COMETS OUTPLAYED BY FLASH

MONTERREY, Mexico — The Kansas City Comets (7-2-1) suffered their second straight defeat as they lost 12-5 to the undefeated Monterrey Flash (9-0-0) on Sunday at Arena Borregos in Monterrey, Mexico.

The Comets struggled to retain possession throughout the first half and forced goalkeeper Nicolau Neto under constant pressure. The Brazilian was either making saves or picking the ball out of his net, conceding eight goals in the first half and making numerous saves to decelerate Monterrey’s offensive explosion.

It took a while for the Flash to open the scoring, but the floodgates eventually opened with just under five minutes remaining in the first quarter. Genaro Castilo found Ismael Rojo, who smashed in a right-footed effort from the right side. Following a Comets three-line violation, the Flash went up 2-0 when Alan Crespo sent a rifling left-footed effort in directly off the restart 13:22 into the first period.

Monterrey’s six-goal second quarter started when Alexis Espinosa pounced on a rebound off the far-side boards. Walter Ayovi joined the scoring with a dangerous restart goal assisted by Edgar Flores to put the hosts up 4-0.

The Comets got on the board as Zach Reget extended his goalscoring streak to 12 straight games. John Sosa found Reget wide open inside the box and Reget calmly swept it in 8:53 into the second quarter.

The Flash were far from done in the first half. They went on another four-goal run to end the second quarter as Ayovi got his second of the game while Hiram Ruiz, Edgar Gonzalez and Roman Ramirez also etched their names on the scoresheet to give the Flash an 8-1 lead at halftime.

Phillip Ejimadu played the final 30 minutes for the Comets and conceded goal No. 9 for Monterrey as Crespo scored his second of the game. That was followed by three consecutive Comets goals.

The first Comets goal of the second half came from Chad Vandegriffe’s pressure to force a turnover. Once winning the ball with just the keeper to beat, Vandegriffe found Ramone Palmer for a finish into an open net.

The Comets pulled within six when Ray Lee’s left-footed strike made it 9-3 11:44 into the third period. Sosa picked up his second assist to find Lee from a nicely worked restart.

Nacho Flores scored the Comets’ third straight after finding tons of space in front of goal before sliding it past the keeper. Lee served up a the assist to Flores as the Comets trailed 9-4 late in the third. Monterrey ended the Comets’ scoring run when Castilo got on the scoresheet, assisted by Jhon Ponce.

The Comets cut into the deficit once again in the fourth quarter when a quick attack ended with Rian Marques marking his return from injury with an assist to Mikey Lenis for a tap-in on the back post. Ruiz and Espinosa each tagged a couple late goals nine seconds apart for the Flash to deliver a 12-5 victory.

“We got outplayed,” said Comets head coach Stefan Stokic. “They are a really good team and we didn’t play out best game. We got punished for every mistake and that’s what great teams do. We didn’t take initiative on their mistakes and that was the outcome of the game.”

While extremely disappointed by the result, the Comets did see a positive response in the second half. Trailing 7-1 at halftime, the Comets came out of the locker room and played a 4-4 second half. The Comets conclude Week 8 in third place of the Eastern Conference following a couple of losses against the top two teams.

The Comets will remain in Monterrey for another meeting with the Flash on Tuesday night before a Friday clash with the Chihuahua Savage. The Comets return home on Friday, February 9 when they host the Tacoma Stars. Tickets for that game are available at kccomets.com/tickets.