Comets Fall to Vipers

From the Comets

It took five games, but the home team finally won in the Comets’ series with the Omaha Vipers this season. Unfortunately for the Comets, the home victory belonged to the Vipers at the Omaha Civic Auditorium on Sunday as the Comets fall 16-10.

It was a bad day all around for the Comets, as Assistant Coach, Vlatko Andonovski, had to assume coaching duties from Head Coach, Kim Roentved, who did not make the trip to Omaha due to severe back pains. That wasn’t the only strange story of the day for the team, as the bus they were traveling on to Omaha broke down just outside Platte City, MO, delaying the team’s arrival and delaying the start of the game by 25 minutes.

Once the game did start, Omaha goalkeeper, Bontti, was whistled two minutes into the game for a yellow card after tackling Lucas Rodriguez, who was on a breakaway. The play resulted in a Comets shootout goal by Byron Alvarez, who went right around Bontti for the score. A few minutes later, Comets’ Midfielder, Nick Kelly got his first goal of his MISL career at the 8:38 mark on an unassisted turnaround shot to give the Comets a 4-0 lead. The rest of the quarter belonged to Omaha as two different Vipers scored consecutive 3-point goals, one by Silva during an Omaha power play, the other by Chile Farias on a restart, giving Omaha the lead at the end of the 1st period, 6-4.

The 2nd period began with another Vipers yellow card, this time on Farias for arguing with the referees. The Comets would capitalize when Leo Gibson put a deflected shot off the boards through the legs of Bontti to tie the game at 6-6. At the 11:19 mark, Comets defender Vahid Assadpour fell down in the box, giving the Vipers’ Victor Quiroz an open look at the goal. Quiroz wasted no time and quickly deposited the ball past Comets goalie, Danny Waltman, giving the Vipers an 8-6 halftime lead.

After a scoreless 3rd period, the Vipers began to pull away with consecutive goals by Farias, then Silva to give the Vipers a 12-6 advantage. It looked like another Comets comeback was in the making after Danny Waltman was pulled for 6th Attacker, Vahid Assadpour. A Vipers hand-ball in the box resulted in a Byron Alvarez penalty kick goal, giving Alvarez back the MISL scoring lead from Farias with 49th points. Thirty seconds later, it was Geison Moura scoring a turnaround goal on an assist from Jamar Beasley to pull the Comets within two points at 12-10. Despite being within a goal of tying, the Comets stayed with the 6th Attacker and subsequently got burned by two easy goals by the Vipers to end the game 16-10.

The loss drops the Comets’ record to 4-10, now 2 ½ games behind Omaha (6-7) for the 3rd and final playoff spot. The Comets’ next game is Super Bowl Sunday, February 6th in Chicago to take on the Riot. The Comets’ next home game is Sunday, February 20th against the Chicago Riot at the Independence Events Center.

Tickets: Comet single game tickets can be purchased online at ticketmaster.com. Groups and youth soccer teams can also “Play Like the Comets” on the field before every Comets home game. For Comets group tickets, call 816-478-BALL. For all the latest Comets news and information, visit www.cometsindoorsoccer.com.

Link to Box Score: http://www.pointstreak.com/prostats/boxscore.html?gameid=1443326