ADAM JAMES NETS FOUR GOALS IN 9-5 COMETS WIN OVER AMBUSH

by Pete Richmire

INDEPENDENCE, MO. – The Kansas City Comets (3-4) had their offense firing on all cylinders Friday night, including a four-goal performance from Adam James in their 9-5 win over the St. Louis Ambush (4-6) at Cable Dahmer Arena. James is now the leading goal scorer for Kansas City with nine tallies on the year.

The Comets jumped on St. Louis from the start as they knocked in five of the first six goals of the game beginning with Matt Lewis’s rebound off the wall to open scoring with 9:54 to go in the opening frame. Following a blue card to the Ambush’s Magui Souza for a hand ball near mid field, Ramone Palmer found Ray Lee on a two-on-one breakaway for a power play goal and the 2-0 lead.

St. Louis got their first goal of the match on Jerjer Gibson’s effort assisted by JT Thomas with 8:17 remaining in the 1st. The last two goals in the half, one in the first quarter and one in the second, both belonged to the Comets, and both were assisted by Lewis. James notched the marker in the first on a back heel move in the box to put Kansas City up 3-1 after one quarter.

It was Rian Marques with the lone second quarter goal to make it a 4-1 margin after 30 minutes of play. The biggest event of the second quarter was not a goal, but a tremendous defensive effort by the Ambush as they killed a full 5-on-3 Comets power play following blue cards to two St. Louis players on the same play. St. Louis controlled the ball much of the time they were short-handed and went to the locker room only trailing by three.

After opening the second quarter with a goal in just 26 seconds, the third quarter took just over a minute for James to pick up his second of the night, this time assisted by Nacho Flores. Kansas City and St. Louis then traded goals for the next five scores. First up was Alexis Robles, who like Gibson, was making his Ambush debut and picked up an assist from Mike Scharf to make it a 5-2 tally with 9:21 remaining in the 3rd.

Comets player-head coach Leo Gibson found James for his third of the evening and then, yet another Ambush player scored in their first game with the team. The third consecutive goal scorer for St. Louis making their debut with the team, William Eskay notched the first of two goals in the game and it was 6-3 until almost the very end of the quarter. Kyle McLagan connected with Ray Lee for a goal with 0.2 seconds showing on the clock to set the score at 7-3 headed to the final 15 minutes of play.

Kansas City was in familiar territory holding a nice lead at the beginning of the last quarter. Comets fans may have felt some nerves rising as the Ambush scored the next two goals, first by Esaky, and then a JT Thomas goal assisted by Max Ferdinand for a 7-5 Comets advantage. As it turned out, that was as close as St. Louis would get.

With the Ambush’s goalkeeper Paulo Nascimento effectively playing as a sixth attacker, Mike DaSilva found an empty net to notch his first goal with Kansas City for an 8-5 lead with 2:06 left in regulation. All that was left to be done at that point was for McLagan to get the ball to James for his fourth goal of the game, this one with just 20 seconds left to play and wrap the game up with a 9-5 final.

SCORING SUMMARY

1st – KC Lewis (Marques) 5:06; KC Lee (Palmer) 7:55 PP; STL Gibson (Thomas) 8:17; KC James (Lewis) 11:46. Penalties – STL Souza blue card (hand ball) 7:07.

2nd– KC Marques (Lewis) 0:26. Penalties – STL Briggs blue card (tripping); STL Kranz blue card (holding) 4:19; KC McLagan blue card (kicking) 8:58.

3rd – KC James (Flores) 1:08; STL Robles (Scharf) 5:39; KC James (Gibson) 7:10; STL Eskay 7:43; KC Lee (McLagan) 14:59. Penalties – STL Nascimento blue card (tripping) 12:09.

4th – STL Eskay 6:15; STL Thomas (Ferdinand) 7:25; KC DaSilva 12:54; KC James (McLagan) 14:40. Penalties – none.

Shots – Kansas City 9-5-6-7 (27); St. Louis 4-1-4-8 (18)

Kansas City is back in action in next week with a pair of games against the Dallas Sidekicks. The teams will meet on Friday the 19th at Cable Dahmer Arena at 7:00 pm and then again on Sunday the 21st at 5:00 pm. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster or by calling (888) 9-COMETS.