MASL SELECTS SANCHEZ FOR OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS.

By Henry Amini.

The Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) announced that Milwaukee Wave Forward, Alex Sanchez, has been named Offensive Player of the Week for Week 8 of MASL action.

The catalog of superstar Alex “Saucy” Sanchez has grown even further this year and he’s been honored with his second MASL Offensive Player of the Week this the season. The honor considers his seven point weekend in back-to-back games against the St. Louis Ambush, including his five goals on Sunday, which was one one of the most impressive individual performances of the year. 

Sanchez has drawn real attention from opponent defenses. His ability to shoot with both feet means a single defender can’t safely force him to use his weak foot; a double team finds him more often than not. This opens opportunities for his teammates to develop their own open chances but, sometimes, Sanchez finds a rhythm in one-on-one play that can’t be stopped. 

In Sunday’s overtime home win, Sanchez was tied to all but one goal for the Milwaukee Wave in a way which you had to see to believe. His first goal was scored on an early powerplay and each time he touched the ball after that, the Milwaukee Wave home fans were given a show between the boards. Sanchez is quite possibly the most feared one-on-one player in the MASL and his second goal saw himself alone with the Ambush goalkeeper, Paulo Nascimento, where Sanchez used the boards to play the ball around the goalkeeper’s back to set himself up for the finish. Later in the game he found himself one-on-one with the Ambush goalkeeper again, when Sanchez chipped the ball for his third goal of five. 

“To be the goalkeeper of that caliber it kind of requires to do that extra thing, these special goals in order to put the ball past [Paulo],” Sanchez said. As humble as Sanchez is, he understands that his accomplishments are no easy feat. The goals he scored put the entire league on watch. 

“Having composure… I'm able to get these wide open looks for myself and it's just capitalizing on the opportunities that I have,” Sanchez said. Sanchez has scored 20 goals and he currently leads the league. He’s second in the league in points, with 26, having played in two less games than the category leader, Zach Reget. Sanchez has certainly proved his ability to capitalize, and he does so in an artistic fashion.

“He has been very humble. I think he's still working extremely hard to continue to get better,” Head Coach Marcio Leite said, recognizing the humility shown by his superstar forward. There’s always room to grow under Leite’s guidance and Sanchez has continued to do just that.

The Milwaukee Wave will face Utica City FC at Adirondack Bank Center in Utica, New York on Sunday, February 1 at 2:00pm CST.