KC Comets Start Season With A Statement And Two Wins

The Kansas City Comets started the 2025-26 MASL season with a pair of matches against their cross-state rivals, the St. Louis Ambush. The first match of the doubleheader weekend and first of the I-70 Series took place on Black Friday. From the game’s first whistle, the Comets came out with the furious nature of a team with vengeance, ambition, and eagerness to establish dominance against the Ambush.

After less than two minutes into the first quarter, L. Thetsane banged a low blistering wall pass from Z. Reget past St. Louis goalkeeper for the first tally of the match. The drama ensued with St Louis responding with a goal of their own, only to be ousted by the quick trigger of Comet’s goalkeeper, P. Ejimadu, as he connected with a long-throwing assist to streaking C. Anderaos for his first goal of the 2026 campaign. Following a deliberate foul on J. Thomas, just outside Kansas City’s penalty area, St. Louis capitalized with their free kick to tie the score at 2-2.

As the 2nd quarter ensued, Comet’s midfielder, L. Acosta, was flagged for an unsportsmanlike conduct foul (elbow above the shoulder), ending his night early with a no-contest sendoff by the referees. This rallied the Comets squad into high-pressure defense, providing J. Garza with his first goal of the season. His bulldog-like effort proved contagious throughout the Comets squad, uplifting them to take the lead, in which they would never return back to the Ambush (1:21 Q2). Seconds before the halftime whistle, the Comets pressure sent a fury of turnovers in their favor. The result sent an assisted wall pass from L. Sousa towards a darting C. Anderaos, for his second goal of the match and season.

Following halftime, Comet defenders C. Vandegriffe, G. Pino and L. Thetsane provided massive goal-line blocks, as the Comets defense improved immensely, fending off multiple Ambush pursuits. Yet, as the match developed, their hunger was too much for Z. Reget, who notched a memorable goal of his own, with the low turf burner into the low righthand corner past outstretched Ambush goalkeeper.

The Ambush midfield pestered the Comets throughout the match, sending a ricocheted pass to Araujo and the following shot past the Comet’s defense, giving them hope for a potential comeback. However, as the fouls added up for both teams, the Comets were rewarded with a dribble-up free kick from the yellow line. Nascimento initially made the save against Dom Francis, but the call was challenged by Comet’s coaching staff and was overturned. He blocked the shot but it was a handball that occurred outside of the box during the penalty. With the Ambush hosting two players inside the penalty box, Francis emphatically sent his penalty from the spot screaming into the upper left corner past second-string St. Louis goalkeeper, T. Gomez, netting the first goal of his Kansas City return.

Sending a statement to their cross-state rivals, the MASL and nation, the Comets topped off their debut with one last high-pressured goal in the final minute of play, as H. Ramirez picked off the ball for a slotted tap in by Z. Reget to seal the victory for Kansas City.

Final score Kansas City 7 – St. Louis 3.

The second game of the doubleheader was back in Kansas City.

Throughout the first minutes of the match, both sides played respectful defense, possessing their attacks for the proper time to strike forward. As the saying goes, ‘defense wins championships,’ and this is the mentality Comet fans are eager to see develop, as their squad holds quite the depth and caliber of rostered rookies, veterans and champions.

Taking nearly the entirety of the first quarter, the Comets netted another highlight reel worthy banger past P. Nascimento, as Z. Reget took his wallascora volley screaming past the outstretched goalkeeper to establish the lead from the full-field pass of G. Pino. Heads up play to kickstart a relentless home opening scoring frenzy by the Comets (2:01 Q1).

Shortly into the second quarter and following the high-pressured defensive efforts, L. Sousa sent a cheeky pass for an upper netted strike by R. Marques (13:19 Q2). This was followed up by another intuitive Marques development with his pass across the box for Z. Reget’s second tally of the evening, deflecting his shot through the recovering St. Louis defense (4:43 Q2).

Engagement following the second half of play ensued with the flashy wits of St. Louis’ D. Torrealba, as he picked off the Comet’s defensive third to establish their first goal of the competition (9:56 Q3).

The Comets were more than hungry for goals in their home opener, with another striking effort by C. Anderaos to lift the team and energy of both fans and spectators. Assist came from H. Ramirez, who’s vision eluded defenders into the brilliant finish by the Comet forward, notching his third goal of the season (9:24 Q3).

Following the third quarter media timeout, an unfortunate, yet deliberate, handball by G. Pino occurred in order to save the potential goal, resulting in his blue card and scored penalty by St. Louis forward D. Carvalho (7:15 Q3). As the quarter nearly concluded, the bouncing ball landed in the midst of Comet defender, N. Durdle, for his first goal of the season, finishing with power and blasting the shot past an unprepared Ambush defense (0:09 Q3).

Following the intermission, St. Louis seemed to present their case in response, as the poorly cleared Comet rebound was tapped into the home goal by D. Torrealba, for his second tally of the match (14:31 Q4).

The hometown team wasn’t finished making their statement known to the visiting Ambush. R. Marques eluded two stumbling defenders, then received the one-time pass back from H. Ramirez for his second goal of the season on a first-time finish into the low corner (10:47 Q4).

As the match came closer to the final whistle, L. Sousa found an intricate pass forward behind an exposed Ambush defense, as C. Anderaos capitalized for his second breakout goal of the game, and fourth of the season (6:38 Q4).

The Comets finished their evening with one final breakaway, with the hustling L. Thetsane sending his pass inside for the crafty D. Stankovic finish with his heel for the victory sealing knockout punch. This was Stankovic’s first goal as a Comet, following his transition from the former Texas Outlaws.

Thank you to the supportive fans, broadcasters, CBS Golazo, 38 The Spot and staff of both organizations for providing coverage of this weekend’s “Hot Winter Nights.”

Final score Kansas City 8 – St. Louis 3.