THE PLAYOFFS ARE HERE; MILWAUKEE WAVE DEFEAT UTICA CITY FC IN FINAL REGULAR SEASON MATCH.

By Henry Amini.

MILWAUKEE, WI - The 7-Time Champion Milwaukee Wave closed out their regular season on a high note, defeating Utica City FC.

Final Score: Milwaukee Wave 11, Utica City FC 7.
BOXSCORE | GAMESHEET | REPLAY

The Major Arena Soccer League’s (MASL) “Decision Day” unfolded on Sunday when three games played out to determine the top five spots in the 2026 Ron Newman Cup Playoffs. 

Before the day began, each of those spots were separated by exactly one point with the Milwaukee Wave in particular seated in the fourth position. With Utica City FC set to be their final opponent, a casual viewer may have written this game off as a surefire victory for the home team but, after a 2-17 loss to Milwaukee the previous week, Utica was determined to end their season with pride. 

“I thought we started the game with the right mindset and mentality and playing simple and doing all the little things right, which is what we wanted,” Head Coach Marcio Leite said. The game began with the Milwaukee Wave on the offensive when Ricardo Carvalho appeared to score the first goal of the game, which was called off for an illegal restart upon Tommy Tanner’s successful challenge. The Wave would continue to impose pressure and Sanchez scored two consecutive goals, in his traditionally fashionable style, assisted by Alex Steinwasher and Carvalho. The beach soccer and indoor superstar Carvalho would score the third goal for his side in the first quarter, granted the assist by Cam Will. At one point in the quarter the Wave led in shooting by a margin of 15-2. 

“I thought we got very comfortable when we had the three to zero lead. We started to make bad decisions with and without the ball…  I think that got Utica back in the game,” Leite said. In turn, Utica City FC played with a vigorous intention and Kyle Genrich kicked off a stretch of his team’s three unanswered goals which would ultimately tie the game 3-3. The legendary Ian Bennett was the difference maker at the end of the first half when his goal helped reclaim the lead before the halftime break. 

At the turn of the third period, Carvalho capped a three point performance with a one-touch finish assisted by the omnipresent Alex Steinwasher following an attack which was notably sparked by the advanced positioning of Goalkeeper Gerardo “Jerry” Perez. 

“We need to give Jerry as much game experience as possible. We've always put him in tough situations in back-to-back games or when we're losing. So this was about giving him quality playing time… Willie [Banahene], we already know what he's capable of. It's good that we have two quality goalies that we can use in different scenarios, in different games in the playoffs,” Leite said. Perez offers an advanced playmaking approach which contrasts the renowned shot stopping ability of Banahene, who started in 20 games this season. 

Utica City FC remained consistent in their mentality and notched two more goals, including a goal from Milwaukee’s very own Cole Stephens, and the game was tied once more. Javier Steinwasher made his mark offensively in his return to action from injury, reminding the league not only of the Wave’s depth but of his own ability to impact the game from both sides of the field. Javier’s on-ball composure was put to the test and he beat three defenders before scoring the goal to bring the lead back to 6-5. Alex Steinwasher was again the goalscorer of his team’s seventh goal and another spectacular day was in order for the Steinwasher family. Juan Salazar scored to bring the deficit back within one goal and the Wave led 7-6 leading into the fourth quarter. 

Shawn “Squid” Azcueta scored at the start of the final quarter, which was matched by Salazar.

“We killed the man down situation when they could have tied the game and that was huge and just shows the character and the mentality of the team, but we know that we can play much better than what we did tonight,” Leite said. Finding opportunities to praise his team while maintaining high standards has been the professional approach in Leite’s first season as the head coach. After his side killed the Utica City FC power play, Tommy Tanner chose to employ a sixth attacker and this led to the goal ridden finale for the Wave. 

Alex Steinwasher was clinical in the high press and scored two empty net goals before assisting Cesar Correa on the final strike of the night, rounding out an astounding six point night for the Michigan native. 

“We are excited to make the playoffs. Now it’s a different season, different games, different mindset because you know when you got 2 games, 
that's it. You have to perform,” Carvalho said. Following Sunday’s results, the Milwaukee Wave will finish third in the MASL standings, meaning they will take on the sixth place Empire Strykers in the first round of the 2026 Ron Newman Cup Playoffs. 

The Playoffs are here! The Milwaukee Wave will face the Empire Strikers for game 1 at Toyota Arena in Ontario, California at 8:35pm CST.

They’ll then host the Strykers at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at 6:35pm CST for the closeout game of their first round of playoffs. ###