Wisconsin Soccer Central

Anthony Santaga (Green Bay Notre Dame) returned to action on Friday night, and not a moment too soon for the Madison 56ers.

In his first match in more than six weeks, Santaga got on the end of a cross from Jed Hohlbein (Middleton/UW) and headed in the winning goal in the 88th minute as the 56ers tipped the Milwaukee Bavarians 2-1 in a National Premier Soccer League Midwest Region match at Breese Stevens Field.

"I thought Anthony really enjoyed coming back and scoring that goal," Madison coach Jim Launder said of Santaga, who was the team's second-leading scorer last summer but had played just one match this year because of an ankle/Achilles' injury. "I thought he played very well. He looked really good in training this week. ... He was ready to play."

University of Wisconsin right back Carl Schneider (Madison La Follette) scored a highlight-reel goal late in the first half and college teammate Max Jentsch (Hartland Arrowhead) came up with a huge save in the 91st minute to preserve the victory.

The win pulled Madison (5-2-2) within one point of the Bavarians (6-3-0) in the Central Conference standings, with both teams still trying to reel in the Quad City Eagles (7-0-1).

The 56ers have three matches left in league play, two against Quad City and the other against Milwaukee, while the Bavarians also have another game against the Eagles.

"I guess we've got another week where we can keep trying," Launder said of his team's quest to repeat as conference champions. "That's all we can do."

Milwaukee had won four in a row coming into the match and beat Madison 1-0 in the teams' first meeting May 31 in Glendale. But the 56ers had the better of the play in the opening 45 minutes and took the lead on Schneider's tremendous strike.

"I don't think we played that well in the first half," said Rob Harrington, coaching the Bavarians in place of Craig Peltonen - he is in Spain with the Wisconsin International Under-14 girls team.

"We had a few chances, but they possessed the ball better than us and had a few near-misses as well as their goal, which was like a one-in-a-million shot by the kid. It was a great goal."

Schneider made an overlapping run on the right flank and got the ball. As a defender tried to keep him from getting to the end line, he cut inside.

"When he cut in, I thought, 'I wonder what he's going to do, it's on his left foot,' " Launder said. "And he just put it right into the far, upper post with a little bit bend on it and smoked it. Smoked."

The visitors got back on level terms in the 72nd minute, thanks to a great individual effort by UW-Green Bay's Sam Krenzien (Wauwatosa West).

Krenzien got the ball on the left side and worked past UW-Milwaukee center back Andrew Stone (Green Bay Preble) – his former college and NPSL teammate – then played in a ball that eventually found its way to UWM's Aaron Horvat (Waukesha Catholic Memorial) to head in at the back post.

"Sam Krenzien basically was a one-man wrecking crew," Harrington said of Krenzien, who had four goals and an assist in two matches last weekend. "That was just a big-time individual effort on his part, that goal. The finish was by Horvat, but he did all the work leading up to it."

With 18 minutes left and needing a victory to keep his team's title hopes alive, Launder brought on forward Jade Johnson and had him play on the right side of midfield to further bolster the attack.

Then in the 85th, he put on player-coach Hohlbein, the team's career leading scorer. "I brought in Jed with 5 minutes left. I said, 'We've got to get a goal or go home, you know?" Launder said.

The Bavarians lost possession about 40 yards out from goal, Harrington said, and Madison midfielder Claudiu Aionesei played the ball to Hohlbein on the left side. Launder said there was an incidental handball by a Milwaukee player as the ball made its way to Hohlbein.

"Jed didn't hestitate, he got the ball down and he hit a perfect cross to the back post and Anthony hit it right up there where the spiders make love," he said.

Much like on Schneider's goal, both coaches agreed there was nothing Milwaukee keeper Jacob Bye (Whitnall) could have done.

"Their goalkeeper probably had five or six really good saves," Launder said, "but both of the goals, no keeper would have gotten them."

Harrington said: "It was a great finish - the serve was great and the head ball was great. On our part, it was like, don't turn the ball over there. But those things happen."

There was one more moment of drama, though.

The Bavarians had a corner kick in the first minute of stoppage time that was was cleared out, but sent right back into the box. UW-Milwaukee center back James Ashcroft got the ball at the top of 6-yard box and fired, but Jentsch made the stop.

"They were bummed, I think especially to give one up late like that," Harrington said. "They fought hard. You have a chance to tie it at the end. I think they're bummed out because they felt like they were right in it.

"I think it was a good game - both teams had chances, they just converted their last one."

From the touchline

Harrington had worked with the Bavarians at just a couple of practices before the match. "When you do this, you have a lot of notes from the head coach. That was basically it," Harrington said of filling in. "Then you make game adjustments from just what you see, and I'd like to think some of them helped. ... The info he gave me was spot on. It wasn't a hard game to coach." Peltonen will be back for Milwaukee's next match, July 10 against Madison in Glendale. ... It was the third straight game the Bavarians had only one substitute. "We ran out of juice a little bit," said Harrington, who brought on goal-scorer Horvat in the 65th minute. ... Last season, the strike partnership of Santaga and Carlos McCrary was integral to the 56ers' run to the NPSL Final Four, as they combined for 30 goals and 14 assists. "They were really close to breaking a lot of stuff tonight. Tonight, they almost might have been looking for each other too much," Launder said, adding that he likely would give the two some advice: "I like that you guys find each other, but don't try to do it every time. If there's a better ball out there, do that." ... The 56ers play an international friendly against England's University of Portsmouth FC on Tuesday night at Breese Stevens, then travel to Riverdale, Iowa, to face Quad City on Sunday afternoon.

MADISON 56ERS: Max Jentsch; Chris Brown, Matt Balshaw, Andrew Stone, Carl Schneider; Ryan Buda (Claudiu Aionesei 62), Keenan Newallo (Laurie Bell 68), Jack Keeling, Trevor Banks (Jade Johnson 75); Carlos McCrary (Jed Hohlbein 85), Anthony Santaga.

MILWAUKEE BAVARIANS: Jacob Bye; Luke Davey, James Ashcroft, Dustin Page, Adam Hermsen; Sebastian Jansson, Sam Dorf, Logan Andryk, Robbie Boyd; Sam Krenzien, Cheenuj Shong (Aaron Horvat 65).