Comets host Chihuahua on Friday

by Nathan Dunn

Kansas City Comets vs Chihuahua Savage

MASL Regular Season

Friday, February 16 — 7:05 p.m. CT

Where | Cable Dahmer Arena - Independence, Missouri

The Kansas City Comets (8-6-3) will host defending Ron Newman Cup champion Chihuahua Savage (8-5-0) for a Friday night bout at Cable Dahmer Arena.

The Comets are looking to re-secure their playoff future after their recent losing skid. They sit in fourth place with the Baltimore Blast hoping to displace them.

The Comets are looking for back-to-back wins following last week's 7-2 victory over the Empire Strykers. Last Saturday's win snapped an eight-game losing streak.

The Comets are coming from an impressive defensive performance which saw Chad Vandegriffe, Nacho Flores and Robert Palmer combine for 23 blocks. Palmer leads the league with 57 blocks while Vandegriffe is third with 37 blocks.

Zach Reget will be available once again after spending the previous 10 days at camp with the U.S. Futsal National Team in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Reget leads the East with 23 goals.

The Comets will be without Henry Ramirez (left thigh strain) and Leo Gibson (undisclosed) while Lalo Alonso (right thigh strain) is doubtful and Ray Lee (left knee effusion) is probable.

The Comets had lost two straight on home turf before last Saturday's win. KC is now 5-1-2 on home turf and 1-1-1 at home against Western Conference foes.

This will be the second meeting between these two sides this season. The Savage won an 8-2 result on January 19 in Mexico. The only other meeting was a come-from-behind 6-5 Savage win at Cable Dahmer Arena in 2022.

The Savage enter Friday on a four-game winning streak, having won six of their last seven. Chihuahua's struggles have only come against the Monterrey, who have beaten them all five times. The Savage are 8-0 against American opposition with away wins against Texas and San Diego.

CUU made a midseason coaching switch to bring indoor veteran Genoni Martinez back to the MASL as Savage head coach. Martinez takes over for the Ron Newman Cup champions with a firm playoff spot in third place of the West, though seeds two through four are still up for grabs.

The Savage boasts the best defense in the Western Conference with 4.3 goals against per game and have killed 80% of penalties. Veteran defender Roberto Escalante leads CUU with 30 blocks. Goalkeeping duties have been split between Diego Reynoso and Iván Muñoz, though Reynoso has an MASL-leading 2.92 goals against average and a .791 save percentage.

Miguel Angel Diaz and Hugo Puentes lead Chihuahua's offense. The duo has tallied 17 points each with Diaz scoring 14 goals.

This is the only game this weekend for both teams. The Comets will visit the California coast for matchups against the San Diego Sockers (Feb. 25) and Empire Strykers (Feb. 28).