WAVE TURNS DOWN HEAT VS HARRISBURG SUNDAY AFTERNOON IN MILWAUKEE.

The Milwaukee Wave welcomed the Harrisburg Heat for a Sunday matinee showdown at the historic UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena. Milwaukee opened the scoring at 11:34 when Marcio Leite found Alex Sanchez who slotted home Wave’s first goal to Harrisburgs far post. 

Just two minutes later, Harrisburg equalized when Maxi Schenfeld found Malcom Harris inside the box to tie the game at one. Robert Williamson was sent to the box for two for tripping at 2:23 giving Milwaukee the man advantage. 

With only 39.2 seconds remaining in the quarter, former Heat favorite, Ricardo Carvalho scored on the power play with the helper from Mario Alvarez, Giving Milwaukee the 2-1 advantage going into the quarter break.

A difficult clearance from Milwaukee Goalkeeper Augie Rey resulted in a top of the Arch restart for Harrisburg, where Dom Francis tallied to bring the game even at two. 

The rest of the half was all Milwaukee though as Marcio Leite scored at 8:11 with the assist from Derek Huffman.

Just before the media timeout, Harrisburg Goalkeeper Grant Glorioso committed a three line pass violation which gave Milwaukee a restart at Harrisburgs yellow line, where Marcio Leite stepped home to bury the restart for the 4-2 lead. 

With 7:19 remaining, Shawn Azcueta tallied his first goal of the season with the assist from Ricardo Carvalho. The last goal of the first half came from Troy Morrison after, receiving a pass from Marcio Leite, dancing in the box, and finishing far post to give Milwaukee the 6-2 lead going into halftime.

The 3rd quarter started with Augie Rey supplying the outlet pass to Javi Steinwascher, who was initially denied by Harrisburg’s Glorioso, but assisted Derek Huffman for his second goal of the game, putting Milwaukee up at 7-2 just under 4 minutes into the frame. 

Harrisburg’s Captain Danny DiPrima interrupted on the streak for Milwaukee as he brought Harrisburg back to within four when Elton De Oliviera supplied the assist to bring the score to 7-3 in favor of Milwaukee. 

Milwaukee would then go on to score two goals from an unassisted Mario Alvarez goal at 7:36, followed by a Derek Huffman goal with 17.6 seconds remaining, with the helper coming from Cesar Corera to bring Milwaukee to a 9-3 lead to start the fourth and final quarter. 

Roshawn Panton would get Harrisburg started in the fourth at 9:28 after Jackson Becher found the wide open Panton who beat Milwaukee’s substituted goalkeeper Antonio Gonzalez to bring the Heat within five at 9-4. 

Both teams would trade the next few goals within minutes of each other beginning with a Mario Alvarez tally with 9:11 remaining, with the assist coming from Breno Oliviera. Elton De Oliviera of Harrisburg beat Gonzalez at 8:34 of the 4th assisted by Dom Francis to bring the Heat with in five. 

Derek Huffman completed his hat trick with 6:41 remaining after a defensive mishap by Harrisburg allowed Stuart Grable to find Huffman who was all alone in the box to bring the lead back to six at 11-5. 

Danny DiPrima would get Harrisburg’s last goal of the evening at 3:47 with the assist coming from Elton De Oliviera. 

Harrisburgs second trip to the penalty box this evening would come from the aforementioned De Oliviera as his challenge resulted in a two minute penalty for tripping Milwaukee’s Azcueta. The ensuing power play resulted in a goal for Milwaukee’s Mario Alvarez as Leite gets credit for the helper at 1:10 of the 4th. 

With 44.4 remaining on the clock Shawn Azcueta capped off a terrific evening for Milwaukee with a goal against 6th attacker Robert Williamson, as Javi Steinwascher supplied the pass to bring the final tally to 13-6 in favor of the Wave. 

When asked about the performance tonight, Head Coach Giuliano Oliviero stated that “Not an easy task for the Harrisburg Heat to go on the road and go into Kansas City and turn around and the next day having to play the Milwaukee Wave, tough competition for them, give them a lot of credit, on our end, I thought we executed extremely well, guys took their chances very well, I thought we scored some great goals, looked like everyone enjoyed themselves, and its three points in the standings, its exactly what we needed, and now its about turning the page and getting ready to go to St Louis on Friday.”

Marcio Leite, voted tonights MVP stated, “I thought the team did well, I thought our offense has really picked up, our movement off the ball, I think we are starting to understand our movement better, and you know my goals and my assists, I have a lot of guys that are very good quality, and if you give them good passes they will score. I hit one with my left foot, the free kick (yellow line restart) one, I thought they weren’t very organized on the wall, and I saw little gap, I took my chance, and to be honest I was surprised.”

The Wave will travel to St Louis next Friday to face the Ambush before returning to Milwaukee where they will host the Dallas Sidekicks Saturday January 13th slated for a 6:05pm kickoff. 

Final Score: Milwaukee Wave 13, Harrisburg Heat 6.
BOXSCORE | GAMESHEET | WATCH 

Tickets are on sale at MilwaukeeWave.com or at the Box Office one hour prior to game time.

MKE Wave vs Harrisburg Heat Highlights - Sunday, January 7, 2023 - UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena