Wisconsin Soccer Central

The Milwaukee Wave and San Diego Sockers, two of the few stalwarts in the ever-changing landscape of indoor soccer, met for the first time in 11 years Tuesday night.

Ian Bennett had two goals and an assist as the Wave scored six straight goals to seemingly take control, but the Sockers inserted Victor Quiroz as a sixth attacker and stormed back in the final 10 minutes. In the end, Nick Vorberg's last-second diving save on Kraig Chiles finally sealed Milwaukee's thrilling 7-6 victory in a Major Arena Soccer League match.

Tony Walls (Wauwatosa East/UW-Green Bay) and Max Ferdinand each added a goal and an assist for the Wave (7-6), who snapped a two-game slide by winning the opener of a rare West Coast trip – it was Milwaukee's first match in California since January 2008 and its first game against the Sockers since March 2004.

While the teams might not have squared off in years, there certainly was plenty of familiarity between the players. Quiroz was one of five former Wave players in the lineup for San Diego, joining Luan Sales Oliveira, Jonatan Santos, Evan McNeley and Nick Perera. Vorberg, meanwhile, played with the Sockers during the 2002-03 season before heading to Milwaukee.

San Diego opened the scoring less than 4 minutes in, but Ferdinand equalized with his 18th goal of the season late in the first quarter and then set up Bennett's first goal of the night 8:57 into the second to put the Wave in front.

Marcelo Fontana extended the lead to 3-1 before halftime, and Pablo da Silva added another before power-play goals by Bennett and Walls in a 3-minute span late in the third quarter gave Milwaukee a 6-1 advantage heading into the final 15 minutes.

Bennett's second goal was his 21st of the season, which tied Sonora's Franck Tayou for the league lead. Ferdinand is tied for third.

Matt Clare pulled one back for San Diego 1:27 into the fourth, but Bato Radoncic answered with his fourth of the season 40 seconds later to make it 7-2 – that turned out to be the game-winning goal. Raymundo Reza, Perera and McNeley all scored in an 88-second span as the Sockers (7-6) clawed within two, and Chiles converted with the man advantage to make it a one-goal game with 5:49 left.

But player-assistant coach Vorberg, who finished with 15 saves, and the Wave held on to the slim lead as Milwaukee improved to 10-1 all-time against San Diego. It was the third straight one-goal game for the Wave, who lost to the Chicago Mustangs 11-10 in overtime on New Year's Eve and 5-4 to the Missouri Comets on Saturday.

Milwaukee concludes its brief California visit tonight against the Ontario Fury (4-4), with kickoff set for 9:05 p.m. (Live stream) The Wave play six of their final seven regular-season games at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena, including a five-game homestand that starts Saturday night against the St. Louis Ambush (1-8).