Wisconsin Soccer Central

Sam Krenzien (Wauwatosa West) scored twice, opening and closing a five-goal first half that powered the Milwaukee Bavarians to a 5-2 victory over Eau Claire Aris FC in a National Premier Soccer League match Saturday night at the Viterbo University field in La Crosse.

The UW-Green Bay forward got the visitors on the board 8 minutes in and by the time he chipped in his second in the 42nd minute, the Bavarians were up 5-1. With the win, Milwaukee (7-3-1) clinched second place in the Midwest Region Central Division.

"It's not quite first, but I guess we'll take that," first-year Bavarians coach Craig Peltonen said of finishing second behind the Quad City Eagles and ahead of the state rival Madison 56ers. "It's better than being third, right?"

An injury to starting midfielder Sam Dorf (Milwaukee Marquette) forced Milwaukee into an early change - and helped set up Krenzien's opener.

UW-Milwaukee's Aaron Horvat (Waukesha Catholic Memorial) came on for Dorf and his first touch of the day was a one-touch pass to spring college teammate Robbie Boyd (Milwaukee Marquette) behind the Aris backline. Boyd's low, driven cross found Krenzien at the near post for the finish.

Eight minutes later, Krenzien turned provider. He and strike partner Justin Laird (Hartford) worked a combination that looked like it would be broken up by Eau Claire, but two Aris defenders collided. Krenzien picked up the ball and played it over to Laird for the goal.

A penalty kick halved the deficit for Aris (1-9-1) in the 20th, but the Bavarians went right back to work.

Horvat drilled a low shot from about 20 yards to the near post in the 23rd to cap a long stretch of possession, and UWM center back James Ashcroft sent the Eau Claire goalkeeper the wrong way as he got his first of the season by converting a penalty in the 31st.

Krenzien finished off the first-half frenzy, finding himself all alone at the top of the box after receiving a pass from UW's Joe Naughton (Milwaukee Marquette). The Aris keeper charged off his line, and Krenzien deftly chipped the ball over the onrushing goalkeeper for his eighth goal of the year - he's two behind Quad City's Javier Bautista for the NPSL Midwest Central lead heading into Sunday's season finale against the Eagles (9-1-1) in Glendale.

With no field players left on the bench, Peltonen brought on Jacob Bye (Whitnall) – the team's regular starting goalkeeper – up top for the final few minutes to let Laird get a little rest ahead of Sunday's match.

Bye punctuated his stint at forward by trying a bicycle kick.

"He didn't score on it, but he did connect on it," Peltonen said, adding that if Bye had scored on the shot, "we would have never heard the end of it."

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