Wisconsin Soccer Central

It probably shouldn't be a surprise that the Milwaukee Bavarians and Madison 56ers played to a tie Wednesday night.

The teams played a pair of one-goal matches earlier in the National Premier Soccer League season, with each team winning on its home field. The rubber match was a 1-1 draw at the Bavarian Complex in Glendale.

The result left the Bavarians (6-3-1) one point ahead of the 56ers (5-3-3) in the Midwest Region Central Division standings heading into the final weekend of the season, with a game in hand on their state rivals. The Quad City Eagles (9-0-1) clinched the division title with their 4-2 victory over Madison on Sunday.

"I thought we came out with a good mentality. I was happy with that," 56ers coach Jim Launder said. "You want to make sure a team doesn't just go through the motions, and I thought we played with a lot of verve and a lot of fire – and so did they. It was a pretty good game."

Both coaches thought their teams could have scored more.

"We had our moments," Bavarians coach Craig Peltonen said. "We weren't always consistent and we gave the ball away at times too much – too easily, too much. But I also thought in the first half it could've been 3-0."

Instead, the home side had to settle for a 1-0 lead at the break.

UW-Green Bay forward Sam Krenzien (Wauwatosa West) scored his team-best sixth goal of the season in the 38th minute, taking a touch and finishing a low cross from UW-Milwaukee's Robbie Boyd (Milwaukee Marquette) past UWM goalkeeper Ryan Onwukwe.

"He has been our most consistent scorer," Peltonen said of Krenzien, who has thrived playing up top in a 4-4-2 after the team switched back to that formation midway through the season.

"He holds the ball well, he makes timely runs and he can finish. Some people score goals, but he can finish. He's calm and poised. He can hit a shot, but he really can place it, too. In front of the goal, he doesn't get rattled."

Krenzien's strike partner, Justin Laird (Hartford), got in behind the Madison backline twice in the opening 45 minutes but saw Onwukwe save his hard driven shot, then watched another chance clip off the outside post.

After the break, the 56ers carried the play and leveled the score within the opening 5 minutes.

University of Wisconsin midfielder Ryan Buda (Stevens Point) served a ball into the box that striker Anthony Santaga (Green Bay Notre Dame) flicked to the back post, where veteran midfielder Trevor Banks (Madison Memorial) finished in the 49th for his first goal of the season.

"Then we had a bunch of chances after that but couldn't get anything," Launder said. "They saved one off the line, goalkeeper (Jacob Bye) made a great save on another one, we missed one we should've made, we hit the post. And that was all within about 15 or 20 minutes."

The Bavarians can secure second place in the Central with a win Saturday night against Eau Claire Aris FC (1-8-1) in La Crosse. The 56ers close out their season at 7 p.m. Saturday against Quad City at Breese Stevens, and the Eagles head east to face the Bavarians at 4 p.m. Sunday in the final regular-season match.

"It would be nice – and I mentioned it to some of the Madison boys, as well – it would be nice if we could give Quad City a couple losses," Peltonen said. "They're a solid team, they've played well. But it would be nice to get a win against them."

Quad City could be of two minds for the weekend: On one hand, the Eagles might want to play it safe with the Midwest final coming up on July 20 on their home field. On the other, the pairings and home-field determination for the NPSL national semifinals are based on points per game in the regular season, meaning every point matters. 

"We'll go and play hard and try to make sure those guys don't have an undefeated season," Launder said. "It will be interesting to see how they approach it. We're just going to play hard and play to win."

From the touchline

Creighton forward Carlos McCrary, Madison's leading scorer with seven goals, missed the game and won't play Saturday because he's in Omaha, Neb., attending to academic obligations. Launder said McCrary would have made the trip back for the matches if the 56ers had still been alive in the Central race. ... Milwaukee School of Engineering's Logan Andryk (Milwaukee Marquette), who had started every game for the Bavarians, is gone this week on a family vacation. ... UWM midfielder Riley Weiner (Muskego) returned to action after missing a month due to injury, coming off the bench in the second half for Milwaukee. ... The Bavarians will play a Milwaukee Wave team at 1 p.m. Wednesday at U.S. Cellular Arena. The Major Indoor Soccer League team set up the match because it is holding a combine and wants to see players in a game situation. ... Peltonen said the Bavarians will continue to train the next two weeks to help players keep fit heading into the college season.

MILWAUKEE BAVARIANS: Jacob Bye; Luke Davey, Dustin Page, James Ashcroft, Adam Hermsen; Sebastian Jansson (Joe Naughton), Sam Dorf (Matthew Yang), Aaron Horvat (Riley Weiner), Robbie Boyd (Dennis Holowaty); Justin Laird (Cheenuj Shong), Sam Krenzien.

MADISON 56ERS: Ryan Onwukwe; Chris Brown (Dominic O'Connor), Matt Balshaw, Bryan Minogue (Mike Prudisch), Carl Schneider; Ryan Buda (Max Campos), Keenan Newallo, Jack Keeling, Trevor Banks (Claudiu Aionesei); Anthony Santaga (Jed Hohlbein), Jade Johnson (Jesus Miranda).