Wisconsin Soccer Central

After a seven-month offseason loaded with change, the Milwaukee Wave kick off their fourth decade of indoor soccer Saturday night at the St. Louis Ambush.

Not only will the match be the Wave's first in the new Major Arena Soccer League, the sixth league the team has played in during its 31-year tenure, but it will be their first game since March 30, 1992, with someone other than Keith Tozer listed as head coach.

Giuliano Oliviero, who played 13 seasons for the Wave – the past five as a player-assistant coach under Tozer – was named the sixth coach in franchise history by Mike Zimmerman, who took over ownership of the team.

Saturday's match is part of a five-game road trip to start the season for the Wave, who don't play their home opener at the newly renamed UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena (formerly U.S. Cellular Arena) until Dec. 6 when the Ambush visit Milwaukee.

The Wave bolstered their roster earlier this week, signing four players ahead of Saturday's season opener.

Veteran defender Victor Quiroz re-signed with Milwaukee after a solid season with the team last winter, in which he had four goals and 17 assists in 20 games. The 38-year-old from Mexico was second among defenders in the Major Indoor Soccer League in assists and ranked seventh in the league with 27 blocked shots.

The signing of midfielder-forward Amilcar Herrera (Milwaukee Riverside/Marquette) gives the Wave seven state players on their 19-man roster.

Herrera, who will be reunited with prep teammate J.C. Banks (Milwaukee Riverside/UW-Green Bay), played for the Rockford Rampage and the Chicago Mustangs in the Professional Arena Soccer League during the 2012-13 season. The 24-year-old Herrera made the Wave through the team's open tryouts.

"Amilcar showed up at the first day of tryouts and made an immediate impression," Oliviero said in a news release. "He has been at practice with the signed players for a couple of weeks now and has shown that he belongs at this level."

Midfielder Ian Kalis, who was part of U.S. youth national teams from the Under-15 through Under-20 levels, will play with the Wave as he continues his studies at Marquette Law School. Kalis, 24, played at Duke and Southern Methodist and was selected by FC Dallas in the 2012 Major League Soccer Supplemental Draft.

Milwaukee also added veteran forward Bato Radoncic, a native of Montenegro who has consistently scored goals for the Chicago Lightning, Rockford Thunder, Rockford Rampage, Chicago Riot, Kansas City Comets and Rochester Lancers over the past decade. The 34-year-old Radoncic, a member of the U.S. Futsal national team, played outdoors with the Milwaukee Rampage in 2001 and '02.

Coach: Giuliano Oliviero (first season).
Player-assistant: Nick Vorberg.