Wisconsin Soccer Central

Just more than a month after being shut out by the Milwaukee Wave on their home turf, the Detroit Waza Flo put up quite a fight in the teams' second meeting Saturday afternoon.

Luan Sales Oliveira scored his second goal of the game on a penalty shootout with 1 minute, 43 seconds left to seal the Wave's hard-fought 8-6 victory in a Major Arena Soccer League match in front of 3,000 at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.

Tony Walls (Wauwatosa East/UW-Green Bay) had his second straight two-goal game and fellow defender Jonathan Greenfield added a goal and three assists as Milwaukee improved to 6-4 at the midway point of the 20-game MASL regular season.

The match couldn't have been much more different than their Nov. 22 matchup in Melvindale, Mich., when the Wave held Waza Flo to just 11 shots in a 4-0 victory.

Detroit (3-8) outshot the Wave by a 24-13 margin this time around, but Milwaukee was efficient with its opportunities and goalkeeper Jeff Richey made 18 saves on the other end to post his first victory since joining the team two weeks ago.

Bato Radoncic and Oliveira scored in a 4:10 span in the opening 8 minutes as the Wave took the lead, but Waza Flo didn't let the Wave stretch out the lead.

They tied the score at 3 early in the second quarter, only to see Greenfield and J.C. Banks (Milwaukee Riverside/UW-Green Bay) answer for the home side. Walls' second goal of the quarter, his fifth of the season, made it 6-4 at halftime.

Ian Bennett netted his team-best 13th goal of the season just after halftime, bundling in a shot to cap a 2-on-1 with Greenfield, but Detroit pulled within 7-6 on Miki Djerisilo's second of the day 6:17 into the fourth. Oliveira finished on the shootout for his 11th goal after Nik Djokic was called for tripping Bennett.

Veteran defender Mike Lookingland, last season's Major Indoor Soccer League MVP, made his debut for the Wave one day after signing with the team and finished with three blocks.

Milwaukee, which has won all three of its games on the black turf at Panther Arena, continues its six-game homestand Wednesday against the Missouri Comets (9-0). Kickoff is set for 3:05 p.m. in the Wave's annual New Year's Eve matinee.

The Comets were last season's MISL champions and are one of two unbeaten teams in the 23-team league. They are by far the top scoring team in the league, averaging 12.3 goals per game, and have scored at least 10 goals in all but one game: A 9-7 victory over the Wave on Nov. 15 in Independence, Mo.