Never, in 1,011 games over 26 years, had the Milwaukee Wave shut out an opponent in a road game.
Sunday, Nick Vorberg led a historic defensive effort as the Wave kicked off the 2009-10 season with a 15-0 victory over La Raza de Monterrey at Arena Monterrey.
Fast and energetic, the Wave tore out to an 8-0 lead in the first quarter. Kyt Selaidopoulos opened the scoring, followed by Ryan Mack. Both players were key cogs in Detroit’s XSL championship team last year.
Later in the period two more goals followed in quick succession. Brett Wiesner finished from the right wing, then Ian Bennett blew past a defender down the boards and fed a wide-open Hewerton in the box for an easy finish past Jose Bontti.
The next two periods were scoreless, and Monterrey pulled the goalkeeper in favor of a sixth attacker with just under 8 minutes remaining. Milwaukee defended well for about 4 minutes, then slammed the door in spectacular fashion.
Mack was sent to the box on a penalty, putting the Wave two men down. But almost immediately, Wiesner intercepted a pass just on the Wave side of midfield and lofted a 3-pointer into the empty net to make it 11-0. Hewerton and then Bennett finished the scoring in the final 2 minutes.
“I couldn’t be more proud of the guys,” said Wave Head Coach Keith Tozer. “I said to the guys before kickoff, (owner) Jim Lindenberg really stepped up to plate for this team. I wanted to win this game for a lot of reasons, but one of the reasons was to win this for Jim, and I think that really inspired the guys a lot.”
Vorberg, who was recently named the MISL Player of the Week for his outstanding performance, was credited with 13 saves. The three previous shutouts in Wave history were:
Jan. 18, 1986, 2-0 over Chicago (Tony Pierce)
March 6, 1993, 14-0 over Denver (Tony Pierce)
Jan. 28, 1995, 16-0 over Chicago (Victor Nogueira)
