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 The first 10 minutes of the Milwaukee Wave's annual New Year's Eve Day game Saturday went great for the home team.
But the rest of the afternoon belonged to the Baltimore Blast.
Max Ferdinand scored to start the Blast's comeback and assisted on the tying goal, Stephen DeRoux and Pat Healey had second-half goals and Baltimore blanked the Wave over the final three quarters en route to a 9-4 victory in front of a season-high crowd of 5,304 at U.S. Cellular Arena.
It was the first loss of the season for Milwaukee (8-1), which beat the Blast 16-7 in the 2011 MISL Championship Game last March in Baltimore. The Wave still have a significant lead over the Missouri Comets (8-6) and the Wichita Wings (4-7) in the Central Division.
Giuliano Oliveiro put Milwaukee ahead with his fourth goal of the season just 3:40 into the match and Nick Perera made it 4-0 with his sixth goal at the 9:41 mark. Yet that was the end of the offense on the day for the Wave, the league's top-scoring attack.
Ferdinand got East Division leader Baltimore (8-3) on the board just 34 seconds after Perera's goal with his 10th goal, then set up JT Noone's equalizer just 44 seconds before halftime. DeRoux, a former Major League Soccer player, put the Blast ahead with his second of the season late in the third quarter and Healey sealed Baltimore's third straight win by beating Milwaukee sixth attacker Josh Rife for a 3-pointer with 2:10 left in the game.
Wave midfielder Hewerton was held without a goal for the first time this season, after scoring in each of Milwaukee's first eight matches. Marcel Feenstra finished with seven saves for the Wave, while Sagu turned aside 15 shots for the Blast.
The Wave, who have played seven of their first nine games at home, play host to Missouri at 7 p.m. Friday, then hit the road for five straight matches before returning to U.S. Cellular Arena on Jan. 29. Milwaukee is averaging 3,518 fans per home game, ranked fifth in the seven-team MISL.
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