Pair return to Wave, seek championship
BROOKFIELD – Kyle Lance and Jonatan Santos both call Milwaukee home.
Lance does because … well … it is. He was raised in the area, got his degree from UW-Milwaukee, played soccer and won a league title with his hometown indoor team, the Wave, and has blended his passions for teaching and his sport to help build the Elmbrook United soccer club.
Santos, a 33-year-old Brazilian, does because this is where he reached his soccer pinnacle, as a part of the Wave’s 2010-'11 championship season and then part of the 2011-'12 team that repeated.
Now after time away, both are back in Wave uniforms, eager to recapture the championship magic.
The Wave won its MASL season opener last Friday in Tacoma, Wash., and will begin its home schedule at 6:05 p.m. Saturday vs. the Cedar Rapids Rampage at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.
“I think I’m better,” Santos said after practice Thursday, when asked how nearly four years away from Milwaukee had changed him.
“I’m more experienced. I think I’m here to help the guys get the championship again. That’s a long way, but we are ready."
Santos, a defender, spent six-plus seasons with Milwaukee from 2007-’08 to 2013-’14 and was a teammate of Giuliano Oliviero, who has begun his fourth season as the Wave’s head coach. Last season with the Rampage, Santos scored seven goals — the most since his rookie season with the Wave — and recorded a career-best 13 assists.
"When we won two championships in 2011 and '12, I thought Jonatan played a real crucial role in both of those championship runs," Oliviero said.
“He’s defender, but he’s really good on the offensive side. Defensively, he can shut down every player in the league, and he helps us on special teams as well.”
Santos was slow to recover from a knee injury in the 2013-’14 season and played in just one game with the Wave before being released. In his time away the defender played for the San Diego Sockers for two seasons in the PASL and the MASL before joining Cedar Rapids last year.
Although Santos said he respects the former Rampage teammates he’ll see Saturday, his experiences elsewhere reminded him of what true professionalism is.
“I had some problems over there," Santos said. “Here it’s different. I’m happy to be home again.” Lance never really left. A knee injury left Lance unable to help the Wave defend its 2010-’11 title, and he took about two years away from competition to recover and regain confidence in the knee. Lance stayed active as a youth coach and then ultimately resumed playing at the club level.
The past three years, the 35-year-old defender has trained with the Wave and filled in at practice when needed.
“I’d still like to play at this level, and this year the talks went a little more serious direction,” Lance said. “I’ve probably lost little step, but maybe what I lost in my physical (game) I hopefully gained in my mental (game).
“I know I’m not going to need to carry any team or anything. This is a team that from the first player to the 18th player, there’s a lot of quality within this team.”
The Wave, which lost in the second round of the playoffs last season, is looking to get back to the championship series for the first time since 2012.
Lance’s role is a blend of player, a practice workhorse, liaison between generations and a coach on the field, and it could evolve further based on need.
Lance says he’ll contribute when called upon, and Oliviera says Lance is someone he wouldn’t hesitate to use in any game, even after five years out of uniform.
“He didn’t come to our tryouts or anything like that, but he’s come out, he’s trained with the first team and anytime he’s out here, he really makes practice better,” Oliviera said.
“He knows the system, he’s really good on both sides of the ball, and to have a player you can rely on if needed with that kind of experience, we’re very fortunate to have Kyle in our back pocket, essentially in our backyard.”