Milwaukee Wave eliminated, Ron Newman Cup race
MILWAUKEE - Days after the Milwaukee Wave was bested by the Baltimore Blast in a tight match, the notorious black turf of the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena hosted the most important game the Wave has faced thus far in the season on Sunday, April 23.
The winner would move on to the finals against Chihuahua Savage.
The attendance hit 1,866, and with everything on the line, the Wave needed a win for an opportunity to continue forward, but it was not in the cards for this season.
The Baltimore Blast beat the Wave 5-3.
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The Milwaukee Wave and the Baltimore Blast brought more energy than the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena has held so far this season. After five minutes of play, William Banahene cleared a ball straight into the waiting feet of Qudus Lawal. With Banahene’s second assist of the season, the Wave put the first point of the game onto the board. In the 12th minute, Nelson Santana had the opportunity to tie it up. Both teams had an additional opportunity but instead clocked a scoreless Power Play period. In the 10th minute of the second quarter, Ricardinho Sobreira ended the scoring of the half, 1-2 Blast.
Straight off the tap, Moises Gonzalez upped the Blast with another goal. After an out-of-box handball from Banahene, Augie Rey replaced him for the penalty shootout. Ferdinand took the attempt but was denied by Rey. While still on the Power Play, Tony Donatelli scored the Blast’s fourth goal of the game. Less than 30 seconds after, Josh Hughes made it five. Support and energy never wavering, the Wave gained two more goals playing with a sixth attacker. The first was claimed by Mario Alvarez and the second Luan Oliveira. Adopting a defensive and offensive six switch, the Wave put their best feet forward. Playing until the very last second, the Wave fell just short of the Baltimore Blast.
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"I’m proud of the fact that we played to the final buzzer. At this point, you need to give Baltimore Blast a ton of credit. They were better than us, sad to say, but the better team did win today," said Head Coach Giuliano Oliviero. "We’re only going to get better. We’re only going to get stronger. This one hurt. We’ll give it a couple of days. We’ll reflect on it, and then it’s all looking forward to the future."