The Kansas City Comets have dropped to second place in the Major Arena Soccer League standings after falling to two MASL Shield contenders last week.
With a chance to create some separation at the top of the table, the defeats instead forced the Comets to slip to second place after losing 10-6 on the road to the Milwaukee Wave on Feb. 10, followed by a 7-6 shootout loss against the San Diego Sockers on Feb. 14.
The weekend ended in disappointment against the Sockers after letting a three-goal lead slip away in the second half, though a dramatic equalizer with just two seconds left in regulation from Dom Francis did rescue a point for the Comets.
Coach Stefan Stokic saw his team show belief throughout the late effort, one of the four values he instills alongside family, hard work and respect.
“When you put those four values together, that’s very important to me,” Stokic said. “That last part, when it’s tough, we always believed. It’s just unfortunate the rest of it didn’t go our way.”
Even though the dramatic conclusion to regulation forced overtime and rescued a point, the Comets know the game should have been out of sight earlier. Stokic pointed to moments in the third quarter when there were chances to kill the game off, but missed opportunities allowed the Sockers to hang around.
That came back to haunt the Comets.
While disappointed to take just one point from six available, the week gave the Comets a measuring stick to how they match up head-to-head with the best in the league and the level they need to reach going forward. That measuring stick begins with defensive consistency, but they also know they need to convert more chances in the attack.
“One of the stats for us in the league is we are one of the teams that create the most shots, but we don’t put them in,” Stokic said. “In general, I think we need to still defend better and execute better offensively.”
The Comets have scored on less than 24% of shots this season, compared to San Diego scoring on nearly 27% of shots. Milwaukee has converted nearly 29%.
The Comets will hope to increase their scoring percentage on Retro Night this Sunday, Feb. 22, as they wear throwback jerseys from the 1989-90 season against Utica City FC. Tickets for Retro Night are available at kccomets.com/tickets.
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