Wisconsin Soccer Central

The Milwaukee Wave head into the final week of the Major Arena Soccer League regular-season on an upswing, coming off a 9-7 victory over the Chicago Mustangs on Sunday afternoon at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.

Marcio Leite scored three goals – his third hat trick in the past six games – and Sean Totsch had a hand in three goals as the Wave (11-7) beat the Mustangs (13-6) for the first time in four tries this season. The teams will meet again in the Central Division semifinals next month.

"We beat a very good opponent tonight," Milwaukee coach Giuliano Oliviero said in a news release. "We don't take Chicago lightly and will see them again in the playoffs. I can't say enough great things about our team and the attitude they displayed on the field today after suffering a loss last week to Missouri."

Coming off a 7-2 rout at the hands of Central champion Missouri (16-3) a week earlier, the Wave hit the ground running against the Mustangs. Leite had two goals as they took a 4-2 halftime lead, and a five-goal burst in the opening 8 minutes of the second half extended the lead out to 9-4.

Leite capped his hat trick with his 14th goal of the season 4:13 into the second half, Ian Bennett scored on a penalty shootout 20 seconds later and rookie defender Stuart Grable (Neenah/UW-Green Bay) added his second of the season at 7:18 of the third.

Chicago, which was without former Mexican national team striker Aldolfo "Bofo" Bautista (18 goals and six assists in 11 games) due to a red card suspension, scored three times in the final quarter but Milwaukee held on to send the crowd of 2,860 home happy.

Bennett is tied for second in the MASL with 32 goals, four fewer than the career high he set last season. He's scored in 16 of the Wave's 18 games this season, including the past 12 matches.

Milwaukee renews its rivalry with another storied indoor franchise on Thursday night, as it faces the Dallas Sidekicks (7-10) in Allen, Texas – it will be the first meeting between the teams since March 2004.

The Wave closes out the regular season Saturday night at home against St. Louis (5-13), looking to finish off a four-game season sweep of the Ambush, and plays host to the Mustangs in Game 1 of the Central semifinals on March 5. Game 2 will be March 6 in Hoffman Estates, Ill., along with the mini-game tiebreaker, if necessary.