Milwaukee Wave News Release -- www.milwaukeewave.com
Saturday, November 19, 2011
MILWAUKEE, Wisc. -- The Milwaukee Wave remained undefeated behind Joe Hammes' first-half hat trick and points from 10 different players, taking down Norfolk 21-7 on Saturday night at U.S. Cellular Arena. Milwaukee now sits at 2-0 while Norfolk is still looking for its first win after dropping its first two outings.
Wave defender Evan McNeley notched his 100th career point in the first quarter, dishing out three assists, while Greg Howes, Ian Bennett and Marcio Leite each scored twice for the home team. For Norfolk, Matt Clare and Miguel Ferrer led the way with four points apiece.
The Wave were the aggressors from the opening whistle, hitting the crossbar in the first 40 seconds and drawing a save from Norfolk keeper Jamie Lieberman a minute later off a volley by Bennett. The pressure proved costly to the SharX as McNeley sent a looping ball from midfield to a wide open Pablo who trapped it superbly and slotted it home. Five minutes later it was McNeley dishing out another beautiful assist, this time sending a bank pass to Howes who had a clinical finish to make it 4-0. Bennett made it 6-0 four minutes later, capitalizing off a Norfolk turnover by taking in J.P. Rodrigues’ pass and firing shot into the lower left hand corner of Lieberman’s net. Hammes then scored his first of the game on a restart off a pass from McNeley to make it 8-0. The assist was McNeley’s third of the quarter and was his 100th career point.
A slow start to the second quarter from both squads was turned around in the blink of an eye with Hammes’ second goal of the match to make it 10-0. Not to be outdone, the SharX responded immediately with a 3-point strike from Ferrer. The goal lit a fuse into Norfolk who capitalized off a Milwaukee turnover to cut the lead in half. Clare slotted home a Gary Brooks pass, putting it past the reach of Wave keeper Nick Vorberg to make it 10-5. Milwaukee sensed the momentum slipping away and retook it with a 25-yard screamer from Hammes to make it 13-5 with a little over two minutes to go in the half. It was Hammes’ third of the game, completing the first-half hat trick.
Milwaukee once again landed the first blow in the third quarter, with Leite opening the scoring. Matt Stewart’s pass left Leite all alone four feet in front of the net, and he had no problems finishing it off. Norfolk had some success containing the Wave attack by pressuring higher up the pitch, but a well-executed restart from Milwaukee gave it a 17-5 lead off a goal from Howes, his second. The goals snowballed from there with Bennett and Leite each scoring their second goal of the match to make it 21-5 after three quarters.
Nursing a 16-point lead, Milwaukee controlled much of the early fourth quarter action, but it was Norfolk that struck first. Clare scored his second of the game off a feed from Ferrer to inch back into the match. Perera earned a blue card with five minutes left to give the SharX one last chance to cut into the lead, but Norfolk mustered only one shot and could not take advantage of its man advantage.