Sporting KC News to End Your Week

No major news out today, but here are some quick hits news wise for you on your Friday.

Sporting KC vs LA game time changed

Sporting KC's match up with LA on April 7th at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park has changed times and stations. Yesterday the team announced that the game would now kick off 1 hour earlier at 3pm Central time. The move in start time is to facilitate a station move for the game, as instead of being on ESPN2, the game will be on the mothership, ESPN. It's been a long time since KC has had a game, let alone hosted one. I honestly can't quite remember when there last was one.

Collin closing in on green card

Good news for KC on the front of potentially signing more internationals. Aurelien Collin posted today on Twitter after practice that he was headed to meet with his lawyer to discuss his green card. While the part about becoming an American citizen is a ways away, the good news in Sporting KC terms is that KC will free up at least one international spot. With the spots currently full Collin getting his green card would be a boost. With Jimmy Nielsen and possibly Korede Aiyegbusi also working on their cards' KC could have plenty of international space available.

Sporting KC International News

The next few bits of news are related to Sporting KC players and their potential national team aspirations. The first has to do with Roger Espinoza, while the last two, courtesy of The Daily Wiz have to do with Lawrence Olum, and supplemental draft pick, Pablo Punyed.

Not surprisingly, Espinoza left off Honduras camp roster

With Sporting KC currently in preseason camp, this news isn't surprising, but Roger Espinoza was left off the camp roster ahead of Honduras' February friendlies. Honduras' coach named a roster today for the camp that includes the man who put the dagger in KC's 2011 season Carlo Costly. Espinoza will obviously stay with KC as they continue preseason.

Olum heading to Kenya in February?

Alex over at The Daily Wiz today posted a comment and a video link about KC's Lawrence Olum heading to Kenya in February. The timing of the trip to Kenya would seem odd considering the fact that KC will be right in the middle of preseason, but Olum has wanted to represent his country for a while at this point and this may be the best chance for Olum to appear for the Kenyan national team. Kenya is scheduled to have two matches on the 23rd and the 29th against Egypt and Togo, and one would assume that Olum would hope to make his international debut and become the 32nd player to appear for their full national team while a member of Sporting KC. Still the timing of the trip is just a bit odd being in the middle of preseason.

Punyed to Represent El Salvador U23 team?

There are some rumors out of El Salvador, that supplemental draft pick, Pablo Punyed could be looking to potentially join Teal Bunbury and Daneil Cyrus in Olympic qualifying. Rumor out of El Salvador is that the St. John's product participated in some tryouts down there for the national team in preparation for Olympic qualifying. El Salvador has been grouped with the US, Canada, and Cuba in a group that will play in Nashville.

Sporting KC and the PDL

Tonight I was watching Metro Sports Zone on Metro Sports, watching a feature that was being done on Kyle Miller and Matt Kuhn and their attempts to become the 5th and 6th local players on Sporting KC's current roster. It struck a thought in my head that I'd been thinking about yesterday after an announcement from the Seattle Sounders. Yesterday, the Seattle Sounders announced that they'd reached a partnership with the Tacoma Tide that sees the Tide become the Sounders FC U-23.

The Sounders become the 5th MLS team to get a team in the PDL, joining Chicago, Portland, Vancouver, and DC. Orlando City of the USL-Pro division also has a U-23 team in the PDL. The idea of a PDL team I think is a really good idea for MLS sides. Especially with the academies becoming more and more important. Players that played in the academy but aren't quite ready to make the jump up to the first team could play on the PDL team while in college to improve their play and potentially be a later academy signing similar to Kevin Ellis, who was signed after 2 years at Barton Community College. A place for those guys to play is certainly a good thing, especially if the players know there is a linked connection between the PDL team and the MLS squad.

Some people will say that the idea of having a PDL team hasn't worked out too well for the Fire though. There were 11 players from the Chicago Fire Premier that were selected in the MLS SuperDraft in Kansas City, and the Fire didn't get the rights to those players. The main reason for that was because academy signing requirements require the player to have to have been in the academy before they enter college. Most of the Fire Premier players only joined the team AFTER they entered college, hence why they couldn't be signed by the Fire. But I think we're going to see more and more players that attend college for a year or two and continue to play with their MLS academy teammates in the summer with the teams U23 teams in the PDL.

Kansas City does have a local PDL team themselves, the Kansas City Brass. The Brass have been around since 1997, one year less than Sporting KC has been. The Brass and the Wizards have a good working relationship, the team has drafted a lot of players that have spent time with the Brass while they were in college. In fact, the past two coaches for the Brass, Jefferson and Lincoln Roblee have both assisted Peter Vermes and the Sporting KC staff at times, including during the open tryouts the past few years. The two teams also play quite often during the summer as a way for some of the reserves a chance to play.

So it's not like the two teams are at odds with each other, they have a very good working relationship. But there is something to be said about making it an official relationship between the two teams, to give a good continued path from the Juniors to the first team with a stop in between for those that may not be quite ready to step from the Juniors directly to the first team. I've seen lots of local KC players go to places like Des Moines for the summer to play with the Menace instead of staying in KC. The goal should be to keep all the best KC players, especially those tied in with the Juniors academy in town where they can be watched and coached by the Sporting KC staff.

Former SKC Wizards Update

A day late due to the Comets game last night, but here is this week's former SKC Wizards update. In news this week, Shavar Thomas has a new team, having signed for the expansion Montreal Impact. Here's the rest of this week's update.

Active without a club or unknown
Stephane Auvray
Chris Brunt
Doug DeMartin
Mauro Fuzetti
AJ Godbolt
Willy Guadarrama
Santiago Hirsig
Eddie Johnson
Mike Jones
Michael Kraus
Jonathan Leathers
Scott Lorenz
Amir Lowry
Rauwshan McKenzie
Ryan McMahen
Michal Mravec
Anthony Noriega
Ryan Pore
Ofori Sarkodie
Sam Scales
Scott Sealy
Milos Stojcev
Ivan Trujillo
Lance Watson

MLS
Davy Arnaud - Montreal - Season is over.
Adam Cristman - LA - Season is over.
Luis Gil - Salt Lake - Season is over.
Kevin Hartman - Dallas - Season is over.
Will Hesmer - Columbus - Season is over.
Jack Jewsbury - Portland - Season is over.
Chris Konopka - MLS Pool keeper - Season is over.
Kurt Morsink - DC - Season is over.
Khari Stephenson - San Jose - Season is over.
Shavar Thomas - Montreal - Season is over.
Tyson Wahl - Montreal - Season is over.
Josh Wolff - DC - Season is over.

NASL
Kevin Friedland - Minnesota - Season is over.
Aaron Hohlbein - Fort Lauderdale - Season is over.
Abe Thompson - Fort Lauderdale - Season is over.

USL
Stephen Armstrong - Charleston - Out of season.
Edson Elcock - Richmond - Out of season.
Tom Gray - Pittsburgh - Out of season.
Neal Kitson - Rochester - Out of season.
Akeem Priestley - LA - Out of season.
Yomby William - Richmond - Out of season.
John Wilson - Charleston - Out of season.

PDL
Byron Carmichael - Ocean City - Out of season.
Sergei Raad - FC Jax Destroyers - Out of season.

NPSL
Nelson Pizarro - San Diego Flash - Out of season.

Indoor
Jamar Beasley - Wichita Wings - Scored 2 goals in the Wings 18-16 win over Milwaukee. Had a goal and an assist in the Wings 9-6 loss to Milwaukee.
Nick Garcia - Kansas Magic - Did not play in the Magic's 6-5 win over Cinncinati.
Pat Healey - Baltimore Blast - Scored a goal in Baltimore's 18-2 win over Norfolk.
JT Murray - Louisville Lightning - Did not play in Louisville's 7-4 win over Illinois. Did not play in Louisville's 9-7 win over Ohio.
Boris Pardo - Comets - Did not play in the Comets 14-6 win over Norfolk. Did not play in the Comets 33-12 win over Syracuse.
Yomby William - Norfolk SharX - Played in Norfolk's 18-2 loss to Baltimore. Played in the Sharx 14-6 loss to the Comets.
Paul Wright - Anaheim Bolts - Did not have a game this week.

International
Vicente Arze - Diosgyor - Hungary - On winter break
Omar Bravo - Cruz Azul - Mexico - Started and played 76 minutes in Cruz Azul's 1-1 draw wiht Pachuca.
Sunil Chhetri - Mohun Bagan - India - Did not play in Bagan's 2-1 loss to Sporting Clube de Goa. Did not play in Bagan's 2-1 loss to Prayag United.
Eloy Colombano - Defensores de Cambaceres - Argentina - Next game 2-1.
Pablo Escobar - Deportivo Cali - Colombia - Did not play for Deportivo Cali.
Gary Glasgow - North East Stars - Trinidad - Did not play in North East Stars 1-1 draw with Defense Force.
Herculez Gomez - Santos Laguna - Mexico - Came off the bench and played 15 minutes in Santos' 1-0 win over Jaguares.
Zoltan Hercegfalvi - Honved - Hungary - On winter break.
Jermaine Hue - Harbour View - Jamaica - Scored a goal in Harbour View's 2-0 win over Sporting Central.
Jeferson - Bahia - Brazil - Lost 1-0 to Bahia De Feira. Defeated Juazeirense 2-0.
Will John - Vinogradar - Croatia - on winter break.
Igor Kostrov - FC Tiraspol - Moldova - on winter break.
Carlos Marinelli - Universidad San Martin - Peru - Season is over.
Yura Movsisyan - FC Krasnodar - Russia - On winter break.
Craig Rocastle - Thrasyvoulos Fylis FC - Greece - Started and played 90 minutes in Thrasyvoulos' 1-0 win over Vyzas. Started and played 90 minutes in Thrasyvoulos 1-0 loss to Veria.
Matt Taylor - SC Paderborn 07 - Germany - On winter break.
Diego Walsh - TOT SC - Thailand - Defeated Samut Songkhram 1-0.

Kris Boyd Linked with Move to KC

Silly season continues to go on around the world, and today Sporting KC was named in the silliness. Sky Sports is reporting that the "Kansas City Wizards" are interested in Scottish international striker, Kris Boyd. The 28 year old striker was most recently with Eskisehirsqor in Turkey, where he recently had his contract canceled. He's also recently played with Middlesbrough and Nottingham Forest. He was a prolific goal scorer for Rangers but since leaving the Glasgow club his scoring record has gone down.

Rumors on a Boyd move to the US started a week or two ago when he was linked with a move to the Houston Dynamo. The Dynamo apparently brought Boyd into town for 3 days. The two teams couldn't reach a deal though. In fact according in the news that Boyd would not being joining the Dynamo, the release said that Boyd "would not be plying his trade in MLS this season."

That comment would certainly seem to kill the Sky Sports rumor right there from the aspect that Boyd isn't going to play in MLS. To add to the quick killing of this rumor in my mind would be MLS' discovery process. Since Boyd has already been with the Dynamo, one would assume that the Dynamo have the discovery claim on Boyd. But I'm not sure how the discovery process changes with a designated player. If KC were though, that would fly in the face of Robb Heineman's tweet the other night, about the team not having a DP this window. Meaning KC would have to work out a deal with the Dynamo most likely to get Boyd's MLS rights. And I just totally don't see it happening. I just don't see Boyd as a move that KC would be making right now.

Zusi Goal Leads US Over Panama

The US "Camp Cupcake" roster closed out their camp down in Panama today with a 1-0 win thanks to a goal by Sporting KC midfielder, Graham Zusi. Like the game on Saturday against Venezuela, both Zusi and Teal Bunbury started for the United States, while CJ Sapong found himself starting on the bench. The US got a good start, as Zusi finished off a chance in the 8th minute to give the US a 1-0 lead. Zach Loyd played the ball into the box, where Bunbury had overrun the ball. The ball hit the back of Bunbury's heal and fell right into the path of Zusi who one timed his shot past the keeper and into the net for his first international goal.

After the goal it became somewhat of the Nick Rimando show as the US defense struggled for long periods of time in the first half and Rimando had to come up with some big saves to preserve the USA's 1-0 lead. The US did have 1 other great chance those as Jermaine Jones fired in a blast from long range that the Panamanian keeper had to just knock into the air. Chris Wondolowski closed in on the rebound but somehow the keeper recovered in time to knock the ball away before it crossed the line. But the first half man of the match was easily Rimando who came to the US' rescue numerous times.

Things got worse for the US in the second half as they tried to weather the Panama attack as Geoff Cameron received a red card for denying a goal scoring opportunity for Panama. The Panamanian went down a little easy, but welcome to CONCACAF refereeing Jurgen Klinsmann. In the second half it wasn't so much that Sean Johnson, who came on for Rimando, had to come up big, but Blais Perez missed some good chances for Panama to tie the game.

For the Sporting KC players, besides the goal, Zusi had a strong game and was one of the bright spots for the US, especially in the first half, he made way in the 66th minute for a more defensive minded player in Brad Evans. Bunbury in his second start struggled once again, especially with his first touch. He's been playing himself off the national team radar it would seem with this play. Bunbury made way for teammate Sapong in the 76th minute. Sapong once again didn't have much opportunity to do much, especially as a lone forward for a team down to 10 men. Sapong though did a decent job of trying to hold up the ball when he got the opportunity to, but his chances were hurt by the fact that the US was playing with 10 men. Those 3 will now return to KC, but according to Peter Vermes earlier today, those 3 will not be at training until the team leaves for Arizona.

Record Setting Night as Comets Rout Silver Knights

It was a big night for the Missouri Comets as they set multiple records at the Independence Events Center in their 33-12 rout over the Syracuse Silver Knights. They set a team record for the largest margin of victory since the teams rebirth, with 21. They tied a league record with 3 players recording a hattrick (Byron Alvarez, Geison, and Vahid Assadpour). They set a record for the most points this season so far, the largest margin of victory this season, and with the Knights 12 points the teams set a record for the most combined points this season.

The Comets got the night started off on the right foot as Leo Gibson collected a rebound from a shot by Ryan Junge and fired a 3 pointer into the far corner that Eric Reed in the Knights net didn't see until very late. The 3 point goal put the Comets up less than a minute into the game. Just after 5 minutes into the game, the Knights got as close as they were ever going to get the rest of the night when Daniel Stevens turned in a shot past Danny Waltman to make it 3-2. From there the first quarter was all down hill for the Knights. The Comets controlled the game after the goal, but struggled to find a shot to really test Reed in net. About the midway point in the quarter the Comets restored their 3 point lead though. John Sosa fed Assadpour down the left hand side, his first shot was saved by Reed, the second shot Assadpour fired off Reed and the ball rolled into the net. Assadpour was given the credit for the goal though and the Comets were up 5-2.

Things got worse for the visitors about 20 seconds later, as Waltman collected a shot by the Knights and played a quick outlet to Bato Radoncic, who had gotten in behind the Knights defense. One v one with the goalkeeper, Radoncic fired his shot low into the corner to make it 7-2. A minute and a half later things continued to go worse for the Knights. Tiguinho got his first assist of the night as his shot was spilled by Reed right into the path of Alvarez who just had to tap the ball over the line to increase the Comets lead to 9-2. They still weren't done in the first quarter though as Tiguinho got on the board, although once again likely an own goal, as Tiguinho beat his man down the side and fired a shot off the wall that hit a Knight's defender and went into the net to make it 11-2 with less than a minute left in the first quarter.

The second quarter started much the same way the first ended, with the Comets controlling possession, and under 2 minutes into the quarter it was 13-2. Tiguinho played another ball into the box and it looked as if it was another own goal, but in the end Geison ended up getting the last touch, putting the ball away. The Knights got themselves back on the board just under 5 minutes into the quarter as the Knights finally got some good passing and Cory Elenio found Alex Megson at the back post unmarked for a tap in to make the lead 9.

The Knights continued to push to get back into the game and looked to have a good opportunity as Brian Harris went to the box just past the half way point in the quarter for holding. In the end though the power play back fired on the Knights. The Comets killed the penalty and right out of the box, Harris was fed by Assadpour. Reed came well off his line, but Harris did well to round the keeper and then walked the ball into the net to make it 15-4. Before the half ended, the Knights once again cut into the lead, as Elenio fed Andriy Budnyy on a 2v1 break and Budnyy beat Waltman. Still the Knights struggled to get back into the game, and even another penalty for too many men on the field for the Comets, the Knights struggled on the power play.

The Comets didn't take their foot off the pedal in the second half either. Just over 6 minutes into the half, Tiguinho led a 3v3 break as the Comets countered. Tiguinho danced around his man and then fed the ball to Assadpour. Assadpour's initial shot was saved but once again Reed didn't hold the shot and Assadpour buried the rebound. And immediately after that goal to make it 17-6, the Comets were right back down the field and Radoncic fed Geison for his second of the game to make it 19-6 as the Comets continued to punish the Knights on the counter.

At this point you really started to almost feel sorry for the Knights. And if the next goal for the Comets just made it worse. Harris started the play with a shot from 3 point range that hit Megson in the groin area. With Megson hobbled, Harris was able to collect the rebound, cut past him and feed Alvarez who buried his shot to make it 21-6. Two minutes after Alvarez's second goal, Alvarez finished off his hattrick, and as was the theme all night it came as the Comets got in behind the Knights defense. Alvarez was played behind by Gibson. Alvarez, 1v1 with the keeper made no mistake making it 23-6. The Knights thought they salvaged a little bit of pride when Nelson Santana found net to make it 23-8, but before the 3rd quarter ended, the Comets got 1 more goal, again on the counter as Tiguinho led a 3v1 break. Tiguinho fed Geison who slotted the ball past Reed to complete his hattrick.

In the fourth quarter the Comets seemed content to sit back and continue to hit on the counter as they had started to do in the 3rd quarter. Just over a minute into the quarter, Stevens got his second goal of the game making it 23-10. A little over a minute after that goal though, the Comets had restored their lead off a restart. Tiguinho fed Geison who finished his 4th goal of the game to make it 27-10. Before 6 minutes were gone in the fourth, Assadpour completed his hattrick off an assist from Radoncic. As the Comets continued to sit back, the Knights were their own worst enemies as they missed 3 or 4 chances that should have been put away, but I think the mental factor of being down that much had thrown the Knights off their game as they just couldn't find the net. Before the quarter timeout, the Comets hit the 30 point mark, as Tiguinho beat Reed again to make it 31-10. The Comets had one more goal in them just past the 8 minute mark in the quarter as Harris bundled home his second of the night off a pass from Alvarez. The Knights continued to struggle to finish good chances, one of those actually led to their final goal as a miss on a wide open net by Megson had the ball fall to Elenio who headed in from a tight angle to give the final score of 33-12.

For those that don't want to track all there, here are the Comets stats from tonight.
Tiguinho - 2 goals 5 assists (9 points)
Geison - 4 goals (8 points)
Vahid Assadpour - 3 goals 1 assist (7 points)
Byron Alvarez - 3 goals 1 assist (7 points)
Brian Harris - 2 goals 1 assist (5 points)
Bato Radoncic - 1 goal 3 assists (5 points)
Leo Gibson - 1 goal (3 pointer) 1 assist (4 points)
Ryan Junge - 1 assist (1 point)
John Sosa - 1 assist (1 point)
Danny Waltman - 1 assist (1 point)

Comets vs Silver Knights PBP

Here's tonight's play by play for the Comets and Silver Knights game. Fair warning, I may mention tonight's US-Panama game for a moment or two as well.

No DP Likely This Window

Late last night, once again Robb Heineman brought us news via Twitter. This time pertaining to the potential designated player that KC was looking to sign. And that news doesn't appear to be good news. Heineman says that "unless something dramatic happens in the next two days, we will not be announcing a DP in this window."

It all seems pretty cut and dry right there, KC's plans for bringing in a DP seem to have fallen through. It's not incredibly surprising based on an earlier tweet where Heineman was commiserating an injury in Spain. The assumption is that the injury was to the Spanish DP that KC had on their radar and were looking to sign.

It's certainly a blow to fans, who had been anticipating this big move for much of the offseason, but unfortunately now KC has to go in another direction. I'm sure that Peter Vermes had plans to build the team in place that did not include the DP, but it's still a blow to the team, because it's fairly hard to replace a DP level talent. But then again there are no guarantees that the DP would have fit into the league, that he would produce on the level you expect from a designated player. It's still a blow though to the team's development of the roster heading into this season. The roster though right now looks pretty good as a whole, one or two depth moves right now and the team should be in good shape. And if things don't turn out well, KC could still be working towards a summer transfer window move.

Preseason Trialists

Sporting KC released the names today of their currently trialists that are in camp as the team prepares for preseason training out at the Chiefs indoor training facility. There looks to be some decent talent out there trialing right now, it'll be interesting to see who, if any, travel to Arizona, and which ones potentially make the team.

Here are the trialists.

Irving Garcia an attacking midfielder/right winger who is also a former draft pick by the New York Red Bulls in 2010. He appeared in 4 Open Cup games for the Red Bulls in the 2010 season before being waived. Since that time he's played with FC Tucson and Antigua GFC out of Guatemala.

Matt Kuhn. The DC United 4th round supplemental draft pick had been released before DC headed down to Florida. I hope in KC that my brother gets a better shake of things under Peter Vermes than he appeared to get from Ben Olsen and United. Kuhn spent time in college playing different positions in the midfielder as well as a forward when at Drake. He's also a former Junior's player, bringing the total in camp up to 4 with Kevin Ellis, Jon Kempin, and Kyle Miller.

Myron Samuel. The St. Vincent and the Grenadines international is only 19 years old and has already appeared 18 times for his country. He was found at Sporting KC's Caribbean combine last year. The forward's current club is based out of his home country, playing for Avenues United.

Cyrus Saydee. The former Michigan State midfielder is only 19, but has already finished his college eligibility. He was a first team all Big Ten honoree this past year. He is on the short side though, standing only 5'6", and that's without taking into any exaggeration.

Steve Spangler. The Oregon State grad is the only goalkeeper among the trialists. He's got decent size at 6'3", but his problem is that KC already seems set at goalkeeper with Jimmy Nielsen, Eric Kronberg, and Jon Kempin. So it would seem the odds of Spangler making the roster are probably slim.

Kevin Struck. Another recent college grad, this time from Lehigh University. Struck is a center back who was named the Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year in 2010 and 2011. While the Patriot League isn't the greatest conference in college soccer, that's still a feat to win it two years in a row.

Those trialists are currently training in a separate session from the veterans, and I'm sure there are a few other trialists the team hasn't mentioned, including the infamous Trialist 1.

LIVESTRONG Missing Out on All Star Game

Rumors are running around tonight that LIVESTRONG Sporting Park will not be hosting MLS' all star game this year. Word out of Philadelphia is that the Union will be hosting the All Star game, at PPL Park. The game should be confirmed tomorrow in a press conference that Don Garber will be attending. It would be disappointing for the game not to be at LIVESTRONG, but sooner than later KC is going to be hosting the event.

US Top Venezuela

Last night in Arizona, the US national team topped Venezuela in the first of two friendlies for the camp cupcake roster, 1-0 thanks to a late goal by Ricardo Clark. Sporting KC forward Teal Bunbury and midfielder Graham Zusi both started for the US, while forward, CJ Sapong came on as a second half sub, replacing Zusi.

Neither Bunbury or Zusi had spectacular performances, both had some difficulties at times, and both seemed to fade late in their shifts. Sapong brought a big body to assist on set pieces, and helped to pull 3 defenders with him on the corner kick that lead to Clark's goal.

Bunbury had a few chances, the best a turn and shot from about 22 yards out that was over the bar. He did a decent job of running at defenders and creating some opportunities, but the finishing shot wasn't there for Bunbury.

Zusi set up the best chance of the first half on a free kick, playing a ball right onto the head of Brek Shea who forced the keeper into a good save. In the second half he had a good chance himself, collecting a poor clearance, he drove in on goal, but his shot was wide of the net, not forcing the save. Zusi's biggest issue last night may have had more to do with his being played out of position. While Zusi spent a little time on the wing for KC last season, he really excelled when he was in the middle of the field. Last night Zusi was a little lost at times on the wing. He was almost invisible when he moved to the left wing for part of the first half.

Sapong had a strong short shift. He did exactly what I think everyone expected. He provided a strong body that would play back to goal, knock the ball down, and throw himself into defenders. He did that well throughout his shift.

For Bunbury it was his 3rd cap for the US, while Zusi and Sapong earned their first. Zusi and Sapong are the 30th and 31st players to be capped by their national team while a member of Sporting KC.

Bato Two Goals Lead Comets By Norfolk

The Comets new signing Bato Radoncic made an immediate impact for the Comets in his first game, as he scored two goals as the Comets continued their push towards a playoff spot with a 14-6 win.

Bato got his Comets career started fairly quickly, as he scored just over 4 minutes into the game to give Missouri the early lead. Tennant McVea would tie the game with under 4 minutes to go in the quarter. But with 21 seconds left, Geison was able to put the Comets back on top with another 2 point goal.

In the second quarter, the Comets continued to pressure the Sharx, but were only able to add 1 goal to their lead as Ryan Junge fired in a shot off a restart from Byron Alvarez.

The Sharx came out firing in the 3rd quarter, and pulled within a goal only 44 seconds into the second half on a goal by Gary Brooks. Around the midpoint of the quarter, the Comets restored their 2 goal lead again off a restart as Vahid Assadpour found Tiguinho who fired his shot home to make it 8-4. Once again though, the Comets fell asleep after a goal, and less than a minute later it was again a 1 goal game as Matt Clare scored for Norfolk.

In the fourth quarter though the Comets put the game away. Bato scored a goal just over 3 minutes in to restore the 2 goal lead. Throughout the quarter the Sharx tried to find a way back into the game, but were unable to break down the Comets defense. With just over a minute left, the Comets basically ended the game as Geison scored his second of the game. Things didn't end there though, as Brian Harris got on the scoring sheet as well as the Comets won the ball off the ensuing kick off and Harris finished his opportunity.

The win puts the Comets at 10-8, 2 and a half games again of Wichita, who lost last night at home to Milwaukee 9-6.

New Byline To Back Post

Another episode of From the Byline to the Back Post is available for your listening. This week Thad and I discussed the supplemental draft, more player movement, the US national team, and the Missouri Comets. Enjoy on both Posterous and iTunes.