COMETS ADVANCE WITH 6-2 ROAD WIN OVER AMBUSH

ST. CHARLES, MO. – The Kansas City Comets (2-0) completed a two-game sweep of the St. Louis Ambush (0-2) with a 6-2 Sunday afternoon win at the Family Arena to advance to the 2021 Ron Newman Cup Semi-Finals. Comets’ keeper Nicolau Neto stopped 14 of 16 Ambush shots in the win.

Two goals were scored in the opening quarter of play, both coming from the Comets. With 5:32 on the clock in the 1^st, James Togbah split two St. Louis defenders with a pass to Dom Francis, who was in the left side of the box. He re-directed the pass past Ambush keeper Paulo Nascimento for the 1-0 lead.

The second Kansas City goal was set up by a pass from Matt Lewis to Leo Gibson on the left side near the end boards. Gibson sent the ball to the back of the net from a tough angle to give Kansas City a two-goal lead after one quarter of play.

The Ambush chipped into that lead less than two minutes into the 2^nd quarter on a restart from the top of the arc. Stefan Mijatovic struck the ball to the upper 90 past Nicolau Neto to make it a 2-1 Kansas City lead with 13:19 left in the half.

The Comets got the two-goal lead back on Gibson’s second of the game. Matt Lewis drew Nascimento off his line and shot a pass to Gibson who only had a St. Louis defender between him and the goal. He slid the ball past him to go up 3-1 with 6:18 on the clock, and that’s how the half ended.

The first of eight total blue cards in the game was shown to Gibson with 13:15 to go in the 3^rd for handling, and it set up a penalty kick for Max Ferdinand. Ferdinand’s initial shot was stopped by Neto but the rebound went straight to him and he didn’t miss the second shot. For that many blue cards in the game, Ferdinand’s goal would be the only power-play goal of the game.

With the score now 3-2 in favor of the Comets, Kevin Ellis needed just 20 seconds to put Kansas City back up by two. In the left corner, he fought off a St. Louis defender, spun, and fired the ball past Nascimento for a 4-2 lead the Comets took to the final quarter.

Just after a power play expired in the 4^th quarter, Gibson was wide right on a shot and Ray Lee one-timed the rebound to give Kansas City a three-goal cushion with 11:17 to play in the game. The final goal came after the Ambush went to the sixth attacker when Lee sent a long outlet pass to Ramone Palmer who won a foot race to the ball and knocked in an empty-net goal to make it 6-2 with less than five minutes to play. Ambush 6^th attacker Lucas Almeida made some key saves, preventing the Comets from building on that lead, and the game ended by the 6-2 final.

The Comets have advanced to the 2021 Ron Newman Cup Playoffs Semi-Finals but won’t know who their opponent will be until tomorrow when the Florida Tropics select their opponent. We do know the Semi-Finals will be held at Cable Dahmer Arena with two games on April 1 and 3. Get your tickets as early as you can by calling (888) 9-COMETS.

SCORING SUMMARY

1^st – KC Francis (Togbah) 9:28; KC Gibson (Ellis) 13:04. Penalties – None

2^nd– STL Mijatovic 1:41; KC Gibson (Lewis) 8:42. Penalties – None.

3^rd – STL Ferdinand PP 1:48; KC Ellis 2:05. Penalties – KC Gibson blue card (handling) 1:45; STL Adamson yellow card (severe unsportsmanlike manner) 1:48; KC Bench blue card (too many men) 7:54; STL Nascimento blue card (tripping); KC Sosa blue card (tripping) 12:10; STL Thompson blue card (tripping) 14:27.

4^th – KC Lee (Gibson) 3:43; KC Palmer (Lee) 10:38. Penalties – STL Mijatovic blue card (charging) 1:37; STL Miller Jr. blue card (kicking); KC Lee blue card (tripping) 8:07.

Shots – Kansas City 10-9-5-8 (32); St. Louis 7-11-3-6 (27)