin Lutheran) made his second straight start for the Wave on Saturday, making nine saves on 14 shots. But looking ahead to the postseason, Oliviero decided to use a sixth attacker for nearly half of the game, rotating veteran defenders Jonathan Greenfield, Mike Lookingland and Victor Quiroz through the position along with Eisold.

"We've been a little unlucky with goalkeepers this year – we are on our fourth," Oliviero said. "We just want to be prepared for the playoffs and if we do have to pull the goalie, whether it's to get back into the game or we have another goalkeeper injury, we'll be prepared for it. I thought our sixth attackers played great today."

The Wave seized control against Detroit – which still has two regular-season games to play next weekend – with four straight goals spanning halftime.

The 41-year-old Fontana scored his first of the night with an extra attacker to start the run, Bennett scored his team-high 36th of the season just 46 seconds after the break, Fontana added his sixth goal into an open goal 1:01 later and Leite extended Milwaukee's lead to 8-3 with his first of the game midway through the third.

Leite finished the regular season with 17 goals and a team-best 21 assists in 16 appearances. The Wave also scored the final three goals, all into an empty net – Bato Radoncic's goal with 2:44 left came with both teams using an extra attacker and no keepers on the field. St. Louis had two of the late goals; he has eight goals and six assists in seven games since being acquired in a trade with the St. Louis Ambush.

Bennett, who's tied for sixth in the league with 36 goals, had to be helped off the field after suffering an ankle injury with just more than 1 minute remaining.

"At first, we thought it was really bad – he was slow to get up and slow to get off the field," Oliviero said. "Doctors reports say it is a sprain, to what to degree, I don’t know, but I’m confident we’ll have him for Game 1 of the playoffs Thursday in Chicago."