KC Comets vs St. Louis Ambush: Preview and Predictions

MASL Regular Season- Matchday 7

Kansas City Comets vs St. Louis Ambush

When: Friday, Feb. 12, 7:00 p.m. CST

Where: Cable Dahmer Arena, Independence, Missouri

Tickets: Ticketmaster

How to Watch: MASL Featured Match

The Kansas City Comets are looking for their second straight win on Friday as they host the St. Louis Ambush.

KC enters the matchup currently in sixth place with a 2-4 record. The Comets are coming off a week off, previously beating the San Diego Sockers to get a much-needed win with eight players out.

The Comets got off to a good start with a win against the Dallas Sidekicks. After that, KC dropped four straight, including three games where they surrendered a three-goal lead, before their win over the Sockers two weeks ago.

Player-coach Leo Gibson is tied with rookie midfielder Lucas Sousa for a team-leading eight points. Forwards Adam James and Rian Marques lead KC with five goals.

The Comets are looking to push their way back towards the top of the table, and have a good chance of doing so in the month of February. KC has three very winnable games this month, one against St. Louis and two against Dallas, all at home.

The Comets have a 20-9 record against the Ambush, including a 10-4 record at home. The Comets have also won their last three home meetings with the Ambush, although the Ambush beat the Comets in their only meeting this year in St. Louis.

The best thing that the Comets can do to get a win is to stay out of the penalty box. KC has struggled with this in recent years, and untimely penalties have resulted in their downfall several times this season. Matt Lewis, John Sosa, and Ramone Palmer are in the top four for most penalty minutes in the MASL. Just like last game, if KC can play smarter and take their chances, they should win.

St. Louis Ambush

Under the management of head coach Hewerton Moreira, the Ambush sit in fourth place with a 4-5 record. The Ambush opened the season with a pair of losses in Florida before grabbing three straight wins over Dallas, KC and Tacoma. Since, the Ambush have dropped three of their last four, however, they did manage to give the Florida Tropics their only loss this season.

St. Louis enters Friday’s matchup following a pair of losses against the Ontario Fury. The Ambush had it rough last weekend, as they were without a total of 12 players due to injury, illness, or quarantine. The Ambush medical staff is evaluating them and is hopeful that several of them will be cleared for Friday’s contest.

Among those injured was 2019/20 MASL Rookie of the Year, Duduca Carvalho, who will be out for the rest of the season with a torn achilles tendon after recording three goals and five assists in six games this season. Ado Jahic and Pepe Junqeira also missed out last weekend, but could return for Friday. Among those in quarantine was goalkeeper Paulo Nascimento, who was replaced by ex-Comet Brett Petricek.

The Ambush are led by forward Max Ferdinand with nine points from two goals and seven assists. Vadim Cojocov and Tony Walls have also been key players for the Ambush, combining for 14 points this season.

Lastly, the Ambush added Jerjer Gibson and William Eskay on loan from the Harrisburg Heat. Gibson has proven to be a solid target forward throughout his indoor career with 60 goals and 40 assists in 112 games, which includes 30 appearances for the Ambush from 2017-2019. Eskay, a defender, has made 43 appearances in two seasons with the Heat and scored 24 goals and recorded eight assists.

Jersey Auction

Friday’s matchup will be the first Comets jersey auction this season with the annual pink game. Jerseys will be auctioned off through Live Source to benefit The Ali Kemp Educational Foundation. The auction is set to end Friday at 11:59 PM CST.

Final Prediction

Now that both teams are on the back half of their mandatory 12-game schedule, they may start to keep an eye on adding games to get their winning percentage up for the postseason, which still has yet to announce a format. The Ambush are looking to make their first postseason in franchise history while the Comets are looking to return to the postseason after not qualifying in two of the past three seasons.

KC should be as close to full-strength as we’ve seen all season. St. Louis could still have their players in the protocol. All this in addition to KC playing at home, KC should have the edge. I’m going to predict an 8-6 win for the Comets.