WAVE DROP FIRST GAME OF WEEKEND SERIES AGAINST THE AMBUSH; MILWAUKEE HOSTS ST. LOUIS ON SUNDAY.

By Henry Amini.

St. Louis, Missouri  - The 7-Time Champion Milwaukee Wave drop the first game on the road in a back to back weekend against the St. Louis Ambush.

FINAL SCORE: Milwaukee Wave 3 St. Louis Ambush 5.
BOXSCORE | GAMESHEET | REPLAY

The Milwaukee Wave travelled to St. Louis, Missouri on Saturday where they faced the St. Louis Ambush at Family Arena for the first half of a back to back weekend in which the Wave and Ambush will each host each other for a game on their home turf.

The first-half scoresheet was relatively quiet. The Milwaukee Wave scored first and it was the powerhouse pairing of Mario Alvarez and Alex “Saucy” Sanchez who were responsible for the goal when Alvarez found Sanchez on the corner set-piece for his driven right-footed goal. After nearly six minutes without a goal, Daniel Torrealba scored the equalizer for the Ambush and the score was held at 1-1 through the rest of the first quarter. 

At the start of the second quarter, Jerry Perez entered the game for his fifth career Major Arena Soccer League appearance following an apparent minor injury picked up by William Banahene in the first quarter. There were no goals scored throughout the entire 15 minute period and the teams would enter the second half at even standing. 

“It was too many turnovers and St. Louis got the best of us,” Head Coach Marcio Leite said, explaining the struggles his team faced in finding their identity and limiting mistakes on Saturday. Early in the third quarter, Torrealba scored his second goal for a high near post finish and Urie extended the lead on a breakaway finish just before the end of the quarter. The Milwaukee wave made a pair of mistakes which led to the deficit being extended, displaying the young roster’s inexperience travelling to play a hungry St. Louis Ambush team. 

Torrealba would score again within the first minute of the fourth quarter and the Ambush momentum grew further at that moment. Julio Varela’s header would grant the Ambush their largest lead of the game at 5-1 and the Milwaukee Wave found themselves with a serious hill to climb and just over ten minutes to play. 

“The standard is always higher for Milwaukee. I felt that today we didn't play our brand of soccer,” Leite said. A late spark of hope would still arrive for the Wave when Alvarez scored a highlight goal directly from the corner. The rookie target, Oscar Flores, scored a volley from Perez’s assist off of the boards. The two unanswered goals brought the deficit to just two, and the Wave even pulled off a late stage penalty kill. The fourth quarter heroics just came too late in the game and the Milwaukee Wave would ultimately drop their first game of the weekend three goals to five. 

“Tomorrow is going to be more about our mentality, our pride than our legs. So that should be our mentality, that tomorrow we can't lose,” Leite said, as the Milwaukee Wave look to defend their home turf and avoid a mid-season skid.

The Milwaukee Wave will rematch the St. Louis Ambush at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Sunday, January 25 at 3:05pm CST.