January 26, 2023 – Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) – Kansas City Comets News Release
The Kansas City Comets (5-4-3) and Milwaukee Wave (6-2-1) will meet for a fourth time this season on Sunday, January 29 at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.
The season series is currently tilted in the Comets’ favor 2-1 thanks to a 10-4 win last weekend at Cable Dahmer Arena.
A six-point performance from player/coach Leo Gibson was his biggest performance in nearly three years when he contributed seven points with six goals and an assist in a 12-4 Comets win over the Rochester Lancers in January 2020.
Scoring double-digits for the first time this season in last Saturday’s win, the Comets’ overall performance was a major boost to the team’s confidence.
“It was the first win this year where we felt that we played our game and put our chances away,” said assistant coach Stefan Stokic. “We are looking for the same game and same result on Sunday.”
Defender John Sosa has a league-leading 12 assists this season, along with eight goals for a total of 20 points. Lucas Sousa has 19 points while Gibson has 18 points. The Comets will be without defender James Togbah (concussion).
The Comets, 1-3-2 away from home, will be hoping to do something that neither team has done in this heated rivalry this season: win on the road.
A road win will not come easy against a Wave team that is 4-1 on home turf and coming off a six-goal loss on the road.
Under the tutelage of head coach Giuliano Oliviero, the Wave sits atop the Eastern Conference. Reigning MASL MVP Ian Bennett is on an unprecedented 39-game scoring streak, looking to make it 40 straight games with a goal on Sunday.
Bennett has tallied a MASL record 356 goals, with 19 of them in nine games this season. Andre Hayne and Derek Huffman have also helped out offensively, combining for 22 points with each scoring six goals and assisting five.
While the Wave is outscoring the Comets 6.3 to 5.2 goals per game, not much separates the two sides on the power play with the Wave taking the slight edge 38% to 36%. The Comets have the edge on the penalty kill 65% to 62%.
Huffman could return to Milwaukee’s lineup after missing last week’s trip to Kansas City, but they will be without Andre Hayne (right lower leg) and Javier Steinwasher (1st phalange, left foot). Andrew Weidabach (left hamstring) is questionable. Veteran defender Marcio Leite could also return Sunday as Milwaukee’s leader in assists with six.
“It’s always tough to play teams back-to-back,”…