Comets win twice but old friends Roentved and Andonovski steal the show

The Missouri Comets remain undefeated after two wins this last weekend.  A 10-5 victory at St. Louis and 11-4 win over Wichita closes out the last road games of the Comets regular season.

At the Ambush, the two teams slowly traded goals until the Comets started to pull away in the 2^nd quarter and the organization and fitness of the visitors from Kansas City took over and they dominated through the rest of the game.

In Wichita it could not have been more different. The Comets wanted a fast start and that is what they got. A goal at 1:00 minute, 1:42, 2;15 and 3:07 had the B-52's reeling before the home team could even get a rhythm going. It was 5-0 before the 7:00 minute mark and the Comets just settled into game management mode at that point.

"That was the plan, get a couple goals or so and then maintain the game," Comets head coach Vlatko Andonovski explained after the game.

Wichita head coach Kim Roentved knew they had a chance but also knew they could not make many mistakes. "They are a good team and we have to play our absolute best to give ourselves a chance to win and that just didn't happen today," Roentved acknowledged.

A pair of friends stole the show

Both the Comets and the B-52's had an extra player Sunday. Indoor soccer legend Kim Roentved suited up in the familiar orange for his Wichita team and Andonovski played for his Comets.

It had been over fifteen years for Roentved, what made him come out of retirement even for just one game?

"I've been asked so many times if I would play one more game. I thought it would be appropriate to do so against my dear friends with the Comets. It didn't turn out exactly the way I had planned it," Roentved laughed. "I had fun out there except we were down five nil after the first quarter. That's not the way I really drew it up. Maybe there were some interruption because of being out there and we lost a little bit of focus."

"It was incredible and to do it in Wichita where I started playing and to do it with Kim, my best friend is just a different, special feeling," Andonovski stated after the game. "It was fun of course. Obviously the pace was a little too fast for us but I managed to get on the field three times and not get hurt."

Did Vlatko have a goal for his playing time? "In my mind it was just that I had to get in and get out without a stretcher," Andonovski chuckled.

The Comets coach did end up on the score sheet also. Andonovski earned an assist when he received the ball outside of the box near the corner and played it through traffic to Comets captain Vahid Assadpour. "That was lucky, Vahid made me look good," Andonovski demurred.

Comets at Wichita photos

Even in a loss, Roentved can take pride

When Roentved looked across the field to the opposition Sunday, he saw so many familiar faces. He helped lay the foundation for the Comets, he signed many of the players and almost all of the key contributors were originally brought to the Comets when he was the head coach. Gibson, Assadpour, Sosa, Perez, Harris, Andrews, Waltman and Stokic. Many of the newer players that are finding their way into the team were also brought in by or at least trained with Roentved's Comets.