ADAM JAMES' HAT TRICK LEADS COMETS TO VICTORY

by Scott Levinson

DALLAS (December 12, 2020) – The Kansas City Comets (1-0) used a hat-trick from forward Adam James along with stellar team defense to run past the Dallas Sidekicks (0-1) by an 8-3 final Saturday night in the team’s Central Cup opening match. Henry Ramirez and Lucas Sousa each chipped in a pair of goals in the winning effort.  


For the first time since the 2019-20 season was cut short, the Comets took the field as a team and found their footing with the only goal of the first quarter when Nick McDonald found a wide-open Ramirez for the 1-0 lead with 3:59 remaining in the frame.


Lipe Andrade, who was responsible for all Sidekick goals on the evening, leveled the match with an unassisted marker with 4:48 to play in the second quarter. Kansas City keeper Mark Saxby notched a huge save during a flurry of Dallas activity in front of the goal to send the teams to the locker room tied 1-1.


Ramone Palmer shook off three Dallas defenders and beat Sidekicks keep Juan Gamboa to the left side just over seven minutes into the second half to give Kansas City the 2-1 advantage. James’ first of the match, this one from the top of the circle, gave the Comets a two-goal lead at 3-1 with 4:24 to play in the third.


Andrade’s second of three unassisted goals once again cut the Comets’ lead to one goal when he sprinted up the left side and fired one past Comets’ keeper Lou Misner with 3:46 on the clock. Ramone Palmer slid a pass to James on a two on one break for Kansas City to put the Comets back up by two at 4-2 in the third.


Less than a minute later, Kansas City’s Alvaro Beltran was shown a blue card for holding and it did not take long for Andrade to convert. He split two Comets defenders with a shot from just inside the offensive third for the power-play goal to make it 4-3 at the end of the third quarter.


The final 15 minutes of the match was all Kansas City. Defensively, they held Dallas to just one shot while scoring the final four goals of the night beginning with James’ third of the match, this one assisted by Kyle McLagan just over a minute into the quarter. Then Ramirez was credited with a goal when a pass off the boards deflected off a Dallas defender past Gamboa for an own goal. The Comets led 6-3 when Sousa knocked in back-to-back unassisted goals two minutes apart to reach the 8-3 final score with 2:15 left in the game.


The Comets will now head back to Cable Dahmer Arena for a match against the St. Louis Ambush, who lost to Wichita earlier today, on Saturday December 19. Tickets for that match are on sale now through Ticketmaster or by calling (888) 9-COMETS.




SCORING SUMMARY


1st – KC Ramirez (McDonald) 11:01. Penalties – none.

2nd – DAL Andrade 10:02. Penalties – KC yellow card (bench misconduct) 9:38.

3rd – KC Ramone Palmer 7:02; KC James 10:36; DAL Andrade 11:14; KC James (Ramone Palmer) 13:28; DAL Andrade 14:48 PP. Penalties – KC Beltran blue card (holding) 13:49.

4th – KC James (McLagan) 1:17; KC Ramirez 7:38; KC Sousa 10:45; KC Sousa 12:45. Penalties – DAL Quintana blue card (boarding) 14:08.


Shots – Kansas City – 5-2-9-4 (20); Dallas – 4-6-3-1 (14)