Comets, Sockers set for Friday night home finale

by Nathan Dunn

Kansas City Comets vs San Diego Sockers

MASL Regular Season — Game 23

When: Friday, March 27 — 7pm CT

Where: Cable Dahmer Arena — Independence, MO

Tickets: Ticketmaster | Tickets For Less

Military Jersey Auction: Event.Gives/CometsMilitaryJersey26

The home slate of regular-season games will come to an end for the Kansas City Comets this Friday as they welcome the San Diego Sockers to Cable Dahmer Arena for a clash with major MASL Shield implications.

The winner of the match will keep their aspirations alive to win the 2025-26 MASL Shield for the most points in the regular season. A loss for the Comets would end their hopes of winning the trophy.

Hoping to extend their MASL Shield hopes into Sunday, the Comets will look to Phillip Ejimadu to continue playing well. Ejimdau has stopped 29 shots over the last two games, stretching his career-high to 213 saves with 11 wins.

The Comets’ offense has also been producing consistently the past two games, led by standout performances from Rian Marques and Lesia Thetsane. Marques leads the MASL with 2.4 points per game, and continues to be in contention for the Golden Boot and MVP, while Thetsane is also having a remarkably successful season on the attacking side with 19 goals.

The Comets’ midfield will continue to be hampered without the services of Marcel Berry (groin) and Henry Ramirez (quad), who will miss the game alongside goalkeeper Julio Coronado (shoulder). Leo Acosta (back) and Nathan Durdle (quad) are also questionable while Marques (back) and Lucas Sousa (back) are probable.

Coming from back-to-back wins for the first time in two months, the Comets hope a recent shift in momentum will carry throughout this weekend and heading into the playoffs. They most recently defeated the Baltimore Blast 8-5 on March 22 — the team’s first win over Baltimore in over nine years.

A four-goal night from Thetsane led the way after Baltimore provided an early scare. KC went on a 6-1 run before closing out the 8-5 victory on home turf to extend their MASL Shield aspirations into the final week of the season.

The Comets enter this final weekend trailing the Sockers in the season series 2-1, but they have taken more points than San Diego. KC has taken points from all three meetings to total 5 points of 9 available, while San Diego has taken 4 of 9 points available with two overtime/shootout wins in Kansas City.

The Comets (6-4-1) and Sockers (8-3-0) are the only two teams in the MASL with winning records on the road. Visiting teams have won all three games in the season series so far this season, but the Comets hope to change the theme Friday night by protecting Silverstein Eye Centers Field while wearing their Military Jerseys.

While the Comets (12-6-4) sit fourth on 38 points in a congested race for the MASL Shield entering Friday, two wins in regulation would secure the for the Comets.

The Opponent

The Sockers have the same aspirations of securing the MASL Shield, although they have a bit more breathing room to secure it. The Sockers (14-6-2) are in a three-way tie at the top of the table on 40 points, needing to get results in both games this weekend to secure the shield.

After dropping points in four consecutive matches, San Diego aims at turning a corner in the final week of the season. Their two wins over the past four games both came in overtime, most recently defeating the St. Louis Ambush 5-4 in overtime on March 22.

The Sockers were in danger of losing the contest as they trailed 4-1 in the third quarter before completing a comeback effort led by Tavoy Morgan and Drew Ruggles. Ruggles scored twice in the fourth quarter to tie it, later setting up Morgan to score the game-winner midway through overtime.

San Diego’s offense has been carried by veteran target Nick Perera, who has produced a balanced display with 35 points from 18 goals and 17 assists. Charlie Gonzalez and Leonardo De Oliveira have also been key components, when available, with 40 points between the duo.

Defensively, the Sockers boast the best record in the league with just 4.86 goals against through 22 games. The goalkeeper tandem of Boris Pardo and Chris Toth have both logged minutes, with Pardo only needing to make 176 saves to become one of three goalkeepers to save more than 70% of shots faced.

The Sockers will be without Felipe Gonzalez (foot) and Kraig Chiles (leg), as well as Gabriel Costa, Sean Callahan, Jose Gonzalez, Andrew Estrella, Nathaniel Linquist and Momo Gueye. Luis Ortega (leg) and Charlie Gonzalez (leg) are both probable for Friday.

Tickets for the third and final KC-SD regular season matchup at Cable Dahmer Arena are available at kccomets.com/tickets.