Comets win Sunday

by Bill Althaus
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There were several new players in the Kansas City Comets lineup Sunday night, but a trio of familiar faces played a big role in the MASL team's 7-3 victory over the Harrisburg Heat at Cable Dahmer Arena.

All-star goaltender Nicolau Neto, who has battled a series of lower body injuries this week, picked up his first win as a starter, Ramone Palmer scored two goals and Rian Marques finished with five points on three goals and two assists as coach Stefan Stokic's team improved to 8-1-2.

"Personal stats mean nothing to me," said Marques, who leads the MASL with 30 points and 14 assists, "the only stat I pay attention to is winning, and we were able to win a couple of close games this past week and play more like we are capable of playing tonight.

"This was a big win. It was big to get Neto back in the net and it was big to get everyone involved. Stef made some changes, and they worked tonight. Now, we just have to get everyone healthy for the rest of the season."

Daniel Malhue, Erik Pereira, Eduardo Alejo, Joe Wainright and Leonel Palma all took their turns in offensive and defensive rotations, and Stokic was pleased with what he saw.

"We're missing so many key players to injuries like (Lucas) Sousa and Mikey (Lenis), (Zach) Reget is playing high-caliber soccer but it still deal with that high ankle sprain and it was good to get Neto back in the net," Stokic said. "I was not happy with our last performance.

"We should not need three goals in the final minutes to beat a team like Dallas. It's been addressed, and I liked what I saw from everyone tonight."

Palmer scored two of the first three goals Sunday night, and like his coach, was pleased with the team's performance.

"This was an awesome game, we came out strong and played consistent soccer most of the night," Palmer said. "We were coming off a tough game, but it was a tough game and we found a way to win. Tonight, we led from the start, had a lot of new faces on the field and won in front of our fans - which is always great."

After a scoreless first quarter, Palmer scored just 24 seconds into the second quarter, with Marquez adding two goals to make it a 3-0 game at the half.

Palmer scored his second at 4:41 of the third quarter before the Heat's Joey Tavernese scored off a restart to make it a 4-1 game.

Marques then picked up his hat trick to make it 5-1 before a late Heat goal cut Harrisburg's deficit to three heading into the final eight minutes of play.

Reget, who now affects from the ankle sprain, scored to make it 6-2. But the Heat weren't about to let up as Jack Shearer found the back of the net to make the score 6-3.

Captain Nacho Flores, who scored two goals in the last two minutes of the come-from-behind win at Dallas, wrapped up the Comets offense with a goal at 3:13.

"Neto's back, some new guys got some time on the field and we won a game we should have won," Flores said. "This is the type of soccer we need to play the remainder of the season."

After he was congratulated by his teammates, Neto said, "It's great to be back. I this this team and our fans and I can't tell you how great it was to get back in the net today."

Editor's note: Look for a feature story on Nicolau Neto and goalkeeper Phillip Ejimadu later this week in The Grain Valley News.
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Nicolau Neto stands ready in the goal. Photo credit: David Rainey

Rian Marques works the ball against the Heat defense. Photo credit: David Rainey