January 1, 2014 - Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) Missouri Comets ROCHESTER, NY (January 1, 2014) - The Missouri Comets, Major Indoor Soccer League's scoring leaders, earned an exciting 19-17 victory over the Rochester Lancers on New Year's Day at Rochester's Blue Cross Arena. Vahid Assadpour led all scorers with three goals and two assists for eight points on the night. Rochester midfielder Gary Boughton had three goals of his own, including a three-point score in the second quarter, to lead the Lancers in a losing effort.

For the sixth time in seven games, the Comets opened the scoring for the game...and for the fourth time in seven games, Leo Gibson and Vahid Assadpour were involved in the score. As Gibson held the ball up in the corner, Assadpour ran past him and received a perfect heel pass which he easily converted for the score. The early lead wouldn't last as Rochester scored a three-point goal soon after. Lancers' defender Pedrinho crossed the ball from outside the arc to forward Mauricio Salles. Comets defender Robert Palmer dove to knock the ball away, but it deflected off his head and into the goal. Palmer redeemed himself late in the half with a three-point score of his own. He tracked down a rebound off the wall and hit a shot that found a clear lane into the goal.

In the second quarter Leo Gibson, John Sosa and Lucas Rodriguez scored for the Comets while Assadpour added his second score as Missouri outscored the Lancers 8-5 in the quarter. However, two goals in the half from Gary Boughton, a second score from Pedrinho and a three-point goal from Mauricio Salles kept the two sides even at 13 points each as they went into the halftime break.

For Rochester, they looked to keep up their high-scoring ways in the second half and opened up with two goals in the first three minutes of the third quarter. Boughton completed his hat trick less than a minute in and Bato opened up his Rochester account two minutes in.

Comets' veteran leaders Assadpour, Gibson and Harris calmed down their side at that point. Down 17-13, Missouri fought hard to maintain possession and look for scoring opportunities. Showing frustration, Lancers players Stephen Basso and Edgar Bartolomeu were sent to the penalty box within ten seconds of each other. The Comets only needed ten more seconds to convert the 5 on 3 advantage to get the Comets back to within a goal of the Lancers. Ramone Palmer found himself in the right place later in the third quarter and knocked home a rebound over Rochester goalkeeper, Gavin McInerny to tie the game at the break.

The Comets only scored once in the fourth quarter, but that was all they needed for the victory. Vahid Assadpour took the ball the length of the floor and put his shot between the legs of McInerny to complete his third hat trick of the season. The Comets then sought to control the ball the rest of the period, at one time holding possession for six straight minutes. Despite a mad rush to goal in the final seconds by the Lancers, the Comets held on for their fifth win of the season, 19-17.

The Comets have one more stop on this road trip, playing in Baltimore on Friday January 3rd at 6:35p.m. CT. The 2013 MISL Championship re-match against the Blast can be seen LIVE on the Comets website at CometsIndoorSoccer.com/Live-Feed. The team returns home on Sunday January 5th at 3:10p.m. CT for another match against the Rochester Lancers.

Discuss this story on the Major Indoor Soccer League message board... Digg this story Add to Del.icio.us

Follow this link:

Comets Kick off New Year with Exciting Win