Comets face 11-10 OT defeat in home finale

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — The Kansas City Comets saw their MASL Shield hopes end after losing an 11-10 overtime thriller at home to the San Diego Sockers on Friday, March 27.

It was goals galore from start to finish, but the Comets were unable to hold on to a fourth-quarter lead as they fell in overtime to the Sockers on their third consecutive trip to Cable Dahmer Arena.

The scoring started 84 seconds into the contest, when Lucas Sousa found the opener on an assist from David Stankovic. After a 10-minute scoring drought, San Diego opened the floodgates as Leonardo De Oliveira and Tavoy Morgan each scored before Dominic Francis answered for the Comets to make it 2-2.

The game continued tilting back and forth in the second quarter, with San Diego jumping ahead twice. The Comets had an answer both times as Michael Lenis and Nacho Flores scored equalizers, allowing for Zach Reget and Junior Kazeem to put the hosts ahead 6-4.

The Sockers pulled one back through Jesus Pacheco, but Rian Marques made sure the Comets had a multi-goal cushion as he put the Comets ahead 7-5 before halftime.

San Diego wasted no time getting themselves back into the contest in the third quarter as Morgan finished his hat trick 13 seconds into the half, only to net his fourth of the night to tie the game at 7-7. Marques scored his second of the night before Luiz Morales answered for the visitors, only for Francis to put the Comets ahead 9-8 on the power play late in the third.

The Comets found additional breathing room when Reget made it 10-8. Morales eventually pulled one back for San Diego, and after inserting the sixth attacker, Drew Ruggles scored the equalizer inside the final minute of regulation to force overtime.

After peppering the Comets’ goal early in overtime, the hosts managed to escape, and even unsuccessfully countered the other for a chance to win it. The game-winning moment eventually came off the foot of former Comet Stefan Mijatovic, who had a rebound deflected in his direction before blasting it through traffic from distance.

“It hurts,” Comets head coach Stefan Stokic said. “I feel like we had them. I felt like the boys left it all on the field. We made some mistakes at moments, but I think that the mentality was there; we just didn’t come out on top today.”

While the Comets took a point, the overtime defeat ended the Comets’ hopes of securing the MASL Shield. They dropped to 12-6-5 on 39 points this season while the Sockers head into the driver’s seat for the MASL Shield, sitting first overall with a 15-6-2 record on 42 points.

The Comets will wrap up the regular season on Sunday as they visit the Sockers at Frontwave Arena. Stay tuned to Comets social media and kccomets.com for information on the Comets’ upcoming playoff run.

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GAME STATS

Attendance - 4,630