Comets complete opening weekend sweep of Ambush

INDEPENDENCE, MO — The Kansas City Comets remained perfect over Thanksgiving weekend with an 8-3 home-opening victory on Saturday, Nov. 29 at Cable Dahmer Arena.

The Comets’ defense came up big once again, this time DeBray Hollimon leading the charge with seven blocks while Stefan Mijatovic, Guerrero Pino and Lesia Thetsane logging four blocks each. Despite facing 39 shots, Phillip Ejimadu only needed seven saves to hold the Ambush to three goals for a second straight night.

Offensively, the trio of Zach Reget, Christian Anderaos and Rian Marques tallied two goals each with Marques also supplying an assist. The trio of Lucas Sousa, Henry Ramirez and Pino also provided a pair of assists.

Reget opened the scoring near the end of the first quarter, smashing in a beautiful wallascora pass from Pino. Marques scored the first of his season debut in the opening two minutes of the second quarter as the Comets forced a turnover in the attacking corner before Lucas Sousa found his fellow countryman open at the corner of the box, and Marques made no mistake.

Reget secured his second straight multi-goal game — registering back-to-back multi-goal performances for the first time in nearly 12 months — before halftime. The former MASL Golden Boot winner ran across the top of the box before his shot was deflected beyond the diving goalkeeper, putting the Comets ahead 3-0 going into halftime.

The Ambush pulled one back in the third, but the Comets responded well. Just 34 seconds after conceding, the Comets restored their three-goal advantage when Christian Anderaos made a run that went unmarked before smashing it in, assisted by Henry Ramirez.

Both sides exchanged another pair of goals in the third, with Nathan Durdle scoring with a thunderous strike into the top corner to give the hosts a 5-2 lead going into the fourth quarter. The Ambush pulled one back early in the fourth quarter through Daniel Torrealba’s second of the night, but the Comets closed the game well.

Marques scored his second of the evening by showcasing some skill to free some space before combining with Ramirez and finding the far corner for his second goal of the night. Anderaos later added his second of the evening before David Stankovic made it 8-3 for his first score as a Comet.

The Comets hit the road next week for matches against the Baltimore Blast on Dec. 6 and Utica City FC on Dec. 7. They return home on Friday, Dec. 12, for a rivalry matchup against the Milwaukee Wave.

SCORING SUMMARY

GAME STATS

Attendance - 4,360