Empire Downs Milwaukee 10-7 in Thrilling Affair

Defenders and attackers power strong offensive showing

Marco Fabián postgame comments (English & Spanish)

Robert Palmer postgame comments (English)

Boxscore

Ontario, Calif. — The Empire Strykers defeated the visiting Milwaukee Wave 10-7 on Monday evening in a highly entertaining Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) contest. With the result, the Strykers made it three straight victories and improved to 9-8-1 on their 2024-25 campaign, at least temporarily leapfrogging the Wave and climbing into the top half of the standings.

Two defenders had impressive performances on attack for Empire, with Robert Palmer’s goal and two assists leading the way while Emmanuel Aguirre got things started by finding the net twice. Like Palmer, who also boasted three blocks, midfielders Marco Fabián and Randy Martinez each collected a trio of points. Notably, netminder Brian Orozco scored the winner with the game on a knife’s edge. Two goals from defender Breno Oliveira were not enough for Milwaukee, which came close to spoiling the party the fans at Toyota Arena, courtesy of some impressive fighting spirit in the final period.

Empire jumped out to a two-goal advantage early in the game. After Aguirre blasted a directly taken free kick under the bar from the top of the arc, the Mexican instantly completed his brace on another restart, this time benefiting from a moment of brilliance by compatriot Fabián. With the ball resting just to the right of the box, the midfielder opted to gently lift it over the wall. As it bounced off the glass above the frame, it was nodded home from close range by Aguirre. The visitors subsequently cut their deficit to 1-2, Alex Steinwasher enjoying a simple finish on a Ricardo Carvalho assist off the boards to the left of the goal.

The Strykers would find the net one more time before the end of the opening quarter, as Alan Perez established his side’s previous cushion on a helper by Polo Hernandez. The hosts then added two more tallies in the second period, Martinez this time sending a ball off the glass on the left to pick out Palmer, and Fabián scoring a rare goal with his left foot as he blasted a shot off the underside of the bar for 5-1.

The visitors would pull a couple back, Ian Bennett converting from Max Ludwig and Alex Sanchez bagging his team’s third. However, the final netter of the half belonged to the Strykers, as Martinez smashed home his own rebound after initially shooting just wide. Leonardo Espinoza was credited with the assist on the play.

Milwaukee reduced its deficit to two when Kyle Crain played provider for Javier Steinwasher in the third quarter, but Empire made it 7-4 on a power play tally by Perez, the area native having been picked out by Fabián.

The fourth period saw the away side play its best soccer of the night, and head coach Giuliano Oliviero’s men were rewarded with three straight tallies. Javier Steinwasher started the comeback by firing home on an assist by Derek Huffman, followed by a goal from Ian Bennett, who found the net on another Oliveira helper off the glass on the left. Defender Oliveira then added his own name to the score sheet on a power play to level things at 7-7.

Just as it seemed the match might slip away from the Strykers, backstop Orozco bagged his second game winner in just over a week. Having received the ball from Palmer and driven into space on the right — reproducing the move that had led up to his golden goal last Sunday against Baltimore — the 23-year-old this time found the bottom left corner instead of the upper ninety.

The Wave players gave it their all to try and come back again, fielding six attackers throughout the closing stages, but only to see the home team score two more times to round out the final result at 10-7. First, club legend Israel Sesay finished off a counterattack on an assist by Palmer. Then captain Palmer completed his brace by sending the ball into the open net from inside his own half.

Empire returns to action when it hosts the Texas Outlaws on Sunday, March 2. Tickets are available here.