Wave Pummel Comets

The Milwaukee Wave came into the game as the MISL’s hottest team, winning eight straight games.  The Comets were unable to slow down their momentum. Milwaukee’s Luan Oliveira and Josh Rife each scored two goals while goalkeeper Nick Vorberg tallied 23 saves to hand the Comets their second home loss of the season, 18-6.

Against Wichita last week, the Comets worked the ball out of their defensive zone extremely fast, catching their opponent off guard several times. Milwaukee was ready for this strategy and made the Comets work to get the ball out of their end. Anytime a Comets defender received a ball he was immediately met by a Wave player trying to push him off the ball. Though the Comets tried to battle back, their efforts were usually rewarded with a whistle and a foul.

Coady Andrews’ trip in the first quarter put the Comets down a man early and led to the Wave’s first goal, only three minutes into the game. Marcelo Fontana snuck behind the defense and tucked a ball inside the post two minutes later to give the Wave a 4-0 lead.

Neither team added to the score the remainder of the half. The Comets had chances, but anytime their shot made it past the Wave’s goalkeeper, his defense was there to keep the ball off the line.

The second half was filled with Wave goals and more penalties. Missouri’s Vahid Assadpour and Milwaukee’s Hewerton tangled early in the third quarter, leading to a two minute penalty for each of them. Byron Alvarez joined him shortly after that as he got called for Striking.  Before he made it out, Leo Gibson was thrown in the box for tripping. Josh Rife finally capitalized on all these penalties just as Alvarez made it back onto the field.

Back at full strength, the Comets were able to get on the board with two goals from Alvarez and one from John Sosa. Unfortunately, that was not enough as the Wave scored three times against the Comets’ sixth attacker and win 18-6. With two goals, Alvarez takes over the league lead in goals scored and points.

The Comets are back in action at Wichita’s Hartman Arena on Saturday night, 7:35pm.  They return home next Saturday, January 19th in the annual Retro Game. The players will be wearing jerseys inspired by the 1992-93 NPSL Champion Kansas City Attack. Fans can take these jerseys home with them in a LIVE auction immediately following the game.  At halftime Comets and Attack alumni will play a spirited exhibition game.  Kickoff is at 7:35pm and fans can get tickets by calling 855.KC.ARENA or going to CometsIndoorSoccer.com.