The Missouri Comets kept their lead atop the MASL's Central Division as they topped the Milwaukee Wave 7-2 in Milwaukee. The Comets came into the day only a half game ahead of the Chicago Mustangs for first in the Central, and three games ahead of the Wave for third place. With the win though the Comets have clinched at least a top two seed in the Central and will get at least one home game in the MASL playoffs this year.
The game between the two teams was tight and both goalkeepers were in top form early on as Boris Pardo and Nick Vorberg both made saves to keep the game scoreless. With less than five minutes left in the quarter the Wave were able to jump on top Stuart Grable scored to make it 1-0 after one quarter.
The second quarter saw the Comets mount a quick comeback. Less than four minutes in the Comets had leveled the score as a Leo Gibson shot redirected into the net to tie the game at 1-1.The Comets continued to pressure and hold possession and before seven minutes had been played, took the lead on the Wave as Bryan Perez finished off an opportunity from John Sosa. Late in the quarter Perez added a second of the game to put the Comets up 3-1. Missouri held the ball for long stretches late, killing plenty of clock and creating chances but were unable to extend their lead.
The third quarter started with the Wave having a renewed push on the game, coming out with a much higher line than they had in the first half. Pardo in the Comets net kept the Wave off the board for over half the period though. With just over eight minutes gone though the Wave finally broke through and cut the lead to one goal as Ian Bennett was finally able to get a shot past Pardo to make it a 3-2 Comets lead. After taking a timeout after the goal the Comets were able to reestablish their possession game and regain control. With a minute and a half left in the quarter the Comets restored their two goal cushion as Brian Harris caught the Wave on a line change and played the ball forward to Max Touloute who was unmarked in the Wave half. He dribbled in on Vorberg and fired a shot past him at the near post.
The Comets continued to control possession in the fourth quarter, but struggled to find a way to extend their lead as Vorberg continued to play well. Finally just past the midpoint the Comets had a break in their favor, as Lucas Rodriguez tried to square the ball to the back post Tenzin Rampa redirected the ball into his own net to extend the Comets lead to 5-2. At that point the Wave pulled Vorberg to go with the sixth attacker. It took the Comets less than two minutes to capitalize on the empty net as Touloute won the ball off his man and raced the length of the field beating sixth attacker Jonathan Greenfield down the field to extend the lead to 6-2. With less than four minutes left Touloute again started a counter against the sixth attacker, trying to set up Perez, the ball got knocked away, right to Touloute, who easily scored to make it 7-2. The Wave put Vorberg back in the game and the two teams played out the final few minutes without any additional goals. The Comets will now go on a two game road trip to the East coast to play Baltimore and Syracuse before closing the season out at home against Baltimore.
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