HUGE 4TH QUARTER ELEVATES WAVE SATURDAY NIGHT
The Milwaukee Wave celebrated 40 consecutive seasons Saturday night at the Panther Arena, welcoming former players and staff, to celebrate.
The Heat came in looking to spoil the party though, when at 13:35 of the 2nd quarter, newly acquired Eric Moser, found Dom Francis who gave the heat the 1-0 lead. Less than a minute later, Breno Oliviera was credited with the equalizing goal at 14:20 when his shot was redirected off of Heat Defender Robert Williamson.
The third quarter was all the Heat, though as 47 seconds into the half, Dom Francis, finds Malcom Harris who gives the heat the 2-1 lead.
The heat would then gain a 2 goal advantage when Cesar Correa was sent to then box for Charging resulting in a shootout opportunity for the Heat. Dom Francis would go on to score his second of the night on the shootout at 4:09.
At 10:57 Milwaukee’s Andrew Wiedabach was called for a foul inside the arch, when Dom Francis quickly shot the ball to beat Milwaukee’s Willie B to give the heat the 4-1 advantage.
Milwaukee would introduce Breno Oliviera for the last 4 minutes and would continue to start the 4th.
The rally began when the Max Ferdinand, Ian Bennett connection sparked again 1:34 of the 4th bringing the score to 4-2.
At 2:26 Mario Alvarez, found Ian Bennett for his 2nd goal to bring the wave within one.
At 3:37, Breno Oliveira joined the scoring party, assisted by Mario Alvarez.
Ian Bennett would complete his hat trick at 5:03 when Ricardo Carvalho found him back post for the tap in giving the Wave the 5-4 advantage.
Derek Huffman would bring the wave to a 2 goal advantage at 13:45 when Ian Bennett, would tally his second assist of the night, finding Derek who slotted home past Harrisburgs Jorge Navarette.
The final tally of the game came when Willie B found Andre Hayne near the center circle, at 14:29 who then proceeded to volley a one time shot into the empty net giving Milwaukee the 7-4 victory.
Ian Bennett was tonights man of the match with 3 goals and 2 assists.
“I think we came in and took them (Harrisburg) lightly, I mean the first three quarters obviously, we just had to pick it up, and reach deep down inside, but honestly kudos to giuls, he switched to the 6th attacker early, and that kind of got our flow in and our touches and our rhythm in, and we finally pulled it out, but we gotta be better than that, especially playing at home, can’t come out sluggish, were going to lick our wounds a little bit, I’m glad we got the win, it could have been worse if we would have lost, but good vibes, exciting for the crowd, and that’s what you want, but I’m proud of the boys” said Bennett.
Coach Giuliano mentioned “great to have Alumni in call, they see the tradition behind the Milwaukee Wave, its an organization of excellence, and the guys felt a little bit of pressure, knowing they would be watched today, slow start, didn’t turn it around in the second half, and you know we had to take some risks and kind of go for it, because we weren’t generating any offense, with the way the Heat was parking the bus in front of the goal, so we went to the 6th attacker, and fortunately we scored 6 goals from that. Very happy about that, but it shouldn’t have came to that. We’re at home, we’re in front of our crowd, to fall behind 4-1 isn’t going to get us anywhere in the long term. Great in the short team, great we could pull it out, but not great in the long term. This league is results orientated and we needed the 3 points, we got the 3 points, and now it’s about getting better.”