COMETS FINISH OFF 2018 WITH BIG WIN ON THE ROAD

by Jeff Husted

ST. CHARLES, Missouri (December 29, 2018) – The  Kansas City Comets earned their second victory of the young season on  Saturday night with a 10-4 victory over their cross-state rival, the St  Louis Ambush. Eight different Comets players earned points, led by Leo  Gibson with six (three goals, three assists).

This was the third  straight matchup between these two teams. In a series that has  historically been owned by the Comets, the Ambush seemed to have turned  the tide by winning the last two games. To revive their season, the  Comets knew they would need a result tonight.

The first quarter  did not start well for Kansas City. Ambush midfielder Jose Manfut, who  had been kept in check by the Comets in the previous two games, opened  the scoring midway through the first period. His teammate, Clayton  Matheus added a second goal for St Louis two minutes later as the Ambush  were putting the Comets back on their heels.

Kansas City was able  to scrap one goal back in the final minute of the first quarter.  Ignacio ‘Nacho’ Flores pushed a ball off the wall and between two Ambush  players where a streaking Robert Palmer was able to knock it in. That  started a momentum shift that would see the Comets score the next five  goals of the match.

While the Comets sat back in the first  quarter, they opened up the next quarter on the attack. Just over five  minutes into the period, Gibson took a hard shot off a restart. St  Louis’ goalkeeper was able to stop the first shot, but Gibson was not to  be denied. He rushed in and buried the rebound.

Anthony Grant  scored unassisted only a minute later, then added an assist to captain  Bryan Perez near the end of the half. The Comets would take a 4-2 lead  into the halftime break.

The second half was all Kansas City.  Bryan Perez and Leo Gibson each added their second goals of the night,  while Lucas Rodriguez also chipped in for a score in between. St Louis  was able to stay in the game with goals from JT Thomas and Justin  Stinson, but as the third period ended, the Comets were in front 7-4.

Gibson  capped off his hat trick on a Power Play five minutes into the fourth  quarter. Six minutes later, John Sosa faked out the entire building on a  restart from the top of the arc before burying the score and Anthony  Grant finished the night with a goal against the Ambush 6th Attacker in  the final seconds.

With the 10-4 victory, the Comets will now turn  their sights towards next weekend when they host the Florida Tropics in  their annual Military Appreciation game on January 6 at 4:05 p.m. CT.  Tickets are available for that match at KCComets.com.

MASL Match Report
Match: St Louis Ambush vs Kansas City Comets
Date: December 29, 2018
Venue: The Family Arena, St. Charles, MO
Kickoff: 7:05 p.m. CT / 8:05 p.m. ET

Scoring Summary

Goals

1

2

3

4

F

St Louis Ambush
2
0
2
0
4
Kansas City Comets

1

3

3

3

10