April 13, 2023 – Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) News Release
MILWAUKEE, WI – Utica City FC traveled to Wisconsin to begin a best-of-3 series with the #1 seed Milwaukee Wave in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. In a game of runs, Utica allowed double-digit goals, falling 8-11.
UCFC started off with an opportunity 12 seconds in. Running a set play directly from kickoff, Bo Jelovac found himself free and fired a shot, forcing a save from Wave goalkeeper William Banahene. Banahene stood tall again as Stefan Mijatovic launched a shot his way with 12 minutes left in the first quarter. Milwaukee would capitalize on their first chance, with Qudus Lawal dancing past a couple of Utica City defenders and firing a left-footed shot to the bottom left corner to make it 1-0 in favor of the Wave. Just 35 seconds later, Cesar Correa found himself free in the box and scored his first goal of the season to tie the game up.
The next big chance would come with 4:14 left in the first as Mario Alvarez fired a shot to the near post for the Wave but Andrew Coughlin was able to stop the ball by pinning it to the end boards. Utica kept up the high press and Bo Jelovac curled in a goal off of a poor touch from the Milwaukee defense to make the score 2-1 in favor of Utica. With under a minute left in the quarter, Coughlin would make a huge save off of a direct free kick to deny Milwaukee of an equalizer. The score would hold 2-1 Utica as the game entered the second quarter.
The second quarter started off with Milwaukee taking the front foot. Just 74 seconds into the period, Lawal got his second goal for the Wave, tapping in after a cross off of the end boards found him at the back post. Lawal would then turn provider, firing a pass to the back post that Alvarez deflected home at the 3:41 mark in the second quarter for a 3-2 lead. Utica would head to the power play with 8 minutes left in the period, but that didn’t stop the Wave from scoring a short-handed goal as Javier Steinwascher found himself free and chipped past Coughlin.
Once again, UCFC found a quick response as 9 seconds later as Cristhian Segura floated a ball to Gordy Gurson who stretched back and volleyed a goal in to make it 4-3 Milwaukee. The back-and-forth continued as Wave defender Marcio Leite rifled a shot right above Coughlin for 5-3 with 5:02 left in the half. Steinwascher would grab another for the Wave, going bar down to finish off a nice passing move and push the score to 6-3 for the Wave.
UCFC would claw…