Comets Cruise Past Wichita

The Missouri Comets remained perfect on the season, taking care of business against the Wichita B-52s, winning 13-3 against their Central Conference rival. The Comets started the game with a ton of early pressure against an undermanned Wichita side. The B-52s defense held strong in the early going of the game. But just after the half-way point, the Comets finally got the lead. Leo Gibson fired in a shot from the corner that hit off B-52s goalkeeper Boris Pardo and the wall and into the path of Alain Matingou who knocked the ball home to give the Comets the 1-0 lead. A minute later the Comets doubled the lead. Missouri was holding possession around the yellow line where John Sosa played the ball to Brian Harris who took a touch and fired a bullet into the far corner to double Missouri's lead.

The second quarter saw the Comets continue to dominate possession and limit the B-52s chances. Just over a minute into the quarter the Comets added on another goal. Andre Braithwaite did a nice job winning the ball and got into the box. Braithwaite touched the ball past Pardo, but before he could get there to touch it home, Coady Andrews came rushing in and knocked it into the net to make it 3-0. Less than a minute later the Comets made it 4-0. Matingou intercepted the ball near midfield and played it into the corner for Max Touloute. Touloute took a touch and slammed it inside the far post. The Comets domination continued and just over five minutes in they caught the B-52s on the break. Touloute led the break, getting into the middle of the field with Gibson to his right and Bryan Perez to his left. Touloute picked out Gibson who immediately fired the ball across the box to Perez who had the simplest of tap ins to make it 5-0. Around the midpoint of the half, the Comets found themselves killing a power play as Stefan Stokic got called for an illegal slide tackle. The power play didn't matter though as they were able to string shorthanded. After some pressure, the Comets cleared the ball high into the air near midfield. Touloute beat his man to the ball, winning a header and racing in 1 on 1 with Pardo. Touloute beat him to the far post for his second of the night to make it 6-0. With just over a minute left in the quarter, the B-52s finally got on the board as Daniel Sack won the ball after a poor clearance by the Comets. Sack fired home to make it 6-1 heading into the half time break.

The B52s came out for the third quarter and looked ready to make a game of it. After having just three shots on goal in the first two quarters, they had three in the first couple minutes of the third quarter. The Comets weathered the pressure though, keeping the B-52s on their on goal. Danny Waltman played the ball up to Harris who raced up the field from midfield before cutting inside his man and firing a shot that beat Pardo to the near corner to make it 7-1. The B-52s continued to pressure, but were unable to find shots let alone goals. With less than five minutes left in the quarter, the Comets added another. Sosa deflected a clearance into the Wichita box. Perez beat Pardo to the ball, knocking it just over him. Perez had another easy tap in to make it 8-1. A minute later, Harris finished off his hattrick. After receiving the ball near the yellow line, Harris knocked the ball into the corner for Braithwaite. Harris followed the play though and got to the ball first, knocking it past Pardo to make it 9-1 after three quarters.

The fourth quarter came alive with more scoring from both teams. The B-52s got things going three and a half minutes in as Brady Bryant picked off a poor restart by the Comets and beat Waltman to the far post to make it 9-2. The Comets responded quickly though to restore their eight goal lead as Harris got his fourth goal of the night. He won the ball just inside the B-52s end with a nice slide tackle. Harris kept the ball, got inside the yellow line and fired a shot into the far upper corner for his fourth of the night, acting like a man on a mission. Less than a minute later though the B-52s had their third. After some poor communication in the box Andrews attempted to clear the ball near his own line, but it hit off of Travis Pittman and into the net. All three goals the B-52s scored on the night were due to poor communication and passing by the Comets, something that they'll need to get cleared up going forward. The Comets though went back to doing their business and put the B-52s back on their heals. Just over seven minutes in, The Comets were again up by eight. Robert Palmer got by his defender in the corner and knocked it to the far post where Gibson was there for the tap in to make it 11-3. Two minutes later the Comets were up by nine. Kiel Williams won the ball in the corner, knocking it into the middle for Braithwaite, who knocked he ball past Pardo as he fell down to make it 12-3. The Comets kept possession much of the rest of the way, just killing the game off. With under a minute left, Gibson turned his defender in the box and looked to be 1 on 1 with Pardo, but Kevin Ten Eyck pulled down the Comets leading scorer and earned himself a blue card and a penalty shot for the Comets. Gibson stepped up to take the kick, dribbled down and stalled his run, waiting for Pardo to commit. When he went down, Gibson chipped it over him to make it 13-3.

Overall a very strong performance from the Comets as they took down another former PASL team with a big win. They did it this time without a lot of help from their leading scorers, Gibson and Assadpour, who had just one assist combined until Gibson's goal made it 11-3 half way through the fourth quarter. Harris was a monster tonight, scoring four and being all over the field, even after getting knocked into the boards by former Comet, Byron Alvarez. They'll now head to Harrisburg for their lone multi-point scoring game against the Heat next Saturday the 29th.