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MASL Regular Season- Matchdays 10 and 11
Kansas City Comets vs Tacoma Stars
Saturday, March 6, 6:05 p.m. CST
Kansas City Comets vs Ontario Fury
Sunday, March 7, 5:05 p.m. CST
Where: Cable Dahmer Arena, Independence, Missouri
Tickets: Ticketmaster
How to Watch: Single Game Pass
Currently the hottest team in the MASL with a four-game winning streak, the Kansas City Comets will face a couple of tough tests this weekend against the road warriors of the Tacoma Stars and Ontario Fury. The doubleheader will begin on Saturday when they host the Stars before the Fury come to town on Sunday.
The Comets enter the weekend with a 5-4 record and sit in third place with a .556 winning percentage. After a week off, Kansas City will have fresh legs after a two-game sweep of the Dallas Sidekicks a couple of weeks back.
Adam James and Rian Marques lead the Comets with 11 goals each, which has them in the top five of the league’s top scorers. Leo Gibson and Lucas Sousa have also combined for 21 points.
Matt Lewis still leads the MASL with 14 penalty minutes while John Sosa and Ramone Palmer round out the top five for most time spent in the box. Lewis and Palmer have each gone three games with spending time in the sin bin, and Sosa has gone five games without a penalty.
Alvaro Beltran is listed as out for the Comets with a right ankle sprain. Mirko Sandivari (left knee contusion) and Jose Ramos (left knee bone contusion) and both doubtful. Hector Solorio is questionable with a right quad strain and Dominic Francis is probable with a right radius fracture.
Tacoma Stars
The Comets have a record of 4-2 against the Stars since their first meeting in 2015. KC last beat the Stars last season by a score of 9-2, but the Stars pulled off a comeback to defeat the Comets in their most recent meeting earlier this season by a score of 6-5.
Tacoma enters Saturday’s matchup in sixth place with a 2-4 record and .333 winning percentage. After starting the season with a win over the Comets, the Stars have lost four of their last five.
The Stars are led by player-coach Nick Perera, who has registered five goals and five assists along with Michael Ramos. Jamael Cox and Vini Dantas have also combined for 10 points while veteran defender Pablo Da Silva has added four points.
In Tacoma’s win over Kansas City in January, Cory Keitz stole the show with two late goals, including the overtime winner. Since that game, Keitz has yet to record another goal or assist in four appearances.
The big dilemma facing the Stars is the goalkeeper. With two quality goalkeepers in Chris Toth and former Comet Danny Waltman, who will get the start? Toth started last time they were in KC, but Waltman came in for the second half and was phenomenal.
Ontario Fury
The Comets have a 1-1 record against the Ontario Fury. KC’s only win came in Ontario in January of 2017. The Fury cruised past the Comets last season for their only win in KC.
Under the management of head coach Jimmy Nordberg, the league-leading Fury enter this weekend with a 4-1 record and a .800 winning percentage. After opening the season with four straight wins, Ontario suffered their first defeat of the season against the Florida Tropics on February 21. Before Ontario comes to Kansas City on Sunday, they will open the weekend on Friday night against the St. Louis Ambush.
The Fury is led with an impressive lineup, including four-time MASL MVP Franck Tayou, who leads the MASL with 3.0 points per game. Assisting in the attack for Ontario are Maicon De Abreu and Juan Carlos Gonzalez, who sit second and third in point per game.
The Fury also added former Comet defender Robert Palmer, who has three goals and three assists in five games this season. Palmer is backed up by goalkeeper Claysson De Lima, who is second in the MASL with a 4.43 goals against average.
Final Predictions
Both games this weekend should be a good challenge for the Comets. Both KC and Tacoma will be freshly rested for Saturday’s matchup, but Ontario will have an extra day of rest before Sunday’s matchup.
For my final prediction, I think the Comets will beat the Stars on Saturday before falling to the Fury on Sunday. KC is capable of beating both teams, but it is going to be a tall task on back-to-back nights.