Comets add goalkeeper Brett Petricek

The Kansas City Comets announced the signing of goalkeeper Brett Petricek Thursday. It was the second signing this week for the Comets after re-signing James Togbah. Petricek previously played two seasons with the Cedar Rapids Rampage before coming to Kansas City.

It’s no secret, the Comets had some struggles last season, for a variety of reasons, but one of them was consistency at keeper. The Comets used four different players in goal and issues varied between quality of play, being able to get away from a second job and having to commute.

Signing Petricek fixes that issue and was the keeper that the Comets targeted for next season.

Comets head coach Kim Roentved knew that was a position he needed to strengthen along with the overall defense. “We are working on the back right now, that is the priority. You can’t win if you give up more goals than you score so that is for sure the priority.”

Roentved will continue working on the defense but seems to be happy with the keeper he signed. “Extremely excited about Brett signing,” Roentved told The Blue Testament. “Never mind the fact that he kicked our butt several times last year but not only in the games he played against us he looked like a very solid goalkeeper. He’s good with his feet and in the games that I saw he is a very all-around good, experienced goalkeeper. I am looking forward to him doing a good job for us in the back.”

The Comets like to move the ball round and build out of the back so being good with his feet is important, but he also has to be able to make saves as well. “He’s a very good shot stopper, we took a lot of shots at him and we did not have the best of luck,” Roentved added.

When asked to describe his style of play, Petricek replied,”I like to be engaged and involved in the attack as much as possible, especially in the indoor game on the smaller field with the high-intensity and speed of the game.”

“I would describe my style defensively as a mix between futsal and outdoor. I prefer to play ‘stand-up-ish’ and stay on my feet as long as possible during shots,” Petricek added.

Petricek does like to help in the attack. He had the third most assists last season with 5 despite only playing 9 games.

The new Kansas City keeper understands where the team was last year but is looking towards the future with the Comets. “I think the team was strong last year, just could not get it all synchronized but the record did not reflect the team over all.”

“Kim and I talked about building a strong defensive core,” Petricek continued. “Obviously with myself and four, five, six strong defenders who are able to play with the ball but also able to work hard defensively.”

Returning to his beginning

For Petricek, signing with Kansas City brings him back to his start in the Major Arena Soccer League (MASL). “The first game I played in the league was against Kansas City in Kansas City and I was very impressed with the whole feel of the environment I was in.I knew that once my contract was up I would always be interested in Kansas City, especially after walking around the city a bit and immersing myself, I just really liked the area. Just happy things worked out,” Petricek explained.

Thad Bell