Comets renew rivalry with Blast

by Nathan Dunn

Kansas City Comets @ Baltimore Blast

Friday, March 3 — 6:35 p.m. CST

Where | SECU Arena - Towson, Maryland

Radio | SiriusXM FC channel 157

The Kansas City Comets (8-5-4) are headed east as they renew their rivalry with the Baltimore Blast (8-6-3) on Friday evening for the first time in nearly four years.

This rivalry was prevalent throughout the 2010s as both teams went at it in the postseason every year from 2013 through 2016. Baltimore beat the Comets in the 2013 MISL championship, but the Comets returned the favor the following year. In 2015, Baltimore ended the Comets’ dream season as the Comets saw their undefeated run come to an end in the playoffs.

Kansas City will be looking for their first-ever win at SECU Arena on the campus of Towson University. The Blast won the two previous meetings at the arena, hanging on in the most recent meeting for a 10-9 win in March 2019 after the Comets nearly came back from a five-goal deficit.

The Comets also lost 15-8 in 2018 at SECU Arena. Before then, the Blast played at Royal Farms Arena. A lot has transpired since these two sides last met nearly four years ago.

The Comets have rebuilt into a team with back-to-back semifinal appearances aspiring to get over the hump and win their first MASL championship.

Leo Gibson tallied six points from four goals and two assists in the team’s last visit to Baltimore. Leo the Legend could hit the 300-goal milestone on Friday, currently sitting with 298 career regular season goals for the Comets.

Gibson is helped offensively by Lucas Sousa, John Sosa and the newly acquired Zach Reget. Those four have tallied a minimum of 25 points each for a total of 107 points from 62 goals and 45 assists this season, including Reget’s contributions to Florida and Harrisburg.

The Comets are coming from an 8-4 win over Milwaukee last weekend, bringing them level with Baltimore on 26 points. James Togbah (concussion protocol) remains out for the Comets.

In the last Comets-Blast meeting, Baltimore were going for a fourth consecutive MASL championship but eventually relinquished the crown to the Milwaukee Wave. Since then longtime head coach Danny Kelly has parted ways, with David Bascome taking over.

In Bascome’s second season at the helm, Baltimore is looking for a deeper playoff run after losing to the Florida Tropics in the first round last year.

Veteran forward Lucas Roque is tied with Franck Tayou with a league-leading 40 points from 28 goals and 12 assists.

Veteran goalkeeper William Vanzela leads the league stopping 77% of shots. Baltimore leads the conference allowing 4.6 goals per game.

Baltimore is coming off back-to-back losses on the road against the Harrisburg Heat and Utica City FC. Across the two games, Baltimore’s offense was held to just five goals despite outshooting both opponents.

Baltimore will be without veteran defender Adriano Dos Santos (foot) and second-year forward Oswald Annang (knee).

The Blast will be glad to return home, where they have made use of their home-field advantage with just one loss in eight games. The Comets, with a 1-4-3 away record, will have a tough test Friday night.

The winner of Friday’s matchup takes third place until they meet again next Saturday, March 11, at Cable Dahmer Arena. Tickets for next week’s meeting are available at www.kccomets.com/tickets.