December 17, 2023 – Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) – Kansas City Comets News Release
The Kansas City Comets (4-1-0) suffered their first loss of the season as they fell 7-6 to the Texas Outlaws (2-2-1) on Sunday evening at Cable Dahmer Arena.
Coming off a 9-7 win less than 24 hours earlier, the Comets rotated some players which saw the debut of goalkeeper Phillip Ejimadu and midfielder Antonio De La Torre.
It took just 52 seconds for the Comets to open the scoring when Ramone Palmer had a calm finish assisted by Christian Anderaos. Much of the rest of the quarter was controlled by Texas, who peppered the Comets goal with 17 shots and broke through with goals from Luiz Morales and Erik Macias.
The Comets equalized it at 2-2 when Zach Reget showed his strength to hold off a defender before turning and scoring. Texas went back in front when Uzi Tayou sent a smashing effort in to restore the visitors their one-goal advantage.
Reget popped up with another equalizing goal, this time performing a juggling act before putting it past the keeper to tie it 3-3 before halftime. The first half didn’t go as the Comets had hoped, but debut goalkeeper Phillip Ejimadu kept them in it with 15 first-half saves.
Things started well in the second half for the Comets. Henry Ramirez scored to give the Comets their first lead of the game. That lead was short-lived as the Outlaws scored three straight to end the third period with a 6-4 lead.
With a tense fourth quarter on the horizon, head coach Stefan Stokic elected to put in the experienced Nicolau Neto in to replace Ejimadu. Palmer pulled the Comets within one with his second goal of the night, but David Ortiz canceled it out to restore the two-goal lead for the Outlaws. Comets sixth attacker Nacho Flores scored with 15 seconds left, but it was too little too late as the Comets suffered a 7-6 defeat.
Ortiz and Morales were the standout performers of the night as each had two goals and two assists for the visitors. Texas goalkeeper took the win with 17 saves. Reget and Flores each had three-point performances, followed by Ramone Palmer’s two-goal night for Kansas City. Ejimadu picked up the loss and ended the night with 19 saves while Neto had three.
The Comets now fall to second place in the East, trailing the unbeaten Monterrey Flash by two points. The Comets will return home on Thursday, December 28th for a meeting with the St. Louis Ambush. Tickets for that matchup are available at kccomets.com/tickets.
SCORING SUMMARY
1st…