Wisconsin Soccer Central

For most of Saturday night, it looked like the Baltimore Blast were going to spoil the Milwaukee Wave's 30th home opener.

The Blast, likely motivated after the Wave handed them a rare shutout in their home opener two weeks earlier, scored seconds into the rematch and led by eight points late in the third quarter.

But Carlos Munoz fired in a 3-pointer to start an impressive comeback and finished it with 20 seconds left in regulation as Milwaukee rallied for a 12-10 victory in front of 5,632 fans at U.S. Cellular Arena.

Player-coach Giuliano Oliviero and defender Judson McKinney also scored in the late run for the Wave (4-0), who pulled even with the Syracuse Silver Knights atop the MISL standings.

For the first 43 minutes of the night, though, the Blast (1-2) were in control.
Stephen DeRoux scored just 16 seconds in, and the visitors led 10-2 after Max Ferdinand scored his second of the match at 10:43 of the third.

Munoz beat Baltimore goalkeeper William Vanzela on a left-footed strike from just outside the arc - officials reviewed the shot to confirm it was indeed a 3-pointer - with 1:15 left in the quarter.

Vanzela was called for taking down Marcelo Fontana in the box and the 39-year-old Oliviero converted from the spot 2:38 into the fourth. McKinney tied the score at 10 with his first goal for the Wave, a 3-pointer from the left side with 9:35 to play.

The Blast were furious about Munoz's winner and protested to the officials after the goal and following the final whistle. Munoz collided with DeRoux in winning the ball before finishing off his hat trick, and Baltimore players and coaches thought a foul should have been called.

Milwaukee is back on the road next Friday at the Missouri Comets (2-1), then takes a week off before back-to-back home games against the expansion St. Louis Ambush (1-2) on Dec. 28 and Syracuse on Dec. 31.

Watch the full match on YouTube