The Milwaukee Wave will play San Diego for the MASL Championship after battling and adjusting all season long to make a playoff push.
The last time the Wave were in the championship was 2019, when they won the title.
Former Wave star Marcio Leite is in his first year as head coach after spending several seasons as an assistant. The team has fully bought into Leite’s system, and they are one of the highest-scoring teams headed into the finals.
"Being the assistant coach for the last six or seven years is something. But to actually take the lead and make some big-time decisions on who’s playing, who’s not playing. How is the team gonna look like? How are we going to play? Making decisions about our playing style game. Know if the players were gonna buy in," Leite said.
Watch: The Milwaukee Wave advance to the MASL Championship to play San Diego for their first title since 2019
Forward Ian Bennet said the team has the right mix of veterans, All-Stars, and rookies.
"The vibes are high, we came back and won two crazy games again. Everyone thought we were down and out, but we got it done. Honestly, that's about this group. We’ve got the nice right mix. Veterans, All-Stars, and rookies, I think we're ready to go man," Bennet said.
Forward Alex Sanchez leads the league in scoring with 32 goals and is in the league MVP conversation.
"It’s been coming along all season long. It's stuff that we’ve worked on all year. Luckily game in game out I've been fortunate to contribute to carry on to it. It’s the championship game. It’s what we've worked on all year," Sanchez said.
Defender Mario Alvarez said the team's defense will be key against San Diego.
"It’s all about energy defensively. Like I said, defense wins championships. With the squad that we have, our guys who defend for us are high-level guys, and I can trust them," Alvarez said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device.
Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.
