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Independence, MO —
Following a scoreless first period Friday night at the Independence Events Center, Missouri Comets goalkeeper Danny Waltman had a feeling this just might be the night his second-year MISL team would find a way to get past perennial league power Baltimore.
Then, in a span of 27 seconds the Blast took a quick five-goal second-quarter lead.
“We hadn’t planned on that,” joked Waltman, “but even after they scored those two quick goals, we were still a confident team. No one panicked, we got to work and made something special happen.”
Over the next 1 minute, 27 seconds, the upstart Comets scored four goals to take a 9-5 lead and they never looked back as they routed the Blast 18-9 to down the defending Eastern Conference champions for the first time at the IEC.
“Danny made the rest of us on defense look great out there,” said Comets defender Brian Harris, who saved three goals during the game with aggressive defensive play in front of the net.
“We felt bad when they scored those two goals in the second period, and it just kind of sparked something. This is the time of year you want to be playing your best soccer and we can’t play much better than we played tonight.”
After the Blast took the 5-0 lead, Vahid Assadpour scored at 8:15 of the second period. Bato followed with an unassisted goal at 8:24, Neto scored at 8:38 and Assadpour scored his second goal in less than 90 seconds to make it 9-5.
A 3-point goal by Lucas Rodriguez made it 12-5 at 6:17 of the third period, but the Blast made it interesting by scoring the next two goals to make it a three-point game (12-9).
The two goals seemed to light a fire under the Comets, who scored on a Byron Alvarez power-play goal a minute into the fourth period to make the scored 14-9.
Rodriguez then danced his way around a trio of Blast defenders to score his second goal of the night and MISL scoring leader Geison capped a big night for the Comets with an empty-net goal with 51 seconds left in the game.
“We are such an unselfish team,” said Alvarez, the reigning MISL MVP and scoring champion. “No one cares who scores, all we care about is playing good soccer, especially at this time of the season.”
The Comets have now put together solid back-to-back wins as they followed a 33-12 victory over Syracuse with perhaps the most complete game in team history Friday night before a crowd of 4,268.
“The 33-12 win was crazy, but it was over an expansion team,” Harris said. “This win tonight we against arguably the best team in the MISL. This is the one we’re going to build on.”
Following a scoreless first period Friday night at the Independence Events Center, Missouri Comets goalkeeper Danny Waltman had a feeling this just might be the night his second-year MISL team would find a way to get past perennial league power Baltimore.
Then, in a span of 27 seconds the Blast took a quick five-goal second-quarter lead.
“We hadn’t planned on that,” joked Waltman, “but even after they scored those two quick goals, we were still a confident team. No one panicked, we got to work and made something special happen.”
Over the next 1 minute, 27 seconds, the upstart Comets scored four goals to take a 9-5 lead and they never looked back as they routed the Blast 18-9 to down the defending Eastern Conference champions for the first time at the IEC.
“Danny made the rest of us on defense look great out there,” said Comets defender Brian Harris, who saved three goals during the game with aggressive defensive play in front of the net.
“We felt bad when they scored those two goals in the second period, and it just kind of sparked something. This is the time of year you want to be playing your best soccer and we can’t play much better than we played tonight.”
After the Blast took the 5-0 lead, Vahid Assadpour scored at 8:15 of the second period. Bato followed with an unassisted goal at 8:24, Neto scored at 8:38 and Assadpour scored his second goal in less than 90 seconds to make it 9-5.
A 3-point goal by Lucas Rodriguez made it 12-5 at 6:17 of the third period, but the Blast made it interesting by scoring the next two goals to make it a three-point game (12-9).
The two goals seemed to light a fire under the Comets, who scored on a Byron Alvarez power-play goal a minute into the fourth period to make the scored 14-9.
Rodriguez then danced his way around a trio of Blast defenders to score his second goal of the night and MISL scoring leader Geison capped a big night for the Comets with an empty-net goal with 51 seconds left in the game.
“We are such an unselfish team,” said Alvarez, the reigning MISL MVP and scoring champion. “No one cares who scores, all we care about is playing good soccer, especially at this time of the season.”
The Comets have now put together solid back-to-back wins as they followed a 33-12 victory over Syracuse with perhaps the most complete game in team history Friday night before a crowd of 4,268.
“The 33-12 win was crazy, but it was over an expansion team,” Harris said. “This win tonight we against arguably the best team in the MISL. This is the one we’re going to build on.”
