Saturday, January 24, 2015

Comets Clinch Playoff Berth

The Missouri Comets clinched a playoff berth in the MASL playoffs last night with a 14-8 win over Saltillo Rancho Seco in Mexico. The game was the first of two this weekend in Mexico for the Comets as they look to clinch not only a playoff berth but the Central division title.

Unfortunately for Comets fans there was no stream of the game last night as Saltillo did not stream it through the MASL's Go Live Sports partner. According to the report, the Comets jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first five minutes with Leo Gibson scoring four of them and Robert Palmer getting the fifth. Near the midpoint of the quarter Max Touloute made it 6-0. Iran Rodriguez scored to make it 6-1 before Vahid Assadpour made it 7-1 with seconds left in the first.

The second quarter saw the opposite start of the first, Santillo scored three goals before the half way point of the half as Jesus Nava, Victor Baez, and Aaron Chavez all found the back of the net to make it 7-4. The Comets though ended the quarter on a high as Alain Matingou and Andre Braithwaite both scored to put the Comets lead at five heading into the half time break.

The third quarter stared exactly like the second with Santillo again scoring three quick goals from Rafael Medrano, Miguel Cedillo, and Jonathan Gutierrez to cut the Comets lead to just two at 9-7. The Comets though struck back again answering with three of their own over the final nine minutes of the quarter to restore their five goal lead as Bryan Perez, Assadpour, and John Sosa added to their goal tallies to end the quarter with the Comets ahead 12-7.

For a third straight quarter, Santillo scored again early with Manuel Valentin making it 12-8. The Comets though were able to kill the game off down the stretch and even added to their lead. First Josh Gardner scored on the power play to make it 13-8 Comets and then late on Gibson got his fifth goal of the game as the Comets were able to cruise to a 14-8 win.

One thing of note is that while the stats show that Danny Waltman played the entire game for the Comets in goal, that appears to be inaccurate and in fact, Waltman only played the first quarter, and Brian Harris was in goal for the final three quarters.

The Comets will take on the Monterrey Flash tomorrow in a match up of two teams with a combined one loss.

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