COMETS END WAVE WINNING STREAKS, 15-9

MILWAUKEE (Feb. 23) — The Milwaukee Wave's 19-game regular-season home winning streak ended Sunday, at the hands of the last team to beat them in the U.S. Cellular Arena, the Missouri Comets.

In a tight contest with a playoff feel, the Comets held off the Wave 15-9 and also broke Milwaukee's seven-game overall winning streak. The Wave (15-3) fell a half-game behind the Baltimore Blast (16-3) in the MISL standings, though Milwaukee can still nab the overall No. 1 seed by winning their its two games. Milwaukee hosts St. Louis on Saturday and these same Comets on Sunday.

It was the third time in five games the Comets have beaten the Wave; they have given Milwaukee their only three games of the year.

“Do they have our number? No, it was just one of those games,” said Wave coach Keith Tozer. “What are we going to do? We're going to put it behind us and go on to the next one.”

Milwaukee held a 9-8 lead in the fourth quarter after Marcio Leite scored his second goal of the match with 13:55 left in the fourth quarter. After that, the Wave survived a shootout and killed a pair of two-minute penalties, the last ending with 3:21 to go.

But following the end of the power play, Missouri's Lucas Rodriguez found space just inside the 3-point line and ran onto a pass to blister a drive past Milwaukee's Marcel Feenstra and give Missouri a 10-9 lead with 3:01 left.

Milwaukee inserted Victor Quiroz as the sixth attacker at that point, but the Wave could not score and Missouri's Brian Harris knocked in a long empty-net 3-pointer with just 17 seconds to play for the final margin.

Quiroz scored the Wave's first goal with a spectactular shot from just in front of his own yellow line, making Missouri keeper Danny Waltman pay for pushing up near midfield. It gave the Wave a 3-2 lead early in the second quarter, but Milwaukee then fell behind 30 seconds later and didn't lead again until Leite's back-to-back goals bracketing the start of the fourth quarter.

The league's two leading scorers, Leo Gibson of Missouri and Ian Bennett of Milwaukee, went without a point. Waltman made 16 saves for the Comets.

Next Saturday's game against the Ambush is at 6 p.m., and afterward is the Community NOW Senior Soccer All-Stars, featuring the best of the area's high school senior boys. Sunday is Fan Appreciation Day with kickoff against Missouri at 2 p.m. Fans can come on the field following the game to get autographs from all the players, and prizes including a 50-inch TV from ABC Audio and Video will be given away.

For tickets, visit Ticketmaster.com or call 414-224-9283.