Byron Alvarez Leads Comets to 17-9 Victory

After a month where the Comets found themselves mostly on the road, they were happy to be back in front of over 4,500 screaming fans at the Independence Events Center. On the strength of four goals from Byron Alvarez the Comets got back on the winning track with a 17-9 victory over the Syracuse Silver Knights.

Forward, Mads Falck spent the holidays with family who traveled all the way from their home country of Denmark.  Falck didn’t disappoint, scoring the game’s first two goals. The first from John Sosa and the next from Stefan St. Louis. Byron Alvarez ended the period by popping the ball up high and over the Knights defender and buried a volley past the sprawling Knights goalkeeper, Bryan O’Quinn.

Up 6-0 heading into the second quarter, the Comets fell into a laidback attack, unlike the high pressure offense from earlier. Syracuse’s Andrew Budnyy and Jamar Beasley took advantage. Beasley’s three pointer ended the half and brought the Knights within a point, 6-5.

Coach Kim Roentved reminded his team at halftime what that first period felt like, “We played near perfect soccer in the first quarter, and then came out flat in the second. I challenged them to finish the way they started and they responded, especially in the fourth quarter.”

His message didn’t hit home right away, the Silver Knights’ Neto scored the first goal of the second half. Byron Alvarez, with his second goal of the night, briefly regained the lead for the Comets a few minutes later. Former Comets forward, Jamar Beasley, gave his new team the lead again with his second goal of the night. The Comets were down 9-8 at the end of the third quarter.

The fourth quarter belonged to the Comets. The team wore down the Syracuse Silver Knights and pressured goalkeeper Bryan O’Quinn and the Knights defense with 23 shots in the game. Byron Alvarez completed his hat trick less than two minutes into the quarter. Now leading 10-9, the Comets decided not to take their foot off the pedal and continued their pressure. Even when defender, Cristiano, was forced to sit down for a two minute penalty, the Comets remained on the attack. Ryan Junge scored his fourth goal of the season shorthanded when he and Vahid caught the Knights lazily trying to clear their third of the field. Late in the quarter, the Knights tried to rally a comeback by inserting Kenardo Forbes as a sixth attacker. Sniffing an open net, Cristiano stole the ball from the Syracuse attack and launched a ball from midfield that rolled easily into the empty net. Now leading 15-9 with 2:18 to play the Comets still continued the attack. Byron Alvarez and Lucas Rodriguez outhustled the Knights defense and Alvarez capped off his four goal night.

The Comets 17-9 win breaks their four game losing streak and brings them back within a game of .500.  They return to the Independence Events Center next Sunday, January 6th at 3:10 pm to face the Wichita Wings. The first 3,000 fans will receive Nesting Dolls featuring Brian Harris, Ryan Junge and Boris Pardo, courtesy of Citizens Bank & Trust.

Comets Face Big Weekend

The Missouri Comets are ready to end the month of December on a high note. With two games this weekend, they have the opportunity to once again climb over the .500 mark. Friday night the team makes its first trip to Sears Centre Arena to take on the Chicago Soul. This will be the second matchup of the season between these two teams, with the Comets defeating the Soul 14-11 on December 9th in the Independence Events Center. The next day, the Comets are back at home to face the Syracuse Silver Knights.

December has been a rough month for the Comets but coach Kim Roentved thinks they can regain their winning prowess with a good showing this weekend, “It’s tough when you are on the road for several games, then dealing with some injuries…this has been a great week of practice for the boys and we all believe there are many more victories in front of us.”

Friday night the Comets offense will need to be accurate with their shots. Chicago goalkeeper Jeff Richey has been outstanding in the net recently, and was a big part of their recent victory over the Baltimore Blast. In that game he turned away the league’s most potent offense 24 times. In the last matchup with the Comets, they were able to get off 17 shots against Richey on the way to a 14-11 win.

On Saturday, the Comets defense will need to step up to the plate. In the last matchup between these two teams, the Syracuse Silver Knights managed to score 18 points on the Comets. Missouri has been a strong home team this year, and has never lost to the Silver Knights at the Independence Events Center. Current MISL Player of the Week, Bryan Perez, and forward Jamar Beasley have been putting the Knights on the scoreboard recently. Defenders Leo Gibson and Brian Harris are very familiar with both former Comets and look to slow down them both down.

Saturday night kicks off at the Independence Events Center at 7:35 p.m. CT, and marks the return of the popular Media Night Game. Fans can see some of their favorite TV, Radio, Newspaper, and Internet personalities play an exhibition match at halftime. Some of the players scheduled to appear include: Kris Ketz (KMBC), Brett Anthony (KSHB), Nick Vasos (Fox 4), Dana Wright (KMBZ Radio), Steve Serrano (Mix 93.3) and many more.

Comets Unable to Solve Syracuse

Looking for retribution from an earlier loss in Syracuse, the Comets wanted to apply a high pressure style of play and put this game away. Unfortunately, the Knights were ready for the pressure and countered it with several break-out attacks that left them with odd-man rushes against goalkeeper Boris Pardo. That and an unbelievable performance from Syracuse goalkeeper, Bryan O'Quinn, led to a 18-8 defeat of the Comets on Friday night.

Bryan Perez started the scoring for the Silver Knights four minutes into the game converting a pass from Andriy Budnyy. Cristiano found John Sosa three minutes later evening the score at two points each. The teams remained tied until the final two minutes of the quarter. Vahid Assadpour, trying to catch a streaking Knights forward, was called for holding and the Comets went on their first penalty kill of the night. Former Comets forward, Neto converted the penalty, putting the Comets down 4-2 at the first break. The Silver Knights, who previously had not scored a power play goal this season, converted three tonight, two of them from Neto.

Coming out of the break, the Silver Knights employed a very aggressive strategy that consisted of knocking the Comets speedy, skilled players off the ball or into the wall. Several times Comets players were taken down as they advanced play. When fouls weren't called, the Knights once again found themselves with more players than the Comets had defenders. Andriy Budnyy took advantage of this for two scores in the second quarter. Jamar Beasley joined his former Comet brethren scoring in the second, right before Bryan Perez got his second of the night. At halftime the Comets were down 12-4.

The two teams traded goals back and forth in the third quarter. Vahid Assadpour and Byron Alvarez each scored within thirty seconds of Syracuse goals. The Comets had several other chances, but Syracuse's goalkeeper, Bryan O'Quinn, was everywhere as he finished with 25 saves. At one point, the Comets rattled off six shots on target within a ten second span. O'Quinn was able to fly through his goal box and get in between every shot. Budniyy finished off the scoring with 41.5 seconds left in the third quarter before the Knights fell into a defensive shell in the fourth quarter. Neither team scored in the final frame and the final score was 18-8 in favor of Syracuse.

The Comets have to shake this off as they face the league leading Baltimore Blast tomorrow night at 6:00pm CST. Fans can watch the game online at MISLNation.com or at the Comets Nation sponsored Watch Party at Coach's Bar and Grill.

Syracuse Silver Knights Look to Bounce Back, Set to Face Comets

The Syracuse Silver Knights of the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) are looking to bounce back from a difficult overtime loss when they host the Missouri Comets this Friday, December 14, at 7:30 p.m. at the Oncenter War Memorial Arena.

Before last Saturday's 12-10 overtime loss to Wichita, the Silver Knights were winners of two straight after taking part in a blockbuster trade that brought Jamar Beasley and Bryan Perez to the orange and black. Since that trade in late November, Beasley has tallied five points in two games played while Perez has racked up four in three games played.

Tommy Tanner's unselfish style of play seems to have settled in to this Knights team after a somewhat sluggish start to the season, and first year player, Neto, is reaping the benefits on the offensive side of the ball. Neto now sits at fourth in the entire MISL in points with 29 after putting up just three points in his first three games. After those first three games, Neto has scored in all of the Knights contests, including a crucial pair of second half goals against Wichita last weekend, bringing his season total to 12 goals. "Neto has done a tremendous job of holding the ball. He is able to make the right decision whether to shoot or pass to his teammate. This game against Missouri is crucial for our us to get back and stay in the MISL top four", said President and Head Coach Tommy Tanner.

Missouri now sits at second place in the MISL with a record of 5-3. After suffering consecutive losses that included a 13-7 drubbing at the hands of Syracuse on November 30, the last time the two teams met, Missouri bounced back last Sunday with a 14-11 win over the Chicago Soul. Forward Byron Alvarez has taken the MISL by storm this season, sitting at second on the overall points list with 32. Alvarez was last week's MISL Player of the Week after netting an emphatic hat-trick that saw his team to an important bounce-back win over Chicago.

Syracuse Key to Victory: The last time the two teams met on November 30, Syracuse was able to put themselves in the win column by putting in a spectacular effort on defense and sharing the ball on transition scoring chances. Star goalkeeper Bryan O'Quinn and the Knights D held Alvarez to a single goal while new signing Bryan Perez scored in the fourth quarter in his first game as a Silver Knight to secure the team a 13-7 win. If Tommy Tanner's team is going to secure a victory over the Comets this weekend, they will need to capitalize on their scoring chances and get the home crowd involved against a Missouri team that has struggled on the road this season.

Sosa Leads Comets To Win Over Syracuse

As in their opening three games this season, the Missouri Comets faced an early deficit on Friday night. However, the outcome never seemed to be in doubt as John Sosa led the way with four assists and six different players scored en route to a 17-10 victory against the visiting Syracuse Silver Knights in front of a sellout crowd of 5,500 excited fans at the Independence Events Center.

Brazilian forward, Neto, who changed addresses this summer after signing with Syracuse, found himself right back home early with a goal in the third minute of the game. The Comets, who have seen this script before, didn’t let that faze them at all. Byron Alvarez broke free from his defender after collecting a pass from John Sosa and put the Comets on the board in the eighth minute of the quarter. Sosa again found a streaking player four minutes later, this time Brian Harris was the recipient of the Sosa assist. His 3-p0oint goal gave the Comets a 5-2 lead as the quarter came to a close.

Missouri came out with a workmen’s attitude in the second quarter. They never really pushed the offensive third, but controlled the midfield play. The Knights’ Kenardo Forbes was able to get a shot past goalkeeper Danny Waltman midway through the second quarter to cut the lead to 5-4, but following that the Comets continued to work the midfield, with it finally paying off when Lucas Rodriguez scored 1.8 seconds before the halftime break.

The Comets kept their foot on the pedal in the second half. Milan Ivanovic scored his first MISL goal off yet another feed from Sosa, his fourth of the night. Syracuse was able to stay in touch, rallying twice to reduce the deficit to three points, but Alvarez completed his first hat trick of the season with goals in both the third and fourth quarters to move to 20 points this season, an average of five per game. Coady Andrews and Will John also contributed scores as Missouri rolled pulled away late to take their fourth win of the season and remain undefeated.

Missouri is back in action on Saturday, November 24th at 7:35 p.m. CT in a possible battle of the unbeatens. The Baltimore Blast, currently 4-0, visit the Independence Events Center for the first time in the 2012-2013 season. It is the Comets Annual Day of Giving, where they honor and collect donations for various players’ charities. For tickets and information call (855) KC-ARENA or visit CometsIndoorSoccer.com.