COMETS CLINCH PLAYOFF SPOT WITH 8-6 WIN OVER WAVE
INDEPENDENCE, MO. – The Comets (12-5-1) punched their ticket to the 2022 Ron Newman Cup Playoffs with an 8-6 win over Milwaukee (6-11-1) on a special night when the Comets organization paid tribute to their past, complete with a halftime ceremony recognizing the Kansas City Attack. They donned throwback Attack jerseys and used the name throughout the game. At the break, the Comets unveiled a banner honoring the Attack’s NPSL Championships in 1993 and 1997, a banner that will hang from the rafters at Cable Dahmer Arena.
Flashing forward to 2022, the Wave took a 1-0 lead on Ian Bennett’s 36th goal of the season, one of two he would net in the first half. Bennett notched two, but the Attack’s John Sosa picked up three first-half goals in the contest, all directly off restarts. His first tied the game 1-1 with 7:54 to go in the first quarter, and after 15 minutes of play that was the score.
With the ball at the top of the arc, Sosa struck again to take a 2-1 lead with 9:23 to go in the half as he beat the Wave wall with a rocket past Milwaukee keeper Joey Kapinos. Bennett’s second of the half equalized the game at 2-2, courtesy of a power-play opportunity with 5:29 left in the half.
Kansas City, while on a power-play of their own, had a restart from the right side and Sosa took advantage of the angle for his third of the half. His marker put the Attack up 3-2, the eventual score at the end of the half.
Kyle Crain opened scoring in the second half for Milwaukee with his fourth goal of the season and it tied the game at 4-4 with 12:48 to go in the third.
Kansas City has been solid on answering goals quickly all season and Mirko Sandivari did just that following Crain’s goal with his first of the season to put the Attack up by one at 4-3 with 12:12 on the clock.
The back-and-forth action continued with Gordy Gurson’s 10th goal of the year, and it was even 4-4 with just under 10 minutes to go in the frame. The Wave then took their first lead of the game since midway through the first quarter on a Javier Steinwascher goal to push the score to 5-4 Wave in front.
It looked like the third quarter would end with that score until Nick McDonald took a Sosa assist and converted it into the game-tying goal to send the game to the final quarter even at 5-5.
Milwaukee went in front one final time on Bennett’s third of the game, and 38th of the season, making it a 6-5 Wave lead with 12:52 left in regulation. Another quick answer by the Attack, this time when James Togbah found Leo Gibson for the goal with a wall-pass to tie it at 6-6 just 40 seconds later.
For Gibson, it was his 280th professional indoor soccer goal for Kansas City, tying him with Wild Wes Wade as the top goal-scorer in KC history. A tie that would not last through the end of the game.
Before the record-breaking goal, Benji Monreal registered a special goal of his own, the first MASL goal of his career and it gave the Comets a 7-6 lead with 6:40 on the clock.
With Milwaukee’s 6th attacker on, Gibson took the ball just outside the Kansas City defensive yellow line and fired the ball into the empty net, making him the all-time leading goal scorer in Kansas City professional indoor soccer history. It also sealed the victory by the 8-6 final.
Kansas City will now have some time to heal injuries and rest players with their next game nine days away when they host the Dallas Sidekicks on March 20 at 4:00 pm.
SCORING SUMMARY
1st – MKE Bennett (Gurson) 4:47; KC Sosa 7:06. Penalties – KC Togbah (blue- tripping) 13:45.
2nd – KC Sosa 5:35; MKE Bennett (Grable) 9:31 pp; KC Sosa 14:53 pp. Penalties – KC Sosa (blue- obstruction) 7:49; KC Anderaos (blue- contact above the shoulder/elbow) 10:53.
3rd – MKE Crain (Steinwascher) 2:12; KC Sandivari 2:48; MKE Gurson (Alvarez) 5:01; MKE Steinwascher (Pachar) 10:46. Penalties – None.
4th – MKE Bennett 2:08; KC Gibson (Togbah) 2:48; KC Monreal 8:20; KC Gibson 12:10. Penalties – None.
Power Play – Attack 1/1, Milwaukee 1/3
Shots – Attack 50, Milwaukee 25
Attendance – 2,114