Comets Get Big Win

The Comets did a lot to help their playoff hopes last night in Chicago as they won their second game in as many nights 23-7 over the Chicago Riot. The win was the Comets biggest win of the season, by a total of 16 points. In the Comets previous 6 wins they'd won those games by a combined 16 points. Last night was my first chance to watch a game at Chicago's home arena, and you really realize how nice the IEC is after watching that game. Here's the press release from the Comets on the big win.

From the Comets:

Having two high-pressure games back to back in cities separated by an eight hour drive, the Comets needed to pull out all the stops on Saturday night against the Riot. Six Comets players (including goalkeeper Danny Waltman) were able to find the net in the most dominating effort so far in the season.

The Riot took advantage of the Comets mainly offensive lineup at the start and put up pressure of their own. Bato and Novi were able to get past the defense and sneak in a shot on the near past just 24 seconds into the game. The Comets settled down midway through the second quarter and controlled the ball in the middle of the field. At 8:39 of the second quarter rookie Lucas Rodriguez dribbled through three defenders and put a shot past Riot keeper Jeff Richey, evening up the score at 2-2. That score seemed like it would hold up through the end of the quarter, but Novi found his second assist of the night when he saw Gallo hiding in the corner. Gallo was then able to take the pass and bury it from just outside the 3-point arc at 14:34 mark. The Riot finished the 1st with the lead 5-2.

That would be the last time the Riot led as the Comets took control from there. Jamar Beasley started the 2nd quarter with a goal only 26 seconds into the quarter. The Comets continued to push play forward throughout the quarter, finally paying off at the 6:28 mark when Geison Moura converted a pass from Byron Alvarez and gave the Comets their first lead, 6-5. That would be where the teams ended the first half.

Missouri showed it was not feeling any ill-effects from the game last night as they began to control both ends of the floor. Lucas Rodriguez found his second goal on a power play at 6:02. This was the first multi-goal game for the rookie. Jamar Beasley took a pass from Leo Gibson in the defensive third and went coast to coast beating Richey at 9:48. Then Byron Alvarez continued his league leading scoring streak with a goal to close out the third. Overall Alvarez had seven points on the night.

Chicago didn’t let down though. Alex Megson converted a missed shot into a goal just 34 seconds into fourth making the score 12-7. That was all the Comets would allow though. Vahid Assadpour made the Riot pay on the power play when he buried a three point goal from the right side of the arc at the 9:33 mark. Shortly after that Coach Kraft of the Riot decided to play the 6th attacker as their playoff hopes were dwindling fast. Geison Moura (10:47) and Byron Alvarez (12:38) took advantage of the open nets with a three point goal for each. The night was capped by a rare goal from goalkeeper Danny Waltman when he threw the ball the length of the field into an open net.

“Good teams win when the pressure is on. This is the team we knew we had at the beginning of the season,” said team captain Byron Alvarez, “The training Coach Kim puts us through helped us to be able to play at a high level on back to back nights, we’ll feel this on Monday though.”

Danny Waltman applauded the entire team. “Every time you saw a good play tonight you saw a different name on the back of the jersey…It’s so nice to have that confidence going in to every game that we’re going to get to run our game.”

The Comets next game is back at the Independence Events Center on March 6 at 3:10pm when the Riot come for a visit. The Comets are currently tied with Omaha for the final position in the playoffs and another win against the Riot would help to solidify their chances for postseason play.

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://pointstreak.com/prostats/boxscore.html?gameid=1485431