Comets Set For Northeast Trip

The Missouri Comets head out on another east coast tour this weekend, looking for much better results than their last trip. Their opponents, the Syracuse Silver Knights and the Baltimore Blast ended the Comets’ season-opening four-game winning streak. With a win against the Chicago Soul this past weekend, the Comets are ready to start a new winning streak.

On Friday night at 6:30 p.m. CT, the Comets make their second trip to Syracuse to battle the Silver Knights. Although outshooting, and through most of the game outplaying the Knights, the Comets fell 13-7. Continuously and effectively working the ball out of the back, Missouri had trouble solving the Knights compact defense and Bryan O’Quinn, Syracuse’s goalkeeper. O’Quinn had 27 saves on the night, earning his second win of the season.

At 6:35 p.m. CT on Saturday night, the Comets travel to Baltimore for the second matchup of the MISL’s top two teams this season. The Comets split their two games in Baltimore last season. In their first meeting earlier this season, the Blast broke the game open with three second-quarter goals. Vahid Assadpour and Byron Alvarez were able to score for the Comets, but they could not get much through the Baltimore defense. Anything that did squeak through was swallowed up by goalkeeper, Troy Hernandez.

The key to success for the Comets will be the same for both games. Coach Kim Roentved has styled his team’s attack utilizing the creativity of his midfielders to create open spaces for the forwards or advancing defenders. The return of Lucas Rodriguez, who missed the previous matchups against these two teams with an injury, is key to the team’s success. Along with team captain, Vahid Assadpour, Rodriguez will be looking for MISL Player of the Week, Byron Alvarez and newly signed Stefan St. Louis, to create enough chances for the Comets to win each game.