Comets Pull Away From Wave Late

The Comets started a weekend series with the Milwaukee Wave on the right foot tonight at the Independence Events Center winning 22-4 over the Wave.

The Comets got an early power play opportunity as Vahid Assadpour was knocked into the board on a slide tackle. The Comets quickly took advantage as Assadpour and Lucas Rodriguez passed the ball around the three point line. Assadpour played the ball in to Leo Gibson who touched the ball back to Rodriguez. The Argentine cut inside and fired a shot into the far corner to give the Comets an early 2-0 lead. The Wave picked up the pressure and before the half way mark were level. A shot by JC Banks was saved by Danny Waltman, but palmed right into the path of Ian Bennett who chested the ball home to tie the game at 2-2. The Comets started to push the game again and were able to find another goal with five minutes left in the quarter. Gibson got the ball in the corner and fired a cross into the middle. It hit off of a Wave defender and went into the net restoring the lead at 4-2. The Wave tried to respond as the quarter was beginning to wear down, but it was the Comets that struck on the counter. Robert Palmer fed the ball to Assadpour who raced down the field. The Comets captain returned the ball to Palmer who played the ball across to Byron Alvarez who, unmarked beat Marcel Feenstra and made it 6-2 with just under 20 seconds left in the quarter.

Into the second, the Comets immediately got started. Brian Harris raced down the field and fired a shot from 3 point range that beat Feenstra. After review to make sure it was a 3 point goal and confirm that Alvarez didn't get a touch, the Comets were up 9-2. The Wave pushed the game for much of the rest of the quarter, but could not find a goal to cut the lead and the teams went into the half at 9-2.

The third quarter saw the Wave continue to push the game looking to find a way back into the game. Around the half way point both teams went down to 4 men as Robert Palmer picked up a blue card for an elbow, while the Wave's Carlos Munoz picked up a blue card for pushing in retaliation. On the 4v4 situation, the Wave controlled the play, keeping the Comets locked in their own end of the field. Finally the Wave got a goal as Marcio Leite fed the ball into the corner for Luan Oliveira who beat Waltman from a tight angle to make it 9-4. The Wave continued to push the game after the penalties expired continuing to look for a way to close the lead. With just over a minute left, the Comets broke out on the counter and earned a restart at the top of the arc. John Sosa took the restart and instead of going to his left to Assadpour as he has many times recently, he went to his right to Rodriguez who beat Feenstra to make it 11-4.

The fourth quarter saw the Comets willing to sit back some and let the Wave come at them, but didn't allow the Wave offense to really get going. As the half wore on the Comets started to get more possession and instead of pushing the game were able to hold possession and keep the Wave chasing. Just before the half way mark the Comets added to their lead. Gibson again received the ball in the corner.  Wave goalkeeper Feenstra came to pressure, but Gibson squared it for Ramone Palmer in the middle of the field. Palmer got just a small touch on the ball, but it was enough to knock the ball between the legs of a Wave defender and it rolled into the empty net to make it 13-4. Shortly after that the Wave pulled Feenstra and went with Victor Quiroz in goal as the 6th attacker. The Wave controlled possession, as is expected keeping the Comets in their own end. The Comets didn't get many opportunities early on to find the empty net, but with just over 3 minutes left they finally did. A Gibson block got knocked into the path of Robert Palmer who took a touch over the yellow line and fired a shot that rolled into the empty net to make it 16-4. Shortly after another deflected clearance by Missouri fell to Harris who got past Quiroz and scored to make it 19-4. The evening was capped off by Rodriguez completing his hattrick with a neat chip past Quiroz after being fed by Assadpour. Rodriguez's goal curled around Quiroz and bounced into the net to make it 22-4.