Comets host Harrisburg for home finale

by Nathan Dunn

Kansas City Comets vs Harrisburg Heat

Sunday, March 26 — 4:05 p.m. CDT

Where | Cable Dahmer Arena - Independence, Missouri

Local TV | 38 The Spot

Jersey Auction | www.event.gives/cometsmilitarygame

The Kansas City Comets (9-9-4) are fighting for their playoff lives when they welcome the Harrisburg Heat (6-14-1) to Cable Dahmer Arena for the annual Military Appreciation Night on Sunday. Following the 5k run, fans have the opportunity to bid for game-worn jerseys in the Event.Gives auction benefiting Team Fidelis.

Sunday’s game wraps up the Comets’ home schedule before concluding the regular season in Harrisburg next Saturday.

The Comets enter this weekend in fifth place in the Eastern Conference, four points clear of the St. Louis Ambush, who are desperate to displace the Comets of the final playoff spot. KC also trails fourth-place Utica City FC by two points to host the play-in game.

Zach Reget will be up against his former team, where he was traded from Florida to Harrisburg and scored a goal in each of his two games as a member of the Heat in February before being traded to the Comets. Reget is coming from a three-assist performance and has 14 points from nine goals and five assists for the Comets and 33 total points throughout the season.

Lucas Sousa and John Sosa have combined for 62 points as Sousa leads the Comets in goals with 20 and Sosa leads the team in assists with 19. Leo Gibson could hit another milestone Sunday as his next regular season goal will be the 300th of his Comets career.

The Comets will be without Steven Tekesky (left thumb fracture), Rian Marques (right ankle sprain), James Togbah (concussion protocol), Milos Vucic (right hamstring strain), Henry Ramirez (left hamstring strain); Ignacio Flores (right shoulder dislocation) and Akins Banton (left hip flexor strain). Ali Sodal (left groin strain) is probable with newly signed Mads Falck available to make his Comets debut.

Harrisburg enters the contest already eliminated from playoff contention and dealing with disciplinary suspensions.

Former Comet forward Mike Da-Silva will miss both contests against his former team through suspension. The MASL Disciplinary Review Committee handed Da-Silva an additional one-game suspension, which will be served Sunday, for violent conduct from a physical confrontation between him and Kevin Ellis in the Heat v Ambush game last Friday. Da-Silva will also serve another one-game suspension next Saturday for point accumulation. Harrisburg defender Matt Braem will also be out Sunday as he serves a one-game suspension for point accumulation.

Da-Silva was one of three players that joined the Heat, alongside Richard Schmermund and Lesia Thetsane, in a trade that sent Reget to the Comets. Schmermund was traded to St. Louis earlier this month, but Thetsane has found a home in Harrisburg. The Lesotho international has 10 points in six games and signed an extension with Harrisburg earlier this week.

The Heat have struggled offensively with a league-low 79 goals scored for an average of 3.8 goals per game. Harrisburg is led in scoring by midfielder Malcolm Harris with 20 points from 11 goals and nine assists.

Rookie goalkeeper Chase Vosick has a record of 6-8-1, helping the Heat to wins in two of their last three games. The most recent win came last week when Harrisburg got their first road win of the season, a 5-4 overtime win against Utica.

Another player who can help offensively is Dominic Francis, who spent the 2021 season with the Comets. Francis only has 11 goals in 17 games, but scored the game-winning goal in last Sunday’s road win.

The Comets are looking to avoid a third consecutive loss at home and move a giant step closer to clinching a playoff spot.