WAVE SEND COMETS TO ORBIT SUNDAY NIGHT.

by Scott Fellows

Milwaukee, WI- The Milwaukee Wave welcomed long time rivals the Kansas City Comets, into UW-Panther Arena Sunday afternoon, in front of former players, staff, and old fans, who came back to enjoy the yearly anticipated Alumni night.   

After a difficult stretch, Milwaukee would take this one by a final score of 13-3, ending the Comets winning streak, and giving the Wave their second victory over the Comets this season, with one game left to play.

The highlight of the evening, was the highly anticipated debut of Frank Tayou, who would finish the evening with 4 goals and 1 assist, earning him first star honors.   

“It’s such an honor to play for such a historical franchise. I've been a fan of Coach Giuliano for years. I like his calmness on the bench and just how supportive he is of his team. It’s always been a goal of mind to play for a coach like him.” Said Frank Tayou   

Franck reflected on the competitive training sessions and how the team welcomed him.   

”From the situation I was in before this is such a blessing.  Practice is so much more competitive than any games I've played before this season and the result is what you saw tonight.  I'm excited, and we're going to focus on getting healthy and staying healthy and the rest is going to be history. The team welcomed me from day one, and I felt at home.”  

Coach Giuliano Oliviero, was pleased with the teams performance, and reflected on Franck’s impact tonight.   

“It was a game we needed to have, and anytime you bring a player, of Franck’s caliber, for him to have that performance from his first game and have that success and for the team to have the success, it's really fun. We're looking forward to the remainder of the season.”  

Milwaukee would take a 4-0 lead with goals through Ricardo Carvalho, Frank Tayou (Max Ferdinand), Ian Bennett (Ricardo Carvalho), and Alex Steinwascher, before Danny Malhue would score the Comets first of the night.   

Milwaukee would then go on to score the next 6 goals through Franck Tayou (Breno Oliviera), Max Ferdinand, Alex Sanchez (Max Ferdinand), Alex Steinwascher (Franck Tayou), Tony Walls (Javi Steinwascher), and Ricardo Carvalho, bringing Milwaukee’s lead to 10-1.   

Leo Acosta would score the Comets second goal through a penalty kick when William Banahene was sent to the box for tripping.   Derek Huffman (Alex Steinwascher) would add his name to the scoresheet, followed by two additional Franck Tayou goals assisted by Ian Bennett and Shawn Azcueta. 

Leo Acosta would get one more in between the Tayou goals for Kansas City’s third and final goal of the evening.   In the midst of the action, another milestone was achieved this evening as Ian Bennett surpassed the 500 point total, becoming the second player to ever do so.   

Bennett reflecting on his 500th career points.

“500, man, like, honestly, I’m a little bit of an old man, but it's a blessing to obviously get to those numbers,  Like those are big numbers and I am second to do it. Obviously, Frank was the first, I'm the second.  So it feels good, but obviously the biggest thing what I want to do is is win championships. So obviously Kudos to my teammates, my coaching staff, and everybody that helped me get through, my family. But at the end of the day, I'm all about rings, you know, chasing personal stats or one thing, but I'm all about rings, man.”  

When reflecting on the game and getting the opportunity to play with Franck.   

“Yeah, it was a special night, obviously, and I had my club here, so I I think that was special to get it done with my club there, but obviously having Franck man, he makes kind of the same runs as I do, so it was kind of cool playing off the boards itself. I'm not knowing to be a passer, but uh, it's really good. It takes kind of the pressure off because now they have to worry about a lot of players now.  Now you got obviously, Franck, you got Sanchez, you have, as well as Ricardo, so we got a lot of goal scorers now.  So we got a lot of weapons, and I think honestly, the biggest thing is, I think we finally played a Wave soccer game like back in the old days where everybody just worked, everybody hustled, and everybody wanted it, and I think honestly we said today, and I said, if we were gonna change, it's gotta start with this game because they're a good opponent, and we finally showed up, so I told everybody we're gonna start, hopefully, this is a start to something special and we looked good today, and and that's how you're supposed to look, especially when you're playing at home.”  

Reflecting on his 4 goals and 1 assist, Franck Tayou is excited for what’s to come after game 1.”   

“In the past, I was, you know, I was I wasn't sure if I was gonna get the ball or not and how I was gonna get the ball. These guys just know what I'm capable of, they've seen it and um it's just not like how to put me in position where I can be myself and I'm so excited. It's this game one.  I'm obviously looking forward for the rest of the season, and um, you know, my best is yet to come.”  

It was announced midway through the third quarter, that  the Milwaukee Wave would be retiring Head Coach Giuliano Oliviero’s number 21 jersey.   

“It’s really an exciting time,  I mean, I'm extremely grateful to the organization and for them to acknowledge me you know, to be in the rafters with players such as Michael King and Victor Nogueira, Coach Tozer, and the Dusosky brothers . It’s just really humbling, It just feels special.”

The Milwaukee Wave do not have a moment to breathe; the team will be right back at it tomorrow / Monday morning, with another training session Tuesday before heading to the airport Wednesday to fly to Texas to face the Outlaw Thursday at 7:05pm CT. After that game Thursday in Mesquite, the team heads to St. Louis to take on the Ambush Sunday afternoon at 2:05pm CT.

Watch both games LIVE! and for FREE! via MASLtv on YouTube.

The Wave return to Milwaukee Friday, March 21 at 6:35pm for the Ola de Milwaukee game celebrating Hispanic Heritage

Get tickets and more information at MilwaukeeWave.com