Comets reset for return leg of Quarterfinal Series in St. Louis

by Nathan Dunn

Kansas City Comets vs St. Louis Ambush

MASL Quarterfinals — Game 2 & Knockout Game (if needed)

When: Wednesday, April 8 — 7pm CT

Where: Family Arena — St. Charles, MO

The No. 5-seeded Kansas City Comets will head east down Interstate 70 for a night that they hope includes 75 minutes of playoff action against the No. 4-seeded St. Louis Ambush in the Ron Newman Cup Quarterfinals.

The Comets must win Game 2 in order to force a winner-take-all Knockout Game, which would follow the conclusion of Game 2 at Family Arena. The Comets are 4-3 all-time in Knockout Games, most recently defeating Dallas in the 2022 MASL Quarterfinals.

The Comets have also had past success forcing Knockout Games, last doing so in the 2021 MASL Semifinals. After losing Game 1 to Ontario, KC rallied to win Game 2 but ultimately fell in the Knockout Game.

The last time the Comets won a series after losing Game 1 at home came in 2013. After they lost Game 1 of their 2013 MISL Semifinal to Milwaukee, they used two dramatic comeback efforts to win Game 2 and the Knockout Game in Milwaukee.

The Comets have now lost three straight to the Ambush, including the final two regular-season games. There is still reason to hope for the Comets, who went 2-0-1 at Family Arena during the regular season.

In order to extend their season once again, the Comets will have to show better than their humbling 9-4 defeat in Game 1 on Monday night. While they stayed close for most of the first half, a five-goal third quarter put the Comets behind 8-1, a deficit too steep to overcome despite a sixth attacker effort from the start of the fourth quarter.

Dom Francis has proven to be a highly productive playoff player, notching 13 points in six playoff games as a Comet. KC also boasts two end-of-season MASL award finalists in Rian Marques (MVP finalist) and St. Louis native Chad Vandegriffe (Defender of the Year).

The Comets were 6-4-2 on the road during the regular season, and will need some more success away from home in order to keep their Ron Newman Cup hopes alive.

The Comets hope to rediscover the winning touch that they have often had over the years against the Ambush. KC took the regular-season series 4-2, but STL won the final two contests before taking a 1-0 lead in the quarterfinal series on Monday.

The Opponent

Led by MASL Coach of the Year finalist Jeff Locker, the St. Louis Ambush enter Wednesday’s contest full of confidence after winning their first playoff game in modern franchise history on Monday night at Cable Dahmer Arena.

Without the services of leading scorer Daniel Torrealba, veteran midfielder Will Eskay led the Ambush with a 7-point night from four goals and three assists. The Ambush were also strong defensively, allowing just one goal through the first three quarters behind a 22-save performance from goalkeeper Pollo Cortes.

While Cortes impressed in Game 1, it was just his fifth appearance all season. Paulo Nascimento has been STL’s go-to goalkeeper since 2017 and is an MASL Goalkeeper of the Year finalist after a career-high 11 wins and 1,300 minutes during the regular season.

The Ambush hope to emulate that same performance on home turf, where they were 7-3-2 during the regular season. If they manage to do so, it would be STL’s first playoff series win over Kansas City since 1998.

The series winner advances to the RNC Semifinals, where they will face the top-seeded San Diego Sockers. Game 1 of the series is slated for April 17 in Missouri.