Gibson Hattrick Helps Comets Top Stout St. Louis Defense

The Missouri Comets moved to 6-0 on the season last night in St. Louis as they defeated the Ambush 9-4 thanks in part due to a hattrick by Leo Gibson on his return from a two game suspension.

Early on though it was the Ambush that looked like the better side, looking strong defensively while killing a penalty and grabbing the lead a little over half way through the quarter through Gordy Gurson. That didn't last though as a pair of late blue cards for too many men and a slide tackle twice saw the Ambush go down a man. Both times the Comets capitalized on the man advantage as Gibson scored his first on the first power play before John Sosa gave the Comets the lead with less than a minute left on the second power play.

Seconds into the second quarter the Comets extended their lead after Marcelo Moreira committed a foul leading to a shootout attempt for the Comets. Gibson stepped up and scored his second of the game. Minutes later the Comets were on the penalty kill after a Brian Harris foul, but it was the Comets that again found the net as Ramone Palmer scored on a counter for a short handed goal to make it 4-1. Late in the quarter Vahid Assadpour scored on a rocket to extend Missouri's lead to 5-1 as the two teams headed into the half time break.

The third quarter saw the Comets control plenty of the play including plenty of chances on a power play, but couldn't find the net. Instead it was Gurson for the Ambush who cut the Comets lead back to three with the only goal of the quarter, a little over half way through.

While the third quarter lacked scoring, the fourth made up for it greatly. Within the first five minutes, both teams had scored twice. Odaine Sinclair scored just 17 seconds into the quarter after a turnover by Harris. A minute later Gibson finished off his hattrick to put Missouri back up by three at 6-3. The Ambush responded quickly with Sinclair getting his second goal of the game just over two and a half minutes in before Lucas Rodriguez scored to make it 7-4 with just over four minutes played. For the majority if the rest of the quarter the Comets were able to kill the clock, keeping the Ambush from gaining possession. Not only did the Comets keep the ball for the most part, the clock kept running, the Comets kept the ball in play for a good seven to eight minute period without the ball going out. That kept the Ambush from getting their goalkeeper off to add the sixth attacker. Once the Ambush finally did get the sixth attacker on, it was the Comets who ended up extending their lead with two counters with empty nets as Harris and Assadpour both scored racing onto clearances and going the length of the floor to score to win 9-4. The Comets now head to Cedar Rapids to take on the Rampage tonight.