Comets Weekly

Published on January 5, 2004 under Major Indoor Soccer League 2 (MISL 2)
Kansas City Comets News Release


Kansas City played three games last week and enter the week in second place in the Central Division. The club is tied with the St. Louis Steamers for second place, and both teams are six and a half games behind the division leader Milwaukee Wave. The Comets are 5-10 and play two games this weekend: Saturday, January 10 at home against Philadelphia and Sunday, January 11 at Cleveland.

Kansas City played Dallas in a thrilling overtime game on New Year's Eve at Kemper Arena. Kansas City trailed 7-4 after five minutes in the fourth quarter, but Comet Dino Delevski spurred a rally that produced four goals in the fourth quarter. Delevski scored twice in the fourth quarter, and Anthony Maher and Casey Barton also added goals for the Comets. Martin Nash scored for the Sidekicks at 12:50 in the fourth quarter to put the game into overtime. At 1:10 in overtime, David Doyle's goal gave Dallas a 9-8 overtime win.

For the first game of 2004, the Baltimore Blast traveled to Kemper Arena on January 2 to take on the Comets. Baltimore scored four goals in the game before Kansas City had a chance to answer. Kansas City's first goal came from Dino Delevski at 8:22 in the first quarter. DJ Horvath replaced Chris Damico at halftime after Damico suffered a muscle strain. Kansas City goals came from Dino Delevski (two), Anthony Maher, Jeff Davis, Nate Houser and Miodrag Djerisilo, but Kansas City could not catch up and lost 10-6. Kansas City outshot Baltimore 42-31.

The Comets traveled to Dallas on January 3 to play their third game in four days. The game remained close with a 2-2 tie after one quarter and a 3-3 tie at halftime. Dallas started to pull away in the third quarter with goals from David Doyle, Beau Brown and Nick Stavrou. Juan Cabeza added goals in the third and fourth quarter for the Comets, but Dallas won the game 7-5. The goals were Cabeza's first career goals in the MISL and his first goals of the season.

ODDS AND ENDS:

- Juan Cabeza scored his first game in his MISL career on Saturday, January 3. Cabeza finished with two goals in the game. Cabeza was signed to play for the Comets in November and has played in four games so far this season.

- Jeff Davis leads the team with 25 blocks and needs four more to catch Pat Morris, who is in fifth place in the MISL.

COMING UP FOR THE COMETS:

This week, the Comets play two weekend games. The Philadelphia game is at 7:35 p.m. on Saturday, January 10 at Kemper Arena. The Comets travel to Cleveland on Sunday, January 11 for a 2:05 p.m. (CST) game.

COMETS IN THE COMMUNITY:

Kansas City Comets players have three School Is A Kick (SIAK) assemblies this week. Two Comets players will visit Renner Elementary (Kansas City, MO) on January 6, Basehor-Linwood Middle School (Linwood, KS) on January 7 and William A. Knotts Elementary (Kansas City, MO) on January 8. SIAK gives Comets players a chance to talk to students about the importance of hard work, responsibility and respect. Each student also receives a voucher to attend an upcoming Comets home game.

GAME PREVIEWS:

The Comets take on the Philadelphia Kixx at 7:35 on Saturday, January 10 at Kemper Arena. Kansas City and Philadelphia have met twice this season, and each team won games on the road. Philadelphia is 9-5 so far this season and is in second place in the Eastern Division, one game behind the Baltimore Blast. The Comets won the first meeting 11-9 on November 15 in Philadelphia at Wachovia Spectrum. Philadelphia won the last meeting 13-8 on November 28 at Kemper Arena.

Players to watch: Goran Vasic is second in the MISL in scoring with 9 goals and 20 assists. Joel Shanker is also on the leaderboard with 19 points. Goalkeeper Peter Pappas is sixth in the league with a 4.94 goals against average.

The Comets travel to The Convo in Cleveland to take on the Force at 2:05 p.m. (CST). Cleveland is in third place in the Eastern Division with a 4-10 record. Cleveland and Kansas City have not met so far this year, but the teams played each other four times last year. The Comets won three out of four, including both games in Cleveland. Cleveland is 2-4 at home so far this season.

Players to watch: Lee Edgerton leads the Force with 17 points. Aduato Neto is second with 15. Goalkeeper Jim Larkin's goals against average is 5.08, which is sixth in the league.

COMETS BY THE NUMBERS:

Dino Delevski scored five goals and assisted on one other in three games last week. He had two goals against Dallas on December 31, two goals against Baltimore on January 2 and one goal and an assist in Dallas on January 3. Delevski is now tied for sixth place in the League with 26 points. He leads the league in goals (20) and in restart goals (five). Miki Djerisilo is only one point behind Delevski and is tied for ninth place in the MISL in points. He is also tied for third place in the league in assists with 14.

Kansas City's offense is second in the League at 6.5 goals per game. Defensively, the Comets rank ninth (8.7 goals per game).

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Major Indoor Soccer League 2 Stories from January 5, 2004


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