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 It's been a case of feast or famine for the Milwaukee Wave against the rival Baltimore Blast this season.
The host Blast blanked the Wave over the middle two quarters, rallied from an early deficit and held off a fourth-quarter rally as they posted a 17-13 victory over Milwaukee in a Major Indoor Soccer League game watched by 9,644 on Saturday night.
Greg Howes had four assists and Giuliano Oliveiro scored twice, the goals coming in a 22-second span in the fourth, as the Central Division champion Wave (16-4) lost back-to-back games for the first time this season.
Eastern Division champion Baltimore (15-6) have handed Milwaukee half of their defeats this season, beating the Wave 9-4 back on Dec. 31 at U.S. Cellular Arena. In that match, Milwaukee took a 4-0 lead, then didn't score again.
The Wave went ahead 4-0 again Saturday night on goals by JP Rodrigues and Marcio Leite, both set up by Howes, but Machel Millwood had a hat trick as the Blast scored six consecutive goals before defender Jonathan Greenfield ended the 12-0 run with a 3-pointer 5:56 into the fourth quarter.
Ptah Myers answered for Baltimore before Oliveiro struck twice, the first assisted by Howes as an extra attacker, to pull Milwaukee within 14-11 with 2:22 left. Shaun David's 3-pointer with 29 seconds to go, though, sealed the win as Baltimore bounced back after losing two straight.
Hewerton Moreira netted a consolation goal with 17 seconds remaining and Marcel Feenstra finished with 13 saves for the Wave, who thumped the Blast 22-8 two weeks earlier at U.S. Cellular Arena. Milwaukee continues its five-game road trip to close the regular season on Sunday afternoon at the Norfolk SharX (4-17).
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