Wisconsin Soccer Central

The Milwaukee Wave and Missouri Comets provided plenty of drama on Wednesday afternoon. Unfortunately for the home crowd, though, it ended with a Wave loss.

Milwaukee rallied from a four-goal deficit in the fourth quarter to pull level, got another equalizer with two-tenths of a second left in regulation, missed a penalty shootout with 5 seconds left in overtime and lost in a shootout in dropping an 8-7 decision to the unbeaten Comets in a wild Major Arena Soccer League match.

"The guys showed a lot of character tonight," said Wave coach Giuliano Oliviero, whose team had a two-game winning streak snapped and lost for the first time in four home games this season.

A New Year's Eve Day crowd of 3,148 at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena also saw Missouri coach Vlatko Andonovski sent off and his team leave the field after Luan Sales Oliveira's last-second goal. The Comets (10-0) eventually returned for the 10-minute overtime and won the shootout 2-1 with goals from Vahid Assadpour and Leo Gibson.

Missouri, last season's Major Indoor Soccer League champions, blanked the Wave over the second and third quarters and seemingly had victory in hand with a 6-2 lead.

Oliveira started the Wave's comeback 2:47 into the fourth and goals by J.C. Banks (Milwaukee Riverside/UW-Green Bay) and Ian Bennett in a 29-second span midway through the quarter trimmed the Comets' lead to one. Banks' ninth goal of the season tied the score at 6 with 5 minutes, 28 seconds remaining, but Missouri – which beat Milwaukee 9-7 back on Nov. 15 – regained the lead at the 11:27 as former Wave forward Bryan Perez finished off a hat trick by converting a free kick.

As the final seconds ticked away, sixth attacker Mike Lookingland played a long free kick that was headed out by Assadpour right to Milwaukee's Marcio Leite, who found Oliveira on his left. His left-footed strike from the top of the arc clipped in off the right side of the goal and in for his 13th goal of the season with :00.2 left on the clock. It was the third assist of the day for Leite, back in the lineup after missing two games due to injury, all coming in the fourth quarter.

Andonovski argued with officials that the ball didn't cross the line before time expired and eventually was red carded. His team left with him, then played a scoreless overtime that also ended in dramatic fashion.

Missouri goalkeeper Danny Waltman lost the ball near midfield and Wave forward Bato Radoncic quickly shot, but the Comets' John Sosa jumped up and took the ball down with his hand, giving Milwaukee a penalty shootout with 5 seconds left. Oliveira stepped to the line to take it, but stumbled on his run and Waltman saved his tight-angled shot to send the game to a shootout.

Neither team converted through the first two rounds of the three-round shootout, but Assadpour and Oliveira both scored to send it to a fourth round. Gibson – the leading scorer in the MASL – made his shot for Missouri but Waltman denied Oliveira to win it.

"I think we got beat on a technicality tonight," Oliviero said after the fourth shootout in the MASL's inaugural season. "I hope the Major Arena Soccer League takes a serious look at the rulebook, sees how other leagues do it around the world and follow suit."

Milwaukee (6-5) continues its six-game homestand on Saturday night against the Rochester Lancers (4-2), with kickoff set for 6:05 p.m. at UWM Panther Arena.

• Wave defender Jonathan Greenfield was named to the MASL Team of the Week. Greenfield had a goal and three assists – his first points of the season – in Milwaukee's 8-6 win over the Detroit Waza Flo on Saturday.

Editor's note: Upon further review, the tying goal with :00.2 left in regulation was credited to the Wave's Tony Walls (Wauwatosa East/UW-Green Bay). As the highlights below show, Oliveira's shot bounced off the wall and then off Walls before going over the goal line.