Wisconsin Soccer Central

The Madison 56ers, Quad City Eagles, referees and fans waited out an odd 1-hour, 32-minute weather delay Saturday night at Breese Stevens Field, one that saw plenty of lightning in the surrounding area but very little precipitation.

Had they not been able to resume the National Premier Soccer League match, it would have gone down as a scoreless tie, as the teams were just about ready to start the second half when lightning flashed across the sky.

They eventually did play the second 45 minutes, but in the end the result was the same as it would have been without the wait.

UW-Milwaukee's Ryan Onwukwe and UW's Max Jentsch (Hartland Arrowhead) combined on the 56ers' third fourth clean sheet of the season, but the 0-0 tie left the home side facing a huge mountain to climb to retain their Midwest Region Central Conference championship.

Former UW-Whitewater goalkeeper Yves Dietrich made three saves in the shutout for Quad City, which went on to beat the visiting Minnesota Twin Stars 4-1 on Sunday to improve to 7-0-1. The Eagles lead the Central by 10 points over the Milwaukee Bavarians (4-2-0) and by 12 over third-place Madison (3-2-1).

"I thought we played better than we did against Twin Stars," 56ers coach Jim Launder said, referring to his team's 1-0 loss to Minnesota a week earlier on the same field. "But it certainly was not good enough."

It was a rare scoreline for the 56ers. Only two other games in their nine-year history have ended scoreless: June 3, 2006, at Detroit Arsenal in an NPSL Midwest match, and a friendly against the Appleton Magic on May 17, 2009.

Credit Dietrich, Onwukwe and Jentsch – along with a crossbar – for that.

Dietrich raced off his line in the ninth minute and slid out to knock the ball away just before first-time starter Jesus Miranda (Madison La Follette) could get to a through ball played to him by strike partner Carlos McCrary. Then in the 25th, Dietrich made a diving, outstretched save to deny Miranda's shot from the left side ticketed for for the far post.

Not to be outdone, Onwukwe sprawled out to make a one-handed stop on a low drive from the top of the box by Quad City forward Charlie MacInnes in the 28th as the keepers were the stars of the first half.

Even with the match scoreless, the 56ers felt good about their play in the opening 45 minutes – they also saw midfielder Claudiu Aionesei just miss the left post with a blast from the top of the box in the 25th.

That wasn't the case after the extra-long halftime break.

"I think the gap in play just did us, because we had the momentum going into the second half," Madison midfielder Jack Keeling said. "When you stop playing for so long and your legs get stiff, it's just kind of hard to get back on track. But you can't blame it all on that. We had the best looks in the first half and we should have put one away."

Quad City seemed the more likely to break the deadlock. But Jentsch made a nice diving save on Simon Brown's shot from the right side in the 52nd, and two penalty shouts – one in the 59th when impressive midfielder Javier Bautista went down on the left side of the box under a challenge and another for a handball on Keenan Newallo in the 67th – went ignored.

"We made a couple of adjustments, personnel-wise, not necessarily subbing players but moving them into different positions and talking about their starting positions," Eagles coach Scott Mejia said of the difference in his team between halves. "I thought that gave us a little more of an ability to press and to keep the game in the opponent's half a little bit more. So we sorted out some of those things and it helped us. I think we settled in a little bit and had a bit more composure in the second half, too."

Against the run of play, though, there were two moments when it appeared that Madison would take the lead.

In the 68th, the ball pinged around the Quad City defensive third and popped out to McCrary at the top of the box. He crushed a shot that slammed off the crossbar. Twenty minutes later, the 56ers had the ball in the net only to see the assistant referee's flag on the far side of the field in the air for offside.

The ball was chipped into the middle of the box and Madison center back Bryan Minogue, his back to goal, flicked a header that McCrary ran on to on the left side and slotted past Dietrich in the 87th. Launder said he believed the official flagged Minogue offside rather than McCrary, who appeared to be onside.

"0-0 is a good game. Obviously if we keep a clean sheet ... that's all the defense can do," said Matt Balshaw, Minogue's partner in central defense. "But I guess it just wasn't our day."

The Eagles, though, have developed a penchant for late, late winning goals. And in the third and final minute of stoppage time, a foul about 28 yards out on the right side set up one last set piece.

Veteran Emlyn Jacoby served a ball to the back post, where second-half sub Mike Davis got his foot to it, but put it over the goal.

"When that ball came off of his foot and we saw Mike, we thought it was a likely chance," said Mejia, whose team was without the suspended Kendrick Tyson. "That's his first game back, he got hurt before the first game of the season. He's a good player, maybe if he's in form he scores it.

"But this group has a different mentality than in years past and we've really noticed that – the ability to grind out some games and find some results late. It's been a different mentality, which has been great."

While the draw wasn't too disappointing to Mejia, the sentiment wasn't the same in the other locker room. Barring upsets, the 56ers will need to win all of their final six matches to jump the Bavarians and catch Quad City.

"We've got to beat them twice and not give up any more points," said Launder, whose team plays the Eagles on July 7 in Riverdale, Iowa, and in the season finale July 13 at Breese Stevens and also has two matches left against the Bavarians.

MADISON 56ERS 0:0 (0:0 HT) QUAD CITY EAGLES

June 15, 2013 NPSL match at Breese Stevens Field

MADISON 56ERS: Ryan Onwukwe (Max Jentsch 46); Carl Schneider, Matt Balshaw, Bryan Minogue, Trevor Banks (Jade Johnson 83); Claudiu Aionesei (Luke Goodnetter 74), Keenan Newallo, Jack Keeling, Ryan Buda; Carlos McCrary, Jesus Miranda (Sam Etim 77). Substitutes not used: Mike Prudisch, Luke Jenner, Max Campos.

QUAD CITY EAGLES: Yves Dietrich; Kurt Albrecht, Luke Ridgway, Javid Wood, Simon Brown (Mike Davis 74); Drew Edmond (Grant Halter 85), Kevin Cavers, Willy Kappy, Javier Bautista; Emlyn Jacoby, Charlie MacInnes. Substitutes not used: Tyler Cowherd (GK), Drew Meredith, Ryan McEvoy, Miguel LaFarerra, Eddie Ramirez.

Saves: M (Onwukwe 1, Jentsch 1) 2, QC (Dietrich) 3. Shots: M 6, QC 12. Corner kicks: M 4, QC 7. Fouls: M 11, QC 12. Offsides: M 3, QC 1. Discipline: M – Schneider 33 (yellow, foul); QC – MacInnes 80 (yellow, foul).