Wisconsin Soccer Central

The duo of Carlos Munoz and Ian Bennett helped make sure the Milwaukee Wave rang in the New Year with a win – and atop the Major Indoor Soccer League standings.

Munoz opened and closed a decisive 12-0 surge with 3-point goals to cap a hat trick and Bennett also scored his second and third goals in the run as the Wave powered past the Syracuse Silver Knights 20-10 in their annual New Year's Eve Day game.

Defender Tony Walls (Wauwatosa East/UW-Green Bay) added two assists and Marcel Feenstra made 13 saves in his second straight start as Milwaukee (6-1) sent the crowd of 4,559 home happy from U.S. Cellular Arena and maintained sole possession of first place. Syracuse (6-3) fell to fourth behind Baltimore and Missouri (5-2).

Goals by Tenzin Rampa (Madison West/UW-Milwaukee) and Nick Perera in a 70-second span gave the Wave the lead 2:51 into the game, but the Silver Knights pulled level before the end of the first quarter.

Bennett and Munoz restored Milwaukee's four-point cushion in the second quarter, but Kenardo Forbes converted a penalty against Feenstra for his league-best 15th goal of the season 5:37 after halftime tied the score at 8.

The rest of the day, though, belonged to Munoz, Bennett and the Wave.

Munoz started the surge with an impressive strike, a left-footed 3-pointer off a volley with 4:39 left in the third quarter to give the home side the lead for good. Bennett then added back-to-back goals in a 1:33 stretch spanning the quarter break and 40-year-old Marcelo Fontana extended Milwaukee's advantage to 17-8 before Munoz closed out the run with his MISL-leading fifth 3-pointer off a free kick with 6:40 left.

It was the second straight hat trick and third in four games for Munoz, who is third in the league with 13 goals and has recorded points in all seven games. Bennett is tied for fifth in the MISL with 10 goals after his second hat trick of the season.

The Wave is back in action Friday night at the St. Louis Ambush (3-5), six days after routing the expansion side 24-4 at U.S. Cellular Arena.

Watch full match on YouTube

Editor's note: This article has been edited from its original version to reflect information that became available after posting.