By Melissa Sarmiento Allen
EBC Florida Bureau
LAKELAND, Florida (Eagle News) – With the final weeks of the Major Arena Soccer League’s (MASL) regular season underway, the Kansas City Comets prevailed over the Florida Tropics, beating them 6-2 on their home turf at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland on Saturday. Just the night before, the Comets clinched a spot in the Ron Numan Cup playoffs with their close win over the Orlando Seawolves.
In their fourth face-off of the season, the Comets came out strong and owned the first half with four goals with not a peep from the Tropics.
Comets Head Coach Kim Roentved commended his team for their effort but lamented their struggles with leg fatigue from the previous night’s game.
“We played solid in the first half but I think in the second we were seeing the effects from yesterday,” said Roentved. “Yesterday was a tough game too and I’m just glad we pulled it off.”
In the first quarter, Comets forward Ramone Palmer and defender Ignacio Flores put in the first two goals of the night the span of fewer than two minutes. The third goal came courtesy of Comets defender John Sosa who also admitted that the team was battling leg fatigue.
“I’m thankful that I was able to score a goal for my team and that we were also able to fight through it and come out with the win,” Sosa said.
The Tropics had a resurgence in the third period with goals from midfielder Caio Ruiz and forward Guilherme Dos Santos but it was short-lived. The Comets defense kept the Tropics scoreless for the remainder of the game and the team sealed the win with two more goals, both from forward Anthony Grant in the last five minutes.
With the Tropics in last place in the South Central Division, Head Coach Clay Roberts voiced his frustrations with his team.
“This has kind of been a repeat song. We continue to do the same things early on in games where we find ourselves down and then we decide we can play and create opportunities but [with two games left in the season] it’s too late,” Roberts said. “This group is just not mentally in a place to jump that hurdle because it continues to be the same song.”
Although the Comets have been plagued by injuries throughout the season, Roentved’s overall assessment of his team’s performance was positive.
“We’re struggling with a few injuries but I’m not too unhappy and I’m relieved to have made it into the playoffs,” said Roentved. “That was certainly our goal to begin with.”
The Comets have made it into the playoffs eight times in the past nine seasons. On April 18th, they’ll face the first place team of the MASL’s South Central Division, the Milwaukee Wave. In the meantime, Coach Roentved wants to prioritize rest.
“We’re going to get our injured players healthy. That’s our biggest struggle right now and hopefully, with a couple of weeks of rest, we’ll be ready for the game,” Roentved said.
Comets midfielder Lucas Rodriguez, one of the team’s original players since the Comets’ establishment in 2010, knows all too well what challenges lie ahead.
“Milwaukee is a strong team and we’ve been rivals for a long time. They have good players, a good coach and a good system,” said Rodriguez. Despite having their work cut out for them, he remains optimistic about winning in the playoffs.
“Even though we lost some games this season we can still make things happen,” said Rodriguez. “I think they know us and they know that we can beat them. Our plan is to get prepared and show them that we can beat them.”
(Eagle News Service)
