Comets Win Opening Series

After battling so hard to overcome a 13-0 deficit in Friday’s win over the Wings, one had to wonder if the Comets would have enough to win in today’s match. After spotting the Wings 4 points in the first 5 minutes, it looked like the answer was no. Once again, the Comets fought back and on the strength of goals from five different players, they come out 2-0 on the season with a 19-10 victory.

For the second straight game the Comets allowed Andrew Hoxie to establish his presence early in front of the net. He scored two goals at point-blank range against Comets’ goalkeeper Danny Waltman in the first five minutes. This time, the Comets fought back right away. Mads Falck scored his first MISL goal in the seventh minute, then Vahid Assadpour found the net two minutes later on a short-handed opportunity to tie the game.  Bryan Perez momentarily regained the lead for the Wings, but it was the last lead of the day for the Wings. While the clock was winding down the Comets pressured Wings’ goalkeeper Sanaldo with a flurry of shots. Will John was able to capitalize on the offensive pressure and tied the game at 6 points each with 15 seconds left in the quarter.

Both team defenses settled down in the second quarter and play opened up. The Wings and Comets battled back and forth with neither team able to take a clear advantage. The stalemate was broken up midway through the quarter when Byron Alvarez converted on a Penalty Kick. The Comets went into halftime with an 8-6 lead, but the momentum shift towards the Comets side was becoming apparent.

Overly dramatic halftime speeches were not necessary today. Coach Kim Roentved just wanted his team to keep playing fundamentally sound soccer.

“I told the boys that they know what level of soccer we are capable of and that we needed to come out hungry for more,” Roentved instructed.

The second half started just as Coach ordered. Leo Gibson took the ball from a Wings player in his own defensive third and found Alvarez in front of the Wings goal. Alvarez calmly headed the ball to the far post, out of Sanaldo’s reach. Danny Waltman had been playing aggressively all night and halfway through the quarter the referees thought he was a little too aggressive. Waltman was given a two minute penalty after a one-on-one battle with Jamar Beasley. Geison converted the resulting shootout to cut the score to 10-8. That was the closest Wichita would get. The Comets converted two Power Play opportunities after that, one from Lucas Rodriguez and another from Gibson.

Leading 14-8 going into the fourth quarter, the Comets employed a defense first strategy that frustrated the Wings offense. Shot after shot was taken, but not many made it all the way to Waltman as the Comets’ defense stood tall. Hoxie completed his second straight hat trick with a Power Play goal in the third minute to make the score 14-10.  With the Sixth Attacker on the field in the closing minutes of the quarter the Comets once again jumped on the offensive with scores from Assadpour and Brian Harris, Assadpour’s was a three pointer.

The Comets walk away from this one with a 19-10 victory and will take their 2-0 record into Milwaukee next Sunday at 3:00pm. They will return home on November 16 to welcome the Syracuse Silver Knights to the Independence Events Center.  It is the Comets’ 2nd Annual Blue-Out Night and all fans are encouraged to wear their Comets blue as they cheer on the home squad.