The Drillers, who had not played a match in 13 days, built a seven-point lead early in the fourth quarter and used a dependable defense to frustrate the Wave attack. Milwaukee (4-2) had a three-game winning streak halted and fell one game behind Edmonton (4-0) entering the teams' National Professional Soccer League rematch in Canada on Friday night.

"I'll be very interested as a coach to see how our team reacts," Wave coach Keith Tozer said. "They were talking in the newspaper here about wanting to see how they measured up against us, and now the pendulum swings."

Titus completed his hat trick with a goal 23 seconds into the fourth period, as he outfought Wave defender Michael Richardson for the ball at the top of the box and poked it into the net. But the Wave quickly responded on a shootout goal by forward Brian Loftin and a two-pointer by forward Michael King to pull within 12-8 at the 4-minute mark.

Forward Nikola Vignjevic sent a crossing pass that deflected off Wave defender David Moxom and into the net, putting the Drillers ahead, 14-8, at 10:21 and forcing Milwaukee to insert Richardson as a sixth attacker.

Drillers goalkeeper Paul Shepherd, returning from a hamstring injury, turned away several good scoring chances by the Wave in the final minutes. Twice he came up with sensational saves against Milwaukee forward Todd Dusosky.

Vignjevic contributed one goal and two assists for the Drillers.

Wave goalkeeper Victor Nogueira, who entered the game with a league-leading 5.66 points-against average, suffered his first loss of the season.

Milwaukee 3-0-2-3-8
Edmonton 2-4-4-4-14

First quarter: 1. Milwaukee, Willan, 3-point goal, 12:31. 2. Edmonton, Titus (Dugas), 12:41.

Second quarter: 3. Edmonton, Valente (Nabojsa Vignjevic), 8:56. 4. Edmonton, Titus (Nikola Vignjevic), restart goal, 9:51.

Third quarter: 5. Edmonton, Dugas (Nikola Vignjevic), 4:43. 6. Milwaukee, Loftin (King), 9:00. 7. Edmonton, Dailly (Holness), 12:01.

Fourth quarter: 8. Edmonton, Titus (Rattee), 0:23. 9. Milwaukee, Loftin, sog., 0:23. 10. Milwaukee, King, 4:00. 11. Edmonton, Nikola Vignjevic, 10:21. Penalties - Edmonton, D'Onofrio (5-minute misconduct), 0:23.

A - 4,968.