Comets Fall in Overtime

The Comes had a good start to their first round playoff match up against the Milwaukee Wave, but couldn't make it stand up.  Missouri jumped out to a 10-0 lead over the Wave by the early point of the third quarter, but couldn't keep the lead and ended up falling 12-10 in overtime against the Wave putting themselves into a tough situation needing to win the game in Milwaukee Sunday and the mini game after. 

The game was delayed for about 20 minutes after a piece of plexiglass above the goal broke during warmups.

The Comets started much of the first quarter on the back foot as the Wave had much of the possession.  They really didn't get the shots to amount to much for the Wave though, it just let to a very quick quarter.  As the quarter went on, the Comets started to get more of the ball as the quarter went on.  Finally with under 5 minutes left the Comets grabbed the lead.  Danny Waltman played a ball down the line for Byron Alvarez.  Alvarez turned on his defender and fired a shot on goal. Wave goalkeeper Nick Vorberg made the save but pushed the shots right into the path of Coady Andrews who chested the ball down and fired it past Vorberg and into the net making it 2-0 Comets.  With less than a minute left, the Comets doubled their lead.  The Comets had plenty of possession and then Jeff Hughes played a nice through ball to Milan Ivanovic, who one timed the ball into the far corner to make it 4-0 Comets.

The second quarter saw the Wave come out attacking from the start and they won a free kick at the top of the arc.  Ibrahim Kante blocked the initial shot off the restart.  Robert Palmer then played the ball up the field to Hughes who was racing down the field.  Hughes was able to get Vorberg to commit and then laid the ball off the Mads Falck.  Falck tapped the ball home to make it 6-0 Comets. The Comets continued to push the game and then with just over 3 minutes gone the Comets went on the power play after a blue card on Tom Oatley.  The Comets took advantage of the man advantage passing the ball around the perimeter before it got to Alvarez in the corner.  He played a cross to the back post where Hughes headed it home to make it 8-0.  The Wave really pushed the game from there trying to get back into the game, but the Comets defense held them off as the Comets went into the half up 8-0.

Comets came out in the 3rd quarter looking to extend the lead.  Lucas Rodriguez hit the inside of the post from 3 point range but couldn't get the ball to go in.  Then with just under 5 minutes played the Comets made it 10-0.  The Comets worked the ball around their end before Cristiano raced towards goal.  He flicked the ball over to Robert Palmer who buried his volley past Vorberg to give the Comets some breathing room. Shortly after that though the Wave were on the board.  Off a restart in the corner, Luan Oliveira fed the ball quickly to Hewerton who put it top shelf on Waltman to make it 10-2. The Wave continued to push for another goal and late in the quarter the Wave got it.  Fabio Ribeiro played a pass off the wall that bounced right into the middle of the box where Guiliano Oliviero tapped it home past Waltman.  The Wave continued to push looking for more goals.  The Comets got some chances at the other end but couldn't capitalize.  With 3 seconds left the Wave had a fast break that Cristiano tried to slide to break up but caught the Wave player instead going to the box for the final 3 seconds.  In those 3 seconds the Wave almost scored again, putting a header off the foot of the post.

Into the fourth quarter the Wave capitalized on the power play finally.  A 3 pointer from Luan Oliveira was turned in by Hewerton appeared off his arm, but it counter and the gap was closed to 4.  Both teams kept pushing for the next goal but both side were done in by superb goalkeeping by each keeper as the quarter wore on. Just around the half way point of the quarter the Wave cut the lead to a single goal when G. Oliviero received the ball in the corner and played it off the wall to L. Oliveira who tapped home to make it 10-8. The Wave continued to push while the Comets countered.  With just over 3 minutes left the Wave went with the 6th attacker.  The Comets had some chances but couldn't capitalize on the possession with another goal.  Then with only 20 seconds left, G. Oliviero received the ball in the corner again and played a ball to the back post where Hewerton tapped it home to tie the game.

Into overtime the game went.  Both teams slowed the game down a bit with the game level.  As the quarter went on, both teams had their chances.  Alvarez had the majority of the Comets chances forcing Vorberg into a few saves.  With just over 6 minutes left in the game though the Wave won it.  Oatley played a ball in to G. Oliviero who turned Kante and hit a shot that curled into the far corner to give the Wave the golden goal win 12-10.

As mentioned earlier, the Comets will now need to win 2 games in Milwaukee on Sunday.  The first, a regular game, and then a mini game after that should they win on the road.  The good news for the Comets is that they're the only team to win in Milwaukee this season, the bad news the Wave only lost that one game at home this year.  It's going to be a big uphill climb for the Comets.