Milwaukee Wave makes another dramatic comeback to reach MASL finals

• The Milwaukee Wave advanced to the Major Arena Soccer League championship after defeating the Baltimore Blast.
• Milwaukee won Game 2 of the series 5-4 and then secured the series win with a 2-1 victory in a 15-minute knockout game.
• Veteran Andre Hayne scored the decisive goal with 55 seconds left in the knockout game.

The Milwaukee Wave performed MASL playoff magic for the second time April 13, coming back after losing the first game of a playoff series to advance.

Now the team with seven arena soccer titles will play for an eighth, having knocked off the Baltimore Blast with victories of 5-4 in Game 2 and 2-1 in the 15-minute knockout game that followed at the UWM Panther Arena.

Venezuelan rookie forward Oscar Flores scored two goals in the first victory, the first to tie the game at 3-3 late in the third quarter and then the clincher midway through the fourth. On Flores’ final goal, he picked up a ball bounced hard off the boards by defender Stuart Grable and directed it in behind his back with his right heel.

Baltimore scored 32 seconds into the knockout game, but Wave rookie goalkeeper Gerardo Perez came forward and tied the game with a rebound goal six minutes later. That set the stage for veteran forward Andre Hayne, who took a pass from Ian Bennett and pounded it home with 55 seconds left.

The Wave, under first-year head coach Marcio Leite, won its quarterfinal series with the Empire Strykers in similar fashion, losing the first game before winning 60- and 15-minute games in one night.

Milwaukee won’t know its opponent until April 19^th, when the St. Louis Ambush and San Diego Sockers play the second and possibly third game of their semifinal series.