Wisconsin Soccer Central

Twice on Sunday, the Milwaukee Wave were seconds away from advancing to the Major Indoor Soccer League finals.

But they just couldn't close out the persistent Missouri Comets.

Leo Gibson scored with 37 seconds left to give the Comets a 9-8 victory in Game 2 of the teams' semifinal series, andByron Alvarez drove home the game-winner with 4 seconds remaining as Missouri won the subsequent mini-game 5-4 at U.S. Cellular Arena to bring the Wave's two-year run as MISL champions to a dramatic end.

Third-seeded Missouri (15-14) will face the top-seeded Baltimore Blast (23-5) in the two-game championship series. The Blast, who lost to Milwaukee in each of the past two finals, beat the Chicago Soul 10-7 Saturday to sweep the other semifinal series. It's the first time since the 2008-09 season that the Wave won't be playing for a title.

Playing on its home field in front of 7,518 fans, Milwaukee (22-7) didn't trail in Game 2 until Gibson's late goal. It was an odd play on which Gibson barely made contact with the ball after John Sosa lofted it in from the right side – replays showed the ball might have taken a deflection off Wave defender JP Rodrigues before trickling past goalkeeper Marcel Feenstra on the right side.

Missouri took the lead in the mini-game through Coady Andrews' 3-pointer from the left side 1:52 into the decisive session, but Wave leading scorer Luan Oliveira helped the home team take the lead. He tucked a left-footed shot past Comets keeper Danny Waltman to the left post 5:10 in, then his blast from the top of the left side was redirected past Waltman and into the top of the goal by fellow Brazilian Hewerton with 5:35 remaining.

Just as it did in Game 2, Missouri pulled Waltman for sixth attacker Vahid Assadpourwith 2:27 to play as it looked for the vital goal. Alvarez got two good looks from the left side, only to have his shots blocked by veteran Wave defender Joe Hammes(Cedarburg). The rebound on the second shot came right back to Alvarez, whose shot looked ticketed for the upper right corner only to see Feenstra parry the ball up and out of play for a corner kick with 7 seconds to go.

After a timeout, Milan Ivanovic took played the corner to the middle of the box, where Alvarez ran onto the ball and ripped a shot from the top of the D that looked to deflect off Milwaukee defender Josh Rife and past Feenstra.

The second-seeded Wave, who rallied from a 10-0 deficit to win Game 1 12-10 in overtime on Thursday night in Independence, Mo., appeared in control throughout Game 2 – especially after Tenzin Rampa (Madison West/UW-Milwaukee) finished off a pass from Marcio Leite with a sliding finish at the back post to make it 6-2 with 4:26 left in the third quarter.

But Andrews then started the Comets' comeback with another strange goal: His long-range shot got between the legs of both Guiliano Oliviero and Rodrigues before deflecting in past a stunned Feenstra for a 3-pointer at 12:54. Missouri's first goal of the day also was an own goal, as Fabio Ribeiro accidentally turned an attempted clearance into the net.

To be fair, the Wave's opener was bizarre, too.

A nifty passing sequence saw Nick Perera win a loose ball on the right side and play it to the back post for Hewerton, who looked to square it back for Oliviero on the right post. The ball was a little in front of Oliviero and he didn't get there in time, but he fell and Assadpour's attempted clearance slammed into the back of Oliviero's head and into the goal.

The 39-year-old Oliviero, who scored five goals in 17 regular-season games, boosted Milwaukee's lead to 8-5 with his fourth goal of the series with a header from the left doorstep 9 seconds into the fourth, but that would be it for the Wave offense in Game 2. Missouri pulled within 9-8 with 8:36 remaining when Mads Falck's shot from the right side deflected off teammate Brian Harris and possibly a Milwaukee defender, setting up the tense finish.