First it was Sporting KC in December, now it's the Missouri Comets turn. The Comets scored two goals in the last minute and 34 seconds of the deciding game 3 mini-game to clinch their first MISL title 6-4 over the defending champion Baltimore Blast.
First, the less said about game two, the better. The Blast scored 15 unanswered points before Leo Gibson got the Comets on the board in the third quarter. Brian Harris scored another goal for the Comets, but they fell 19-4 to force the mini-game.
In the mini-game the Blast got the first goal with under half the quarter left thanks to Max Ferdinand. Less than a minute later the Comets were level through Lucas Rodriguez who scored off a bicycle kick to level the scores at 2-2.
The Blast continued to look for a goal to retake the lead and got it through Adauto Neto who tucked it into the corner to make it 4-2. The Comets brought on Vahid Assadpour in the sixth attacker role hoping to find an equalizer. With just over a minute and a half left they got it. A restart in the corner was played back into the path of Rodriguez. The Argentine fired the ball to the back post where Stefan St. Louis reached in front of his mark and knocked the ball home with his shin to level the game at 4-4.
Thirty seconds later the Comets got themselves their first lead of the night through Harris. The ball was played up field to Gibson who held off his defender and he touched it wide to Harris who was making an unmarked run up the field. Harris curled his shot first time into the far corner to give the Comets the 6-4 lead. The Comets held off the Blast late as they looked to equalize through the sixth attacker and got their first championship.
Harris was named the MVP of the championship series. A deserved award for the defender who had a fantastic season.
The Comets return to KC tomorrow, and there will be fan celebration at some time that the team will announce on social media. KC is really trying to live up to that Soccer Capital of America thing.
Congratulations to the Comets on an excellent season. I watched your club all season from Dallas. You truly deserved to win it all.
ReplyDeleteI am absolutely sincere in my hope that we are in the same league next season so that I can come to the IEC and celebrate your success (and take a Dallas win home with me).
Congratulations again to your fans, your players, and everyone involved in your organization. Please email me at alan at kicksfan dot com so that I might trade some additional information with you. Thanks!
Alan Balthrop, DTM
Team Historian
Dallas Sidekicks Indoor Soccer Club