Comets embarrassed in Baltimore

TOWSON, MD — The Kansas City Comets fell to an 11-3 defeat on the road against the Baltimore Blast at TU Arena on Saturday evening.

The Comets trailed by as many as nine goals in the defeat, remaining winless in seven all-time meetings inside TU Arena.

Baltimore took an early 2-0 lead in the first quarter, exploiting the Comets on a pair of restarts. A three-line violation presented an opportunity for Jonatas Melo to assist Juan Pereira’s opener 3:21 into the contest before the duo linked up once more from a top-of-the-arc restart seven minutes later.

After killing off a power play, the Comets had a chance to get back into the game, but instead dug themselves into a deeper hole by giving up a short-handed goal to Jamie Thomas on a toss into the box from Baltimore goalkeeper Julian Rodriguez.

The Comets finally got on the board 11:51 into the second quarter when Lesia Thetsane linked up with Christian Anderaos, making it 3-1. Baltimore then came back with a ferocious attack, scoring two before halftime to make it 5-1 before scoring two more early in the third period to make it 7-1.

Dominic Francis pulled one back out of a timeout in the third period, scoring on a restart that Stefan Mijatovic assisted. Baltimore responded with two more scores to make it 9-2 after three quarters.

The Blast extended their lead to 11-2 with a pair of goals inside the opening three minutes of the fourth quarter. Mijatovic scored his first of the season from a restart set up by Zach Reget.

If there are any positives to take away, it is that the Comets managed to score a pair of restart goals — an area of struggle last season — and they killed two full power plays, as well as another power play to conclude the final 15 seconds of the game.

The Comets drop to 2-1 overall on the season, 1-1 away from home. Comets goalkeeper Phillip Ejimadu took his first loss, making seven saves while Baltimore’s Rodriguez earned the victory with 18 saves.

The Comets conclude their trip to the East Coast on Sunday, when they visit Utica City FC for a 2 p.m. CT kickoff. They return home on Friday, Dec. 12, for a rivalry matchup against the Milwaukee Wave.

SCORING SUMMARY

GAME STATS

Attendance - 1,591