MILWAUKEE - When Milwaukee Wave United players and coaches leave Uihlein Soccer Park, they inevitably see the green sign that holds the name of the street on which their home stadium and training grounds are located: Good Hope Rd.
And while the results haven't been good for Wave United a quarter of the way through their 28-game A-League schedule, they still have hope of turning their season around.
Milwaukee's latest frustrating loss came Sunday night, as the Seattle Sounders - playing the second of back-to-back games - took a two-goal lead and got 10 saves from Preston Burpo to hold off Wave United 2-1 in front of 1,447 fans at the Pat Jones Field.
The loss dropped Milwaukee to 1-5-1 - all five losses have been by one goal - and Wave United remained tied for sixth in the seven-team Western Conference with four points.
"We know that we're behind the 8-ball," Milwaukee forward Johnny Torres said. "There comes a time when we've got to stop saying, 'Tough luck, tough luck, tough luck.' We've just got to get some results, point blank.
"We definitely have lots of talent on this team, and once we start clicking and playing together like we can and like we've showed, I don't have any doubts in our success."
Torres probably had the most trying night for the home side. He clanged a penalty kick off the crossbar in the 44th minute, then saw Burpo make an amazing, leaping save to deny him on a tremendous free kick from 23 yards out in the 89th minute.
"Obviously if I bury that PK, the game could've gone a different way. I failed the boys tonight," said Torres, Wave United's leading scorer. "Lots of credit to Seattle, they came in after playing last night, but I think we definitely we let them out easy tonight, starting with myself."
Neither team had any great chances until the Sounders (5-4-1, 16 points) went ahead 1-0 on an own goal in the 35th minute. Seattle's Sean Henderson sent a cross to the right side of the box, looking for teammate Chad Brown. Milwaukee defender Steve Lawrence got to the ball, but inadvertently sent it past Wave United goalkeeper Jim Larkin.
Torres had the prime opportunity to tie things up just before halftime, as Milwaukee was awarded its first penalty kick of the season on a foul in the box after a free kick by Torres. Instead, Torres' shot from the spot clipped the crossbar and sailed out of play.
"I just figured I was going to beat him (Burpo) high down the middle," he said. "(I) definitely got under it and it was an unfortunate miss."
Seattle extended its lead on a nice counter-attack in the 54th minute. Marco Velez controlled the ball on the right side and sent a cross to Roger Levesque stationed in the middle of the box about six yards out. Levesque quickly flicked a header to the far post, where Welton one-timed a shot past Larkin for his fifth goal of the season.
The two-goal deficit prompted Wave United to change its strategy. Coach Art Kramer pushed everyone but Lawrence forward - and even he made a couple of runs - and Milwaukee controlled the ball for the vast majority of the final 35 minutes.
The pressure finally paid off in the 62nd minute, when Greg Howes - Wave United's leading scorer last season - scored his first goal of the season. Defender Chad Dombrowski crossed the ball from the far right side to Howes on the left side, and his one-timer got through traffic in the box and past Burpo just inside the far post.
Burpo, though, was up to the task the rest of the night, most notably on Torres' free kick.
A handball call on the Sounders set up the drama in the 89th minute. Torres' shot was ticketed for the upper left corner of the goal, just off the post and under the crossbar, but the 6-foot-3 Burpo got up and swatted the ball away. It fell near the post, but neither Digital Takawira nor Jamar Beasley could poke it in for Milwaukee during the ensuing scramble, and the Sounders sent it over the end line for a corner kick.
"What an unbelievable shot and an unbelievable save on that free kick," Seattle coach Brian Schmetzer said. "I have no idea how (Burpo) got that. That's world class. I thought it was going in."
But it didn't, and it was once again close, but not quite for Wave United
"I've been on teams that have been at the top of the table and I've been on a couple of them that have been at the bottom of the table, too, and there's such a fine line between being at the top and being at the bottom," Kramer said.
"Every game we've played, we're right in there every game. Now if we were getting beat 2-0, 3-0 every game, we'd have to take a serious look in the mirror and say 'Hey, we've got some real issues here.' But as I said, it's a fine line, and we'll keep working hard on the little detailed parts of the game and try to get ourselves over that line."
June 13, 2004 - Pat Jones Field at Uihlein Soccer Park
Seattle Sounders 2, Milwaukee Wave United 1
Att.: 1,447
Seattle 1-1 - 2
Milwaukee 0-1 - 1
Seattle - Own goal (Steve Lawrence) 35
Seattle - Welton 5 (Roger Levesque) 54
Milwaukee - Greg Howes 1 (Chad Dombrowski) 62
SEATTLE: Preston Burpo - Marco Velez, Danny Jackson, Ryan Edwards, Zach Scott - Sean-Michael Callahan (Scott Jenkins 60), Jason Farrell, Sean Henderson, Chad Brown (Viet Nguyen 46) - Roger Levesque, Welton (Kyle Smith 56, Craig Tomlinson 87).
MILWAUKEE: Jim Larkin - Joe Hammes (Troy Dusosky 46), Steve Lawrence, Chris Morman (Giuliano Oliviero 57), Chad Dombrowski - Nino Marcantonio (Todd Dusosky 46), Ibrahim Kante (Digital Takawira 46), Matt Schmidt, Greg Howes, Nick Walls (Jamar Beasley 68) - Johnny Torres.
Saves: S - Burpo 10; M - Larkin 3.
Shots: S 4, M 17. Fouls: S 19, M 13. Corner kicks: S 0, M 6.
Discipline: S - Smith (caution), 74; M - Lawrence (caution), 40; Marcantonio (caution), 44.
