Comets Lose Shootout With Milwaukee

The 5,602 fans who came out to U.S. Cellular Arena this afternoon were treated to a very entertaining, high-scoring game. The Comets came out strong, played hard, and kept the Milwaukee Wave on their heels for much of the game, but a couple fourth quarter mistakes and three empty net goals for Milwaukee resulted in the Comets losing 29-15 on the night.

Missouri Comets’ Head Coach Kim Roentved understands his team will make mistakes, as long as they learn from them. Last week, playing the second game in as many days, the team came out on its heels and played flat through most of the game. Tonight, he stressed to his team the importance of playing with high-pressure from the very beginning. The Comets attacked the Milwaukee Wave on every possession and jumped out to a 5-0 lead on a three point goal from Jeff Hughes and a rebound goal from Byron Alvarez. The Wave climbed back with two goals of their own to cut the lead to 5-4, but Mads Falck took a pass from Hughes to regain a three point lead. Luan Oliviera scored his first goal of the night with five minutes remaining to once again keep it a one-point game, 7-6 in favor of the Comets.

The second quarter continued the back-and-forth action, Vahid Assadpour and Brian Harris scored for the Comets. Each time though, Milwaukee answered back with goals from Marcelo Fontana and Hewerton. Guiliano Oliviero scored with two minutes remaining in the half to give the Wave the first lead of the game, 12-11.

The Comets showed no fatigue from having to play a tough battle last night at home, as they opened up the second half.  It only took thirty-five seconds for Assadpour to find the net. The Wave once again answered right back twenty seconds later. Fabinho Ribeiro scored a three point goal on a restart late in the third quarter and took the Wave into the third quarter break with a 17-13 lead.

Early in the fourth quarter Lucas Rodriguez got tangled up with the Wave forward and was sent to the penalty box, putting the Comets on a two minute penalty kill. Many teams choose to fall into a defensive shell when they are a man-down. The Comets choose to push the ball out and catch the opposing team by surprise. Leo Gibson did just that tonight, stealing the ball from the Wave and beating Milwaukee goalkeeper Marcel Feenstra for the Comets’ fifth short-handed goal of the season. That was the final highlight of the night for the Comets though. Down 17-15, they increased the pressure, even adding goalkeeper Danny Waltman to the attack on occasion. Israel Sesay scored his second goal of the game in the seventh minute, bringing on Assadpour as the Comets’ sixth attacker.

The Wave added four empty net goals to close out the fourth quarter. Although the final score was 29-15, the Comets gave the Milwaukee Wave everything they could handle through much of the game.  The team returns to the Independence Events Center on February 10th at 3:10pm.