WAVE SURVIVE LATE AMBUSH RALLY SUNDAY.

WAVE SURVIVE LATE AMBUSH RALLY SUNDAY.
by Scott Fellows.

Sunday, December 15, St. Louis, MO, - It always seems to be an intense affair when the Milwaukee Wave and St Louis Ambush meet, and with recent additions by the Ambush, the rivalry seems to be intensified this season. 

Alex Sanchez (Andre Hayne) would start the scoring when a shot beyond the yellow line deflected off the underside of Uzi Tayou's shoe and beat the unsuspecting Paulo for the first quarter advantage. St Louis would equalize just minutes later, when the ever so dangerous Will Eskay beat multiple Wave defenders and placed a well shot strike to the upper far post at 9:26 of the first. 

The second quarter would begin in the favor of the Ambush, as brothers Uzi and Frank Tayou would connect for the second tally, giving Uzi his first goal of the season. Milwaukee would rally for the next five goals beginning at 11:45 of the second, as Tony Walls would add his second goal of the season assisted by Ian Bennett (2-2). 

Milwaukee would take their first lead of the afternoon, when Alex Sanchez found Troy Morrison sneaking in at the back post for his first goal of the season (3-2). The second half would begin with the Steinwascher connection, as Alex Steinwascher would lay off to brother Javi just to the right of the box, where Javi finished far post beating the newly inserted Pollo Cortes in goal. 

Milwaukee would seem to begin to run away with the match when at 07:30, Breno Oliveira found Alex Sanchez at the back post for a tap-in to bring Milwaukee to a 3 goal advantage. 

At 8:18 of the third, Andre Hayne found Breno with an overlapping run down low whose shot beat Pollo high and to the far post, giving Milwaukee the 6-2 lead. St Louis would go on to rally for the next three goals beginning with Will Eskay (Duduca Carvalho) on the powerplay (6-3) at 10:10 of the 3rd.

Giving St Louis a bit more life at 12:16, Mo Ndiaye (John Eskay) would cut the deficit to two when his tally from just outside of the arch would find the near post (6-4). The fourth quarter would begin with a run out of the back from Mo Ndiaye found a wide open Frank Tayou back post for the tap in to bring St Louis within 1 (6-5). 

The game winning goal would be credited to Max Ferdinand on the powerplay, when Alex Sanchez found Max at the top of the arch, and an intelligent sole roll beat defender Ryan Khedoo, giving Max time and space to finish just under the crossbar (7-5). For the first time this season, Milwaukee would find themselves defending against the 6th attacker, when none other than Will Eskay donned the pink jersey. 

Eskay found space into the box, where Duduca found him in space, and Eskay finished low to the far post. Milwaukee would hold on for the last 2 minutes, including a dangerous restart with just 6 seconds remaining. 

"We knew coming into this afternoon's game that it would be a tough matchup. We Kept it close throughout the first half and had a great 3rd quarter and we were able to close out the game and earn an important three points." Head Coach Giuliano Oliviero.  

Alex Sanchez would finish the afternoon with 2 goals and 2 assists, giving him the lead on the team for points. 

Final Score: Milwaukee Wave 7, St. Louis Ambush 6

BOXSCORE | GAMESHEET | WATCH AGAIN

The Wave returns to UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena Friday, December 20 to take on the Baltimore Blast and to celebrate First Responders.

First Kick is scheduled for 6:35pm and will feature a First Responders Halftime game as the Milwaukee Police Department take on the Milwaukee Fire Department in the ultimate soccer showdown.

Tickets are on sale now at MilwaukeeWave.com or at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena Box office one hour prior to first kick.