KANSAS CITY COMETS TAKE DOWN FIRST PLACE MILWAUKEE ON THE ROAD

The Kansas City Comets earned a 7-6 road win over the Milwaukee Wave tonight, handing the Wave their first loss of the season in the process. Leo Gibson and Ramone Palmer led the Comets to victory, each recording 2 goals and 1 assist.

The Wave found the net first, when Comets keeper Brett Petricek stopped Max Ferdinand’s shot with a perfect diving save. Unfortunately for Kansas City, the deflected ball ended up right at the feet of Hans Denissen, who tapped the ball into the empty net.

Just before the six-minute mark, Milwaukee’s leading scorer Robert Renaud intercepted a pass for an unassisted goal, putting the Wave ahead 2-0.

The Comets had to spend the final two minutes of the half in a penalty-kill when Ramone Palmer was given a blue card. With 45 seconds left on the clock, Robert Palmer crossed the ball to Gibson for Kansas City’s first short-handed goal of the season.

The Wave answered in the final seconds of the quarter. Ferdinand found Angel Curiel near the post, who’s shot ricocheted off of Petricek’s gloves and into the goal. The first quarter would end with the scoreboard reading 2-1.

Kansas City entered the second quarter with a reignited determination. Gibson found the net for a second time, this time on a pass from Ramone Palmer, after some back and forth ball movement from the Comets offense.

The Comets received their second blue card of the night when Alain Matingou was called for tripping, putting Kansas City in another penalty kill.

The Wave’s power play was snuffed out by the Comets, and Kansas City was given a power play opportunity of their own with 3:10 left in the half when Ricardinho Sobreira of the Wave was called for tripping.

Lucas Rodriguez connected with James Togbah for a shot that snuck just underneath the reach of Milwaukee keeper Rafael Dias for the power play conversion.

The Comets were not yet done with their scoring run, and took the lead 4-3 with 30 seconds left in the half when Ramone Palmer chest-bumped a ball from Gibson into the net.

Entering the second half with the lead, the Comets ran into some troubles in the third. Anthony Grant received an accidental forearm to the face from a Wave player, and later a hard struck ball took an unfortunate bounce into the side of Kiel Williams’ head.

The Comets played excellent defense for much of the third quarter, but did not control the ball for very long. Just after the 10 minute mark, Milwaukee’s Isaac Pereyra tied the match with a shot past Petricek on a pass from Drew Ruggles.

The third was quiet other than Pereyra’s goal, until the final seconds of the quarter when there was a dust-up between Togbah and Dias, resulting in players from both teams exchanging words. Tensions were high as the Comets headed into the final quarter.

A long pass to Anthony Grant deep in Milwaukee territory caught the Wave off guard, and drew a pushing foul from Dias, leading to another Comets power play.

On the following penalty kick, Lucas Rodriguez fired a shot that was deflected by Dias right back toward Rodriguez, who attempted to chip the ball over the keeper’s head. Dias got his fingertips on it for another save, but James Togbah nodded the rebound in with a leaping header.

The Comets had regained the lead once more, but 6 minutes later Pereyra tied the match again, tapping a ball in past a grounded Petricek. The scoreboard read 5-5 with 7:49 left to play in regulation.

After cutting out a dangerous restart from Milwaukee, the Comets put the pressure back on the Wave. Matingou fired a low shot straight off of the hands of Dias and into the foot of Ramone Palmer for a goal.

Kansas City lead 6-5 with just 2:30 left in the half, when Ricardinho of Milwaukee donned the sixth attacker jersey. The Comets were presented with a breakaway opportunity, and Matingou capitalized on a pass from Stefan Stokic to extend Kansas City’s lead to 7-5.

The match entered its final minute, and Kansas City looked to close things out. The 2-goal buffer proved important in the final seconds, as a ball took an unfortunate bounce off the head of Robert Palmer and into the net to make the final score 7-6.

Tonight’s win snaps the undefeated streak of the Wave and brings the Comets to a 4-4 record. Kansas City is now on a 3-game winning streak of their own, and hopes to continue it on January 18 when they host the St. Louis Ambush. Kickoff starts at 7:35 p.m. CT in Silverstein Eye Centers Arena.

MASL Match Report
Match: Kansas City Comets vs Milwaukee Wave
Date: January 11, 2019
Venue: UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena, Milwaukee, WI
Kickoff: 7:05 p.m. CT / 8:05 p.m. ET

Scoring Summary