was augmented with players like Vahid Assadpour and Marco Terminesi and played over their heads. LeRohne Young, who had two goals in that game, was released in January, and Luis Rocha made more impact in that one exhibition game than he did in his 12 MASL games combined this season.

Much was made of a Facebook post I made during the playoffs where I said the only question left is whether the San Diego Sockers would lose in the Conference Final to the Monterrey Flash, or in the Final against Baltimore.

Baltimore had just pulled off another unlikely victory over Utica City FC and there was an air of inevitability pointing to another against-all-odds Blast championship. I was resigned to a dystopian future where the Blast continued to win theRon Newman Cup every year. While the off-the-cuff comment provoked the ire of Wave fans, the Sockers did, indeed, see their 23-game winning streak halted by Monterrey and the Blast were a crossbar away from tying their game with Milwaukee in the final four seconds.

Despite that lapse in faith, it was the Wave who won as I predicted back in November. Milwaukee’s win is the culmination of a multi-year progression. Last year they fell short in the Eastern Conference Final (we had them pegged to lose to Monterrey in the Final), but lost Robert Renaud at midseason and were missing Josh Lemos for several games including the first round of the playoffs. With everyone healthy at the right time the Wave were able to close the deal this