Kansas City Comets lose first home game, win first road game in overtime classics

The Kansas City Comets continued their eventful season with another pair of overtime games last week.

They suffered their first home defeat on Thursday, Dec. 29 against the Monterrey Flash. After the Comets came back from a two-goal deficit to force overtime, the Flash scored the golden goal 1:08 into overtime for the 6-5 win.

Kansas City did not perform how they would have liked to, but they certainly felt the energy from the 4,571 in attendance on a weeknight.

“The way the fans support us even when we are down,” said player-coach Leo Gibson. “They just keep cheering us on, which is motivating. That always plays a huge role. It’s like playing with seven players on the field.”

The league’s leaders in attendance also made their presence felt on New Year’s Eve when the Comets beat the St. Louis Ambush 6-5 in overtime. Approximately 150 Comets fans occupied a corner of The Family Arena in St. Charles, Missouri as they watched another epic overtime contest.

Jumping out to a 5-3 lead in the fourth quarter, the Comets conceded two late goals to reach overtime. After killing a fourth penalty early in overtime, the Ambush were given a fifth power play and had the opportunity to win it with a shootout.

That opportunity was denied when Nicolau Neto came up with save number 22 to keep the Comets alive, coming out to close down the angle and stretching his left leg out.

Shortly after Neto’s shootout save, with the Comets still down a man, James Togbah intercepted a pass and dribbled in on goal with just St. Louis goalkeeper Paulo Nascimento to beat. As he approached Nascimento, Togbah faked a shot and rolled the ball from his left to his right, which allowed him to slide the ball under Nascimento for the game-winner.

“I was waiting for Paulo to commit,” Togbah said. “He gave me a lot of time, he didn’t rush me. If he rushed me, I could have had a little bit of panic, but he never rushed me so I just stayed composed and made it work.”

With that goal, his second of the contest, Togbah became the only player in the MASL to score a power play goal, a short-handed goal and a game-winning goal this season.

John Sosa’s two-goal, four-block performance against St. Louis put him at the top of the MASL leaderboard for points with 16 and blocks with 17.

The Comets are back at Cable Dahmer Arena on Saturday, Jan. 7 when they host the Tacoma Stars.