COMETS COME FROM BEHIND FOR 5-4 GAME 1 WIN
MILWAUKEE, WI. – The Comets (3-0-0) ran their overall win streak to nine games on Friday night by defeating the Milwaukee Wave (2-1-1) 5-4 in front of 3,042 fans at UW-Panther Arena. Five different Comets players scored a goal while Nicolau Neto stopped 15 shots in the win.
The Comets opened the scoring early in the game as Lucas Sousa sent a pass off the end boards to Rian Marques who tapped it in past a diving William Banahene to put Kansas City up 1-0 with 14:17 still to go in the opening frame.
Kansas City doubled their lead with 2:54 to go in the first quarter when Zach Reget pounced on a loose ball and sent a perfect pass to Nacho Flores just outside the top of the box for the goal to make it a 2-0 game after one quarter of play.
Momentum shifted completely in Milwaukee’s direction early in the second quarter. Comets’ goalkeeper Neto was issued a blue card for a handball outside of the box. Backup keeper Phillip Ejimadu stopped Max Ferdinand’s shootout attempt, but the Wave were able to convert on the power play 90 seconds later on a restart goal by Derek Huffman to cut Kansas City’s lead to 2-1 with 13:53 to go until halftime.
The first-half equalizer goal also came off a restart for Milwaukee. The Wave had a corner kick and though the first shot was blocked, they kept the pressure on the Comets’ defense until Huffman connected with Andre Hayne with 1:18 to go.
To start the second half, Kansas City fired a shot which was blocked 24 seconds into the third quarter. Milwaukee’s Javier Steinwascher quickly sent out a breakout pass to Shawn Azcueta who scored to put the Wave in front by a 3-2 score with 14:27 on the clock in the third.
Chad Vandegriffe tied it at 3-3 for Kansas City following a scramble in front of Banahene and was able to slip the ball over the goal line with 6:15 remaining in the quarter.
Milwaukee’s next goal came by catching the Comets making a change and moving on the Kansas City with a 4v1 advantage. Tony Walls scored to put the Wave back up by one at 4-3 for the final goal of the quarter. The teams headed to the final quarter of regulation with Milwaukee outshooting the Comets by a 24-13 margin.
Both teams battled defensively for a majority of the fourth quarter and that changed with under four minutes to play when the Comets brought the 2023-24 MASL Defender of the Year Robert Palmer on as the Sixth Attacker. Palmer sent a diagonal pass to the far post where Sousa sent a header past Banahene to level the game at 4-4 with 1:10 to play.
The MASL Golden Boot winner put the game away for Kansas City with 27 seconds on the clock. Michael Lenis found Reget with the pass and the Wisconsin native gave Kansas City the 5-4 lead which they were able to hold on to take Game 1.
The Eastern Conference Finals series will now shift to Cable Dahmer Arena for Game 2 and a potential Knock Out Game, if needed, on Monday, April 22 at 6:35 pm CDT. Get your tickets today at www.kccomets.com before they sell out.
SCORING SUMMARY
1st – KC Marques (Sousa) 0:43; KC Flores (Reget) 12:06. Penalties – None.
2nd – MKE Huffman 2:37 pp; MKE Hayne (Huffman) 13:42. Penalties – KC Neto (bc- gk handball outside of the box) 1:07.
3rd – MKE Azcueta (J. Steinwascher) 0:33; KC Vandegriffe 8:45; MKE Walls (Grable) 11:05. Penalties – None.
4th – KC Sousa (Ro. Palmer) 13:50 six attackers; KC Reget (Lenis) 0:27. Penalties – None.
Power Play – Comets 0/0, Milwaukee 1/1
Penalty Minutes – Comets 2, Milwaukee 0
Fouls – Comets 15, Milwaukee 19
Shots – Comets 17, Milwaukee 30
Attendance – 3,042