Comets fall in overtime after completing improbable comeback in Milwaukee

The Kansas City Comets (5-4-4) trailed by as much as four goals but completed an improbable comeback before falling by a final score of 9-8 to the Milwaukee Wave (7-2-1) at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena on Sunday afternoon.

The 17-goal thriller featured three hat tricks as Rian Marques scored four goals while Ray Lee and Milwaukee’s Ian Bennett each tallied three.

The Comets opened the scoring midway through the first quarter with some trickery from a top-of-the-arc restart. With John Sosa standing over the ball, Lucas Sousa came dashing through to give a short pass to Lee, who fired a left-footed shot past the keeper.

Milwaukee responded 19 seconds later when Derek Huffman’s scuffed shot bounced into the back of the net, assisted by Andrew Wiedabach.

Lee scored his second of the contest 11:41 into the game, taking advantage of another deceptive restart routine where he scored directly from the restart as he found a hole through Milwaukee’s broken wall.

Milaukee’s Alex Sanchez leveled the score 2-2, smashing a shot in after his original effort was blocked just before the first quarter concluded.

After a blue card to Benji Monreal, the Wave took advantage as Bennett scored the power play goal early in the second quarter. The Wave kept rolling as Qudus Lawal and Huffman added tallies to make it 5-2.

Bennett made it four goals unanswered for the Wave and a 6-2 scoreline favoring the hosts when his shot snuck in 11 seconds into a power play.

It took the Comets just 47 seconds into the third quarter to make it 6-4 as Rian Marques scored twice to give the visitors some life early in the second half.

The Wave went up 7-4 when Bennett and Huffman combined 6:03 into the third, giving Bennett a hat trick.

Marques completed his third-quarter hat trick when his shot from the right corner was deflected in. The Comets got within one Nacho Flores had a calm finish to the far post to beat the onrushing goalkeeper, assisted by Lee.

After trailing by four entering the third period, the Comets completed the comeback before the quarter’s conclusion when Lee secured his hat trick with a tidy finish to the far post to make it 7-7.

With the Comets in possession, Milwaukee’s Lawal applied heavy pressure and was rewarded with a goal as he deflected a pass near midfield into the empty net to give the Wave an 8-7 lead midway through the fourth quarter.

With Leo Gibson in as the sixth attacker, the Comets found the equalizer with 1:35 remaining in the contest when Marques poked in Lee’s pass off the glass for the Brazilian target forward’s fourth goal of the contest to make it 8-8.

After taking the game to overtime, Milwaukee quickly transitioned after winning the ball as Bennett found Mario Alvarez, who sent a right-footed blast into the net as the Wave escaped with a 9-8 overtime win.

The Comets return home with a valuable point by getting the game to overtime, but Milwaukee took the extra point with the overtime victory to even the season series 2-2.

The Comets are back home on Saturday, February 4 when they take on the St. Louis Ambush. Tickets are available at www.kccomets.com/tickets.

SCORING SUMMARY

1st – KC Lee (Sousa) 8:03; MKE Huffman (Wiedabach); KC Lee 11:41; Sanchez 14:52. Penalties — None.

2nd – MKE Bennett (Huffman) 3:14 pp; MKE Lawal (Sanchez) 3:38; Huffman (Wiedabach) 4:46; Bennett (Alvarez) 9:32. Penalties — KC Monreal (bc- tripping) 2:14; KC Schmermund (bc- tripping) 9:21; MKE Huffman (bc-Contact above the shoulder/elbow) 13:09; KC Sosa (bc-Contact above the shoulder/elbow ) 13:09.

3rd – KC Marques (Anderaos) 0:20; KC Marques (Sousa) 0:47; MKE Bennett (Huffman) 6:03; KC Marques 13:18; KC Flores (Lee) 13:51; KC Lee (Thetsane) 14:34. Penalties — None.

4th – MKE Lawal 7:28; KC Marques (Lee) 13:25. Penalties — None.

OT — MKE Alvarez (Bennett). Penalties — None.

Power Play – Comets 0/1, Milwaukee 2/3

Penalty Minutes – Comets 6, Milwaukee 2

Fouls — Comets 22, Milwaukee 12

Shots – Comets 22, Milwaukee 28

Attendance – 2,490