Wisconsin Soccer Central

Nick Perera has scored a lot of goals for the Milwaukee Wave over the past two seasons.

But the 6-foot-3 forward had never scored more than two goals in any game.

Until Sunday afternoon, that is, when Perera's hat trick sparked the Wave to a 21-4 rout of the expansion Pennsylvania Roar in a Major Indoor Soccer League match in Reading, Pa.

Marcelo Fontana and Ian Bennett scored two goals apiece, Carlos Munoz added three assists and Nick Vorberg made 14 saves for Milwaukee (3-0), which pulled level with the Syracuse Silver Knights atop the league standings after two weeks of MISL play.

Perera opened the scoring 2 minutes, 34 seconds into the game, taking a pass from Munoz and firing a shot from just inside the 3-point arc that got past Roar goalkeeper Peter Pappas at the right post.

Pennsylvania (0-3) answered through MISL veteran Ptah Myers at 5:35, and the teams traded goals again as the 40-year-old Fontana netted his first for the Wave only to see Chris Williams to score after a restart to make it 4-4 midway through the second quarter.

The rest of the game belonged to Milwaukee, which scored the final eight goals in a 17-0 run.

Marcio Leite gave the Wave the lead for good with 4:25 left in the first half and Perera added his second of the day 59 seconds later.

Tenzin Rampa (Madison West/UW-Milwaukee), playing in his first game of the season, scored the first goal of the second half to make it 10-4. Fontana and Luan Oliveira also scored in the third quarter before Bennett's fourth-quarter brace, which was sandwiched around Perera's third – his 38th goal in 53 matches with the Wave.

Bennett closed out the scoring with a 3-pointer with 43 seconds left, moving him into a tie for the league lead with seven goals. He tops the MISL with 16 points in three matches.

Vorberg stopped 28 of 30 shots – a .933 save percentage – and allowed just four points in Milwaukee's two games over the weekend.

The Wave are off until their home opener against the defending MISL champion Baltimore Blast on Dec. 7 at U.S. Cellular Arena.

Watch the full match on YouTube