Wisconsin Soccer Central

The Milwaukee Wave had the lead at halftime of their Major Arena Soccer League Central Division playoff opener Thursday night, but the host Chicago Mustangs made quite a statement in the second 30 minutes.

The third-seed Mustangs, last season's Professional Arena Soccer League champions, shut out the Wave in the second half en route to a 6-3 victory in Game 1 of the teams' two-game series at Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates, Ill.

Second-seeded Milwaukee must win Game 2, which is March 7 at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena, and then win a 15-minute mini-game immediately following the march in order to advance to the Central final against the Missouri Comets.

The three goals matched the lowest-scoring game of the season for Milwaukee (13-8), which averaged 11.5 goals over its final six regular-season matches.

“We played a team tonight that just wanted it a lot more than we did," Wave coach Giuliano Oliviero said in a news release. "I don’t think all of our players realize that this is the playoffs, this is another level, and you've got to play that much harder in the postseason. We didn't do that in the second half."

Stefan St. Louis twice gave the visitors the lead in a back-and-forth first half, with former Wave players Hewerton Moreira and Matt Stewart answering for the Mustangs (12-9). Ian Bennett's goal – his 37th in 21 games this season – put Milwaukee ahead 3-2 heading into halftime, but the Wave wouldn't score again.

Moreira pulled Chicago level with his 16th goal in the third quarter, then set up Efrain Wilo Martinez's go-ahead goal 4:19 into the fourth. Taylor Bond sealed the victory, scoring twice in a 2-minute span, the latter into an empty net with 3:37 remaining.

"They won every 50/50 ball, they won every tackle, they went in harder than we did and it's the playoffs," Oliviero said of the second half. "If you don’t play hard in the postseason, you’re not going to go anywhere."

Matt Eisold (Burlington/Wisconsin Lutheran) made 15 saves in his third career start in goal for the Wave, while counterpart Jesus Flores stopped 18 shots to earn the victory.

The home team has come out on top in all three meetings between the teams this season – Chicago also prevailed 5-4 back on Nov. 29 in Hoffman Estates, while Milwaukee won 8-5 on Jan. 10 at Panther Arena. Kickoff for Game 2 is 3:05 p.m.

"The players don’t feel the best right now, I'm sure they are down," Oliviero said. "I know as a player I hated this feeling, so I'm pretty sure they are going to bounce back."