Kansas City beats Steamers, 4-3, in overtime
January 24, 2004 - Major Indoor Soccer League 2 (MISL 2)
St. Louis Steamers News Release
(St. Louis, Jan. 24, 2004) Anthony Maher redirected a pass from Franck M'Bemba into the net at 1 minute, 57 seconds of overtime to give the Kansas City Comets a 4-3 victory over the St. Louis Steamers Saturday night in an MISL Central Division showdown before 4,186 fans at The Family Arena.
St. Louis backup goalkeeper Nando Hernandez played a stellar game in goal, but had little time to react on Maher's decisive overtime tally. Hernandez started in place of Steamers' No. 1 goalie Brett Phillips, who sat out the game after suffering a mild concussion in the Steamers Jan. 17 loss to Baltimore. The Comets (8-13) also were minus a key player: Dino Delevski, among the top goal-scorers in the league, sat out while serving the final game of a three-game suspension.
Jeff Davis, a St. Louis native, led the Comets offensively with a pair of goals. Kansas City goalkeeper Chris Damico was credited with the victory. The Steamers (5-13) got goals from veterans Daryl Doran, Mark Thomas, and Sipho Sibiya.
Davis gave Kansas City a 1-0 lead at 2:35 of the first quarter on a blast off a restart. The Steamers tied the game 1-1 at 7:50 of the first when a long clear-in by Doran was inadvertently headed by Comets forward Brian Soell back over the head of Damico. The Comets regained the lead at 11:16 of the second on a power play goal by Davis off a feed from Vlatko Andonovski.
Mark Thomas tied the game 2-2 at 14:31 of the second on a feed from Sterling Wescott. The goal was Thomas' sixth in seven games since being signed by the Steamers. St. Louis took a 3-2 lead at 3:19 of the third quarter on a beautiful passing sequence. Wescott began the play in the right corner on a restart, passed to Doran, who one-timed a pass to Steve Butcher, who in turn one-timed a pass to Sibiya on the left side of the goal. Sibiya flicked a shot over Damico to give the Steamers their only lead of the game.
Kansas City tied the game 3-3 at 5:51 of the third on another power play goal, this time by M'Bemba. Maher completed the scoring at 1:57 of overtime to give the Comets the dramatic victory.
The Steamers play back-to back road games Jan. 30 (at Cleveland) and Jan. 31 (at Milwaukee) before returning to The Family Arena Feb. 7 to host the San Diego Sockers in a 1:05 p.m. kickoff. Single-game tickets ranging from $7 to $15 are available for all Steamers home games by calling MetroTix at 314-534-1111, or by visiting metrotix.com. Single-game tickets also are available at The Family Arena box office.
Major Indoor Soccer League 2 Stories from January 24, 2004
- Kansas City beats Steamers, 4-3, in overtime - St. Louis Steamers
- David Ties Rookie Record in Overtime Win - Dallas Sidekicks
- Wave repels Force, 6-2, to complete weekend sweep of Cleveland - Milwaukee Wave
- KiXX fall to Monterrey 7-6 in overtime - Philadelphia KiXX
- Force drops final regular season meeting to Wave - Cleveland Force
- Sockers have Wright Stuff in Win - San Diego Sockers
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