Comets Come from Behind for 5-4 Game 1 Win

MILWAUKEE, WI. – The Comets (3-0-0) ran their overall win streak to nine games on Friday night by defeating the Milwaukee Wave (2-1-1) 5-4 in front of 3,042 fans at UW-Panther Arena. Five different Comets players scored a goal while Nicolau Neto stopped 15 shots in the win.

The Comets opened the scoring early in the game as Lucas Sousa sent a pass off the end boards to Rian Marques who tapped it in past a diving William Banahene to put Kansas City up 1-0 with 14:17 still to go in the opening frame.

Kansas City doubled their lead with 2:54 to go in the first quarter when Zach Reget pounced on a loose ball and sent a perfect pass to Nacho Flores just outside the top of the box for the goal to make it a 2-0 game after one quarter of play.

Momentum shifted completely in Milwaukee’s direction early in the second quarter. Comets’ goalkeeper Neto was issued a blue card for a handball outside of the box. Backup keeper Phillip Ejimadu stopped Max Ferdinand’s shootout attempt, but the Wave were able to convert on the power play 90 seconds later on a restart goal by Derek Huffman to cut Kansas City’s lead to 2-1 with 13:53 to go until halftime.

The first-half equalizer goal also came off a restart for Milwaukee. The Wave had a corner kick and though the first shot was blocked, they kept the pressure on the Comets’ defense until Huffman connected with Andre Hayne with 1:18 to go.

To start the second half, Kansas City fired a shot which was blocked 24 seconds into the third quarter. Milwaukee’s Javier Steinwascher quickly sent out a breakout pass to Shawn Azcueta who scored to put the Wave in front by a 3-2 score with 14:27 on the clock in the third.

Chad Vandegriffe tied it at 3-3 for Kansas City following a scramble in front of Banahene and was able to slip the ball over the goal line with 6:15 remaining in the quarter.

Milwaukee’s next goal came by catching the Comets making a change and moving on the Kansas City with a 4v1 advantage. Tony Walls scored to put the Wave back up by one at 4-3 for the final goal of the quarter. The teams headed to the final quarter of regulation with Milwaukee outshooting the Comets by a 24-13 margin.

Both teams battled defensively for a majority of the fourth quarter and that changed with under four minutes to play when the Comets brought the 2023-24 MASL Defender of the Year Robert Palmer on as the Sixth Attacker. Palmer sent a diagonal pass to the far post where Sousa sent a…