ROAD WOES CONTINUE TO HAUNT WAVE.

By Scott Fellows

Ontario, CA-The road woes continued for the Milwaukee Wave on Monday evening, as the team dropped a 10-7 decision to the Empire Strykers in Southern California. Ontario would open the scoring with a restart from the top of the Arch courtesy of Emmanuel Aguirre at 1:53 of the first quarter. Aguirre would get his second of the evening at 6:50 assisted by Marco Fabian, for the 2-0 lead. In a game that was filled with numerous "wallascora's "the first would come from the likes of Alex Steinwascher at 09:12 of the first when Ricardo Carvalho's inbound pass off the boards to Alex, for the "wallascora" goal.

Three consecutive goals from the Strykers through Alan Perez, Robert Palmer, and Marco Fabian gave the Strykers an early 5-1 lead early in the second frame.

Ian Bennett would help chip away at the lead at 08:55 assisted by Max Ludwig. Bennett would go on to provide the assist to Alex Sanchez moments later at 10:14 cutting the Strykers lead to 5-3.

Randy Martinez, however, would extend the Strykers lead to 6-3 at 11:55 of the second, assisted by Leonardo Espinoza, giving the Strykers the 6-3 lead going into the break.

The third quarter would start with Milwaukee getting another "wallascora", when Kyle Crain found Javi Steinwascher at 6:20 of the 3rd.

Milwaukee would be forced to play a man down when Shawn Azcueta was sent to the box for a holding infraction at 10:11.

It would take all but 4 seconds for Empire to capitalize on the powerplay through Andy Reyes (Marco Fabian) at 10:15 of the 3rd.

Trailing 7-4 at this point, Milwaukee would go on to rally, with the next three goals originating with a Javi Steinwascher goal at 00:55 (Derek Huffman), an Ian Bennett tally (Breno Oliviera) at 1:41, and finally a Breno Oliviera unassisted power play goal at 3:58 of the 4th.

However, the rally would not be enough to lift the Wave over the Strykers, as goalkeeper Brian Orozco would score the game winning goal at 7:35 of the 4th (Robert Palmer).

Head Coach Giuliano Oliviero reflecting on tonight's game. "I give the team credit for battling back, to at least tie the game at 7-7. We had 2 counter attacks at that point, however, and we did not execute. I think it comes down to inconsistent performances and right now we need guys to be more consistent throughout the game."

2 additional goals were scored against Milwaukee's sixth attacker courtesy of former Milwaukee Wave player Israel Sesay (Randy Martinez) and Roberto Palmer, giving the Empire Strykers the 10-7 victory.

Ian Bennett and Javi Steinwascher would lead the way for Milwaukee, with 2 goals each.

Final Score: Milwaukee Wave 7, Empire Strykers 10.

UP NEXT:

Milwaukee Wave at Empire Strykers, Monday, February 24, 1:30pm CT from Toyota Arena in Ontario, California.

That game will also be available to watch with a Paramount Plus subscription. The replay will be available the next day via MASLtv on YouTube.

The Milwaukee Wave return home Sunday, March 2 at 4:05pm CT to take on the rival Kansas City Comets in the Wave to the Past game. We’ll recognize Milwaukee Wave stars from the past, make a very special announcement in regards to Head Coach Giuliano Oliviero PLUS a postgame party with players and alumni at the Ambassador Hotel after the game!

Get tickets and more information at MilwaukeeWave.com

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