Kansas City Comets get back on track with weekend sweep: ‘We knew it was coming’
The Kansas City Comets led for nearly the entire weekend, rolling to a pair of wins that snapped a three-game stretch of one-score losses.
The Comets delivered a decisive home win on Jan. 16, defeating the Tacoma Stars 9-2. KC took the lead 68 seconds in and carried a shutout up 6-0 deep into the fourth quarter.
KC ended the weekend with a 7-5 road win against the Milwaukee Wave, leading for all but eight seconds of the contest.
It was the perfect response coming off three consecutive one-score defeats, including two overtime losses. The Comets held a lead for all but 1 minute, 16 seconds of the 120 minutes across both victories.
“We knew it was coming,” Comets captain Nacho Flores said. “We were just missing by little mistakes. We worked our butt off during the week, and we were able to solve those issues.”
The Comets showed their ability to finish a close game in Milwaukee while also returning to their strengths, with a variety of players stepping up. They split their 16 goals (across the two games) between 11 players, not including the team’s leading scorer, Zach Reget, who went goalless but dished four assists throughout the weekend.
Among the scorers were Flores, scoring twice against Tacoma, and reigning MASL Defender of the Year, Chad Vandegriffe. Vandegriffe scored his first goal of the season Sunday against the Wave, setting a modern franchise record for the quickest goal to start a game — eight seconds in.
That goal started a 4-0 run for the Comets.
The midfield line also played a critical role, contributing over half of the goals over the weekend. Rookie midfielder Ali Alomari scored his first career goal against Tacoma, while Michael Lenis was the team’s leading scorer with three goals over both games.
“They always have to step up,” Comets head coach Stefan Stokic said after Friday’s win against Tacoma. “As a team, we need everybody to score. It was an unselfish game.”
Perhaps even more important, the Comets rediscovered their abilities in transition. While the team had been exploited in transition in the previous three defeats, Stokic still believes transition is a strength of his team. That showed over the weekend.
“We did great in transition offensively and defensively,” he said. “We have to continue that because that is one of our strengths, and we’ve been missing that in the last couple of games.”
The Comets remain at the top of the MASL standings with 24 points, with a record of 8-3-2 across the midpoint of the season.
Next up: The Comets visit the Empire Strykers for a matchup on Jan. 25 before both sides meet again on Jan. 30 in Kansas City.