COMETS FINISH OFF 2018 WITH BIG WIN ON THE ROAD
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 |