Comets humbled by Strykers

ONTARIO, Calif. — The Kansas City Comets were unable to recover after conceding six goals in the second quarter, falling to the Empire Strykers at Toyota Arena on Sunday evening.

The Comets, who were without veteran defenders Chad Vandegriffe and Guerrero Pino, trailed by as many as seven goals in Sunday’s defeat. They managed to draw closer late thanks to a second-half hat trick from Lesia Thetsane as the Comets outscored Empire 4-2 in the fourth quarter.

The Comets were shut out in the first half, though they also kept the Strykers off the scoresheet in the first quarter. Anthony Powell opened the scoring for the hosts a minute into the second quarter, going solo on a transition move.

After steadying the ship, the Comets fell apart in the midway through the second quarter when Justin Stinson made it 2-0. The Strykers soon followed up with four more scores, the last coming in the final second of the second quarter from Alan Perez, as the Strykers raced ahead 6-0 at halftime.

The Strykers stretched their lead to 7-0 when Abdul Mansaray scored his second of the contest early in the third quarter. The Comets finally got on the board when Thetsane provided an offensive spark, scoring twice to make it 7-2.

A pair of strikes from Walter Diaz restored Empire’s seven-goal advantage, but Thetsane managed to finish off his hat trick to make it 9-3 in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter. A pair of goals from Zach Reget and a late score from Rian Marques helped the Comets close the gap, but they still leave Southern California empty-handed with a 10-6 defeat.

“Unacceptable first half,” Comets head coach Stefan Stokic said. “The boys tried to fight back towards the end, but we got scored on too many times. We got scored on 10 times, so there’s a lot of things going through my head right now.”

Phillip Ejimadu got stuck with his third defeat this season, making nine saves. Nicolau Neto also saw his first action of the season, making two saves in his 18 minutes on the turf.

The Comets remain first in the MASL standings with Milwaukee taking just two of six possible points from this weekend. KC now sits with a record of 8-4-2 on 24 points, while Milwaukee trails by three points with two games in hand.

The Comets will seek revenge on Star Wars Night as they return home to face Empire on Friday, Jan. 30. Tickets for the final home game of the month are available at kccomets.com/tickets.

SCORING SUMMARY

GAME STATS

Attendance - 3,862