The Missouri Comets ended their 3 game winless run today, beating the Chicago Soul 14-11 at the Independence Events Center. Like their last home game against the Baltimore Blast, the first quarter was a tight affair. Unlike that game though it saw an early goal for the opposition. A nice through ball from Carlos Munoz found Bato Radoncic all alone in the box. With his back to goal, Radoncic back heeled the ball past Boris Pardo to make it 2-0. Throughout the rest of the first quarter, the Comets controlled much of the possession but really struggled to get shots to test Jeff Richey.
Into the second quarter, the Comets finally got their goal to equalize. Vahid Assadpour collected a ball on the wing and then fired a cross towards the back post for Stefan St. Louis. The cross though was deflected into the net by the Soul's Frederic Degand and into the net to level the game at 2-2. Before the second quarter was 5 minutes old the Comets had their first lead of the game. Mads Falck raced onto a loose ball finding himself 1v1 with Richey. Falck made no mistake, slotting the ball into the corner to make it 4-2. Just a minute and a half later, the Comets added another goal. After some good work in the defensive third, Ryan Junge raced forward onto a pass. Junge played a looping ball over to the other side of the field for Byron Alvarez. Alvarez did a great job holding off his marker and slid a ball under Richey at the near post to make it 6-2. Around the midpoint of the quarter the Soul pulled back to within a goal. Radoncic took a ball into the corner and laid it back for Sean Summerville who fired the ball into the goal high at the near post. Late in the half, the Comets restored their 4 point lead. Off a restart at the top of the arc, John Sosa played a ball wide to Lucas Rodriguez. Rodriguez took a touch and fired a shot that took a deflection and sent it past Richey and into the net making it 8-4.
Early in the third quarter, the Soul struck back with an early goal. Summerville collected a ball on the wing and played a ball into the middle where Ephraim Beard hit a volley from close range to make it 8-6. The rest of the quarter saw the teams go back and forth as the Soul looked to level the score while the Comets looked to extend it. Right around the midpoint of the quarter it was the Comets that got the goal. Falck's led a 2v1 break with Leo Gibson. Falck looked to cross to Gibson but had his cross cut out. The ball deflected off the wall to Alvarez. Alvarez cut wide and played another ball into the middle that Gibson tapped home to make it 10-6.
Early in the fourth quarter the Comets extended their lead again. Outside the yellow line, Assadpour found Alvarez. Alvarez turned and fired but his shot was off the wall. Alvarez collected his rebound though and fired it home to make it 12-6. Shortly after the goal though the Comets found themselves having to kill a penalty. After a give away at midfield, Coady Andrews committed a foul as the Soul raced in on goal. Andrews went to the box for tripping. The foul also gave the Soul a shootout attempt. Munoz stepped up for the shootout, but Pardo made a good foot save. The Soul collected the rebound, and Cuitlahuac Meza fed the ball to Matthew Stewart. Stewart's shot from the 3 point line got under Pardo and made it 12-9. The Comets came right back though and scored another goal. Junge again made a good run forward getting the ball down the wing. He then slid the ball across to Alvarez who did a fantastic job of controlling, turning, and firing the ball into the far corner all in one fluid motion to make it 14-9. From there the Soul really started pushing the game, pinning the Comets in deep in their own end. It paid off with just over 5 minutes left, when Stewart played a great give and go with Munoz and Stewart beat Pardo to put the Soul within 3. The Soul continued to push and even threw the 6th attacker on looking to level the game. With just over 30 seconds left they got another power play as Assadpour was sent to the box for tripping. The Comets though killed the last 30 seconds and held on to beat the Soul.
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