The Kansas City Comets welcomed more than 40 indoor soccer alumni to Cable Dahmer Arena on Sunday, Feb. 22, for the team’s annual Retro Night.
Fittingly, the current squad delivered a vintage result. Backed by four decades of Kansas City indoor royalty, the Comets rallied from an early deficit for a 6-5 win over Utica City FC to complete a season sweep.
The returning legends spanned generations. Charter-year standouts Gino Schiraldi, Zoran Savic and Kevin Handlan were in attendance, along with more recent stars Milan Ivanovic, Lucas Rodriguez, Byron Alvarez and all-time leading scorer Leo Gibson.
The celebration also reunited three championship coaches: Savic (1993), Jim Schwab (1997) and Vlatko Andonovski (2014). Andonovski has since gone on to coach the KC Current and is now the NWSL club’s sporting director.
“I go around shaking hands of players that have been in the league for a long time that are legends,” said Stefan Stokic, Comets head coach and a longtime player. “It’s awesome to have them around. Even the players feel their presence because it’s a little bit of extra pressure. It’s unbelievable to have all these legends in the arena and give me some ideas on how good or how bad I do.”
Stokic joined the quartet of Ivanovic, Rodriguez, Alvarez and Gibson in helping win the team’s most recent championship under Andonovski in 2014. They played alongside Ramone Palmer, the last active member of that team still playing for the Comets.
It is that community of predecessors that has set the stage for the current generation of stars. While Stokic has adapted as a coach through Andonovski’s mentorship, Nacho Flores is another example of success from the culture the team developed over the years.
“These guys taught me the indoor game,” Flores said. “They mean a lot to me because of all they taught me. They received me when I was a rookie, and they taught me everything I know.”
Flores, who has played more than 200 games across 10 years as a Comet, scored goal No. 95 of his career Sunday while wearing a revival of the 1989-90 Comets primary jersey. After going down 2-0 early, Flores’ strike started a 5-0 Comets run that boosted the Comets to a much-needed victory on home turf, though a fourth-quarter scare did show some fragility as Utica City got back within a score.
“We won, which is the most important thing in soccer,” Flores said. “It’s almost like we’re putting ourselves in trouble every single game. It’s our mistakes that are keeping teams in the game.”
The Comets didn’t play their best, but securing the victory in regulation thrust them into second place in a tight Major Arena Soccer League playoff race after dropping to third earlier in the week.
With a week off, they will reset for the final month of the regular season, which begins on the road against the Tacoma Stars on March 6 before returning home to face the San Diego Sockers on March 14.
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