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St. Charles, MO. – The Comets (4-0-2) battled the St. Louis Ambush (2-4-0) for 60 full minutes and held on for a 4-3 win to close out the 2024 portion of their schedule. It marks the third consecutive win over the Ambush in New Years Eve contests at The Family Arena.
The Comets looked to take a 1-0 lead off the foot of Michael Lenis but a video review waived that goal off after the referee indicated there was contact in the box which may have allowed the goal.
Incidentally, it was a video review 17 seconds later which led to the Comets first goal. Kansas City head coach Stefan Stokic threw his challenge flag, and a blue card was issued to Dylan Hundelt for handling inside the box.
Rian Marques buried the penalty kick for his 8th goal of the season and the Comets led 1-0 with 9:56 to play in the opening frame.
Marques doubled the Kansas City lead when he headed a jump ball in front of Ambush keeper Paulo Nascimento into the net for the 2-0 advantage with 4:10 left in the 1st.
The lead was short-lived however, as back-to-back Ambush goals by Franck Tayou in the 1st quarter, and Duduca Carvalho just 19 seconds into the 2nd quarter leveled the game at 2-2.
Kansas City took a 3-2 lead after Marques collided with Nascimento in the right corner and the ball slid into the goal as a result.
A restart goal from Lesia Thetsane, his 3rd of the season, briefly ran the Kansas City lead back to two goals at 4-2 but it didn’t last long.
Mo Ndiaye benefitted from a Comets deflection on a rebound and cut the Kansas City lead back to one at 4-3 just a minute later. The teams went to the break by that score despite the Comets outshooting the Ambush by a 20-5 margin after 30 minutes of play.
The second half turned out to be a defensive battle with the Comets successfully killing an Ambush power play while outshooting St. Louis by a 14-6 margin during the final 30 minutes. Neither team scored a second-half goal, and the Comets held on for the 4-3 win.
The Comets will now head home to face the Milwaukee Wave at Cable Dahmer Arena on Sunday, January 5 to battle the Dallas Sidekicks at 4:05 pm CST.
SCORING SUMMARY
1st – KC Marques 8 5:04 pk; KC Marques 9 (Kazeem) 10:50; STL F. Tayou 6 (W. Eskay) 12:27. Penalties – STL Hundelt (bc- handling) 5:04
2nd – STL Carvalho 2 (Ndiaye) 0:19; KC Marques 10 4:53; KC Thetsane 3 (Marques) 10:25; STL Ndiaye 2 11:25. Penalties – STL Nascimento (bc- tripping) 4:53.
3rd – None. Penalties – None.
4th – None. Penalties – KC (bc- too many men) 0:50.
Power Play – Comets 0/2, St. Louis 0/1
Penalty Minutes – Comets 2, St. Louis 4
Fouls – Comets 20, St. Louis 12
Shots – Comets 34, St. Louis 11
Attendance – 2,634
