Comets Fall Short In Game One

The Missouri Comets advanced to the MISL Finals for the first time this season while their opponent, the Baltimore Blast are now playing in their third straight Championship Series.  The experienced Blast jumped out to a big first half lead, but behind 5,279 cheering fans, the Comets rallied back.  Unfortunately, it was not enough and the Comets fall 21-12 in Game One of the series.

The playoff atmosphere was apparent from the beginning of the game.  With the MISL Championship Trophy on display during player introductions, the crowd was buzzing with the excitement of seeing the first indoor soccer championship match since 1997.  Even after the Blast’s Tony Donatelli scored in the first 27 seconds, the crowd was roaring for their home team.  The energy in the building propelled Byron Alvarez to answer with his first goal of the night one minute later, tying the game at two points each.

The rest of the half though belonged to Baltimore.  While the Comets adjusted to playing in the biggest series of the year, the Blast calmly sat back and waited for their chances to strike.  Adauto Neto, Ptah Myers, Donatelli, Lucas Roque, and Michelle Millwood all scored for Baltimore before Neto closed the half with his second goal.  At halftime the Comets were reeling 14-2.

The team calmed down at halftime and found the rhythm that helped them to upset the defending champion Milwaukee Wave in the Semi-Final round.  Milan Ivanovic planted himself in front of Baltimore goalkeeper William Vanzela’s net and tapped in an easy two point goal from John Sosa two minutes into the half.  Ryan Junge stepped up his pressure and caught an unsuspecting Vanzela off guard a minute later.  Comets goalkeeper Danny Waltman joined the attack later in the quarter and took a shot towards goal that Lucas Rodriguez deflected into the corner netting.  After three quarter the Comets had rallied back, only trailing 16-6.

Baltimore weathered the Comets relentless attack to start the fourth quarter.  Goalkeeper William Vanzela proved why he was named to the MISL’s all-rookie team earlier this week with several point-blank shots.  Machel Millwood deflected a restart opportunity for the Blast to extend their lead midway through the final period.  The Comets pulled Waltman to bring in Vahid Assadpour as a sixth attacker with about six minutes remaining.  The extra player resulted in two quick goals from Leo Gibson and Byron Alvarez, his second on the night.  However with only a few minutes remaining Tony Donatelli was able to lob a pass over the Comets defense for an empty net goal, sealing the Baltimore victory 21-12.

The series moves to Baltimore on Saturday March 16th at 6:35pm CDT.  Should the series be tied after Game Two a 15 minute ‘Mini-Game’ will be played immediately following to decide the winner.  Comets fans are invited to the Comets Nation Fan Club Watch Party at Coach’s Bar & Grille on 103rd & Wornall at 6:00pm.