Wisconsin Soccer Central

David Kommavang (Madison Memorial) ran onto the through ball and calmly finished off a breakaway in the third minute Saturday night, only to see the assistant referee's flag up for offside.

It was a sign of things to come for the Madison 56ers.

The 56ers had three goals disallowed for offside, then equalized in the 90th minute only to see Marco Gutierrez score in the final seconds of stoppage time as the Chicago Fire posted a stunning 2-1 victory in a National Premier Soccer League Midwest Division match at Breese Stevens Field.

Gutierrez's goal on a 2-on-1 with fellow second-half substitute Luke Zeiler came moments after midfielder Trevor Banks (Madison Memorial) seemingly had salvaged a point for the 56ers on the frustrating night.

Madison (2-1-2 overall, 2-1-1 NPSL) dominated play – "There's not much question about that," 56ers coach Jim Launder said – but saw two apparent goals by Marquette's Adam Lysak (Milton) ruled out in addition to Kommavang's early effort.

"We missed so many chances," Launder said. "In the first half, we had seven good chances to score and none of them were on goal, except for the two offside goals."

The first disallowed goal came in the 25th minute. Banks stood over a free kick about 30 yards out on the right side, and served it to the far post, where Lysak was unmarked and headed it past Fire goalkeeper Tom Serratore.

"I was the last person into the box, and somehow I'm called offside because I'm first to the ball," Lysak said.

"It looked like there was no chance he was offside on that," Launder added. "He started so deep on the run."

The chances kept coming for the 56ers, who were anything but clinical in front of the net. Jed Hohlbein (Middleton/UW) fired high and midfielder Andrew Wiedabach (Mequon Homestead) pulled two shots wide, as did Banks.

Lysak had the ball in the net again in the 61st, slamming it in on the back post after a feed from Wiedabach, who had broken free on the right side of the box. Again, though, the flag was flapping in the breeze.

"When he passed it he was on the 6 and I was still at the PK spot, which I just got to, so that's not even close," Lysak said. "Yes, I get to the ball when it's in front of him, but not when he passed it."

The Fire (1-1-0) didn't attempt their first shot until the 39th minute, but opened the scoring with their first goal of the season in the 70th. DePaul's Art Garza took a shot from about 20 yards out that skipped past University of Wisconsin goalkeeper Max Jentsch (Hartland Arrowhead) on the near post.

"I probably could've saved it, probably should have," said Jentsch, playing in his second game after missing the entire spring season for the Badgers because of a herniated disc in his back. "I dove for it and I didn't get my hands down quick enough."

Madison finally scored a goal that counted with 30 seconds left in the 90 minutes.

UW defender Derek Pitts (Middleton) played a long ball into the box on the left side, and Hohlbein touched it past a Fire defender to Banks, who was alone in the middle of the box and finished against Valparaiso keeper Tom Serratore to tie it at 1.

But the 56ers pushed for a late winner during the 3 minutes of stoppage time, and Chicago caught them on a counter attack. Jentsch got his leg on Gutierrez's shot but couldn't keep it out, and the final whistle blew moments after the 56ers kicked off.

"He hit that goal at 2 minutes, 55 seconds extra time," Launder said, "and (the referee) gave 3 minutes."

While there were positives, there's no doubt the loss makes Madison's path to a second straight NPSL Midwest title a bit more challenging.

"I thought we played better, we played better soccer than we did last time here (a 2-2 tie with Quad City)," Launder said. "But we need to win some games now, we're going to have to beat people away."

Chicago Fire – Art Garza 70
Madison 56ers – Trevor Banks (Jed Hohlbein) 90
Chicago Fire – Marco Gutierrez (Luke Zeiler) 90+

MADISON 56ERS: Max Jentsch; Derek Pitts, Henry Aiyenero, Colin Mani, Ryan Buda (Royston Ngwayah 82); Trevor Banks, Luke Goodnetter (Aiymar Sinaise 82); David Kommavang (Cody Banks 74), Andrew Wiedabach (Keith Dangarembwa 63), Adam Lysak (Carlos McCrary 74); Jed Hohlbein. Substitutes not used: Ryan Onwukwe (GK), Anthony Santaga, Keenan Newallo.

CHICAGO FIRE: Tom Serratorre; Enzo Berrini, Mitch Albrecht, Cal Rosleib, Brian Lunar; Art Garza, Sean Totsch, Matt Gibbons, Tyler Engel (Luke Zeiler 56), Oliver Meyer (Jesse Ortiz 57); Chris Prince (Marco Gutierrez 57). Substitutes not used: None.

Saves: M 3 (Jentsch 3), C 3 (Serratore 3). Shots: M 16, C 7. Fouls: M 12, QC 11. Corner kicks: M 3, C 4. Offsides: M 4, C 0. Discipline: M – Buda (caution-foul, 71), Mani (caution-dissent, 77); C – Totsch (caution-foul, 72), Zeiler (caution-foul, 85).