The 2014–15 Missouri Comets season was the fifth

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

of the

Missouri Comets The Kansas City Comets are an American professional indoor soccer team based in the Kansas City metropolitan area that competes in the Major Arena Soccer League (MASL). Originally called the Missouri Comets, the team joined the Major Indoor S ...

professional

indoor soccer Indoor soccer or arena soccer is a form of five-a-side football, five-a-side or six-a-side version of minifootball. It is derived from association football and adapted to be played in walled hardcourt indoor arenas. It differs from the FIFA, FIFA ...

club. The Comets, a Central Division team in the

Major Arena Soccer League The Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) is a professional indoor soccer league in North America. The MASL features teams playing coast-to-coast in the United States and Mexico. The league is the highest level of arena soccer in North America. The le ...

, played their home games in the Independence Events Center in

Independence, Missouri Independence is a city in and one of two county seats of Jackson County, Missouri, United States. It is a satellite city of Kansas City, Missouri, and is the largest suburb on the Missouri side of the Kansas City metropolitan area. In 2020 Unite ...

. The team was led by head coach

Vlatko Andonovski Vlatko Andonovski (; born 14 September 1976) is a Macedonian-American association football manager and former player who is the head coach and sporting director of the Kansas City Current of the National Women's Soccer League. He was the head c ...

. The Comets amassed a perfect 20–0 record in the regular season and earned a bye to the second round of the MASL playoffs. They defeated the

Milwaukee Wave The Milwaukee Wave are an American professional indoor soccer team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that competes in the Major Arena Soccer League (MASL). Founded in 1984, they have been the oldest continuously operating professional indoor footbal ...

to earn the Central Division title but lost to the

Baltimore Blast The Baltimore Blast are an American professional indoor soccer team based in Baltimore, Maryland, that competes in the Major Arena Soccer League (MASL). Including one championship victory as the original Baltimore Blast, the team has won 10 c ...

in the Eastern Conference Championship. Andonovski was honored as the MASL's Coach of the Year and forward Leo Gibson as the MASL's Most Valuable Player.

Season summary

The Comets entered the MASL as the final champion of the third incarnation of the MISL. They demonstrated the value of continuity by romping over the Dallas Sidekicks and PASL champion Chicago Mustangs to open the season. Indeed, the only close games the Comets played on their way to a 20-game undefeated season came against the

(who finished just two goals down at the Independence Events Center and took the Comets to a shootout at

UW–Milwaukee Panther Arena The UW–Milwaukee Panther Arena (originally the Milwaukee Arena and formerly MECCA Arena and U.S. Cellular Arena) is an indoor arena located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The arena, which seats as many as 12,700 people and offers of floor space, is ...

) and the

Monterrey Flash The Monterrey Flash, is a Mexican professional indoor soccer team based in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico. Founded in 2011 as part of the Liga Mexicana de Futbol Rapido Profesional (LMFRPro), the team made its debut in the Professional Arena Socc ...

(who took them to overtime at

Arena Monterrey Arena Monterrey is an indoor arena in Monterrey, Mexico. It is primarily used for shows, concerts and indoor sports like indoor soccer, arena football and basketball. It used to be the home arena of the Monterrey Fury indoor soccer team and the ...

). The Comets wound up first in the Central Division and defeated the

in the Central Division Final. They played a best-of-three series with the

for the Eastern Conference Championship and lost on the road then at home, ending their playoff run.

History

Launched as an

expansion team An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...

in the third Major Indoor Soccer League for the 2010–11 season, the Comets have the same ownership group as

FC Kansas City FC Kansas City was an American professional women's soccer club based in Kansas City, Missouri. The team was one of the eight founding clubs of the National Women's Soccer League in 2012, and began play in 2013. They were two-time NWSL champio ...

of the

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a women's professional Association football, soccer league and the highest level of the United States soccer league system#Women's leagues, United States soccer league system (alongside the USL Supe ...

. Head coach

is also manager of the women's club. The team is named after the Kansas City Comets, who played in the original Major Indoor Soccer League from 1981 to 1991. In all four seasons as members of the MISL, the Comets reached the playoffs. They won the league championship on their fourth playoff appearance. This would be the final MISL championship. After the 2013–14 season, the team announced that it was leaving the MISL along with five other teams and join the teams of

Professional Arena Soccer League The Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) is a professional indoor soccer league in North America. The MASL features teams playing coast-to-coast in the United States and Mexico. The league is the highest level of arena soccer in North America. The le ...

, which was soon rebranded as the MASL. The other teams in the Central Division are former MISL clubs

and St. Louis Ambush, plus PASL clubs Chicago Mustangs,

Tulsa Revolution The Tulsa Revolution was a professional indoor soccer team from Tulsa, Oklahoma, which began play in the Professional Arena Soccer League with the 2013–14 Professional Arena Soccer League season, 2013–14 season then segued to the Major Arena ...

, and

Wichita B-52s The Wichita B-52s was an American professional indoor soccer team based in Wichita, Kansas. Founded in July 2013, the team made its debut in the Professional Arena Soccer League with the 2013–14 Professional Arena Soccer League season, 2013–1 ...

Off-field moves

On November 6, the Comets and

of the

each signed head coach

to three-year extensions of their respective contracts. Andonovski led both teams to league championships in 2014. For the January 30 game against the Chicago Mustangs, the Comets wore special gold jerseys as part of a "Go for the Gold for Pediatric Cancer" charity effort to benefit the Dalton Everett Burner Foundation. The foundation, named for a local youth who overcame a rare form of cancer, assists families dealing with pediatric cancer. Fundraisers included a raffle and an auction of that night's game-worn jerseys. After the Eastern Conference Championship match on March 15 in which several Missouri players were red carded for misconduct, Comets forward Andre Braithwaite headbutted

player Pat Healey, opening a gash in Healey's forehead that required five stitches to close. Braithwaite was immediately released by the Comets and will face league disciplinary action.

Schedule

Regular season

♠ Game played with multi-point scoring (most goals worth 2 points and select goals worth 3 points).
Seattle Impact shut down mid-season; franchise purchased by Tacoma Stars

Post-season

Awards and honors

Missouri defenders John Sosa and Brian Harris, midfielder Vahid Assadpour, and forward

Leo Gibson Leo Gibson (born August 9, 1983) is a Liberian footballer who played for and was the former head coach for the Kansas City Comets in the MASL. Career College Gibson was born in Monrovia, Liberia, but came to the United States in 2002, having ...

were selected for the 2014–15 MASL All-League First Team. Goalkeeper

Danny Waltman Danny Waltman (born September 19, 1981, in Gig Harbor, Washington) is an American soccer player best known for his career as a goalkeeper in professional indoor soccer. He currently plays for the Tacoma Stars in the Major Arena Soccer League. ...

was selected for the All-League Second Team. Missouri defender Alain Matingou was named to the league's all-rookie team for 2014–15. Missouri's Josh Gardner earned honorable mention for the all-rookie team. On March 13, the MASL announced the finalists for its major year-end awards. These nominees included Missouri forward Leo Gibson for Most Valuable Player, Danny Waltman for Goalkeeper of the Year, Brian Harris and John Sosa for Defender of the Year, and Vlatko Andonovski for Coach of the Year. On March 19, the league announced that voters selected Gibson as the MASL's Most Valuable Player and Andonovski as Coach of the Year.

References

External links

Missouri Comets official websiteMissouri Comets
at '' The Independence Examiner''
Missouri Comets
at ''

The Kansas City Star ''The Kansas City Star'' is a newspaper based in Kansas City, Missouri. Published since 1880, the paper is the recipient of eight Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Star'' is most notable for its influence on the career of President Harry S. Truman and a ...

''
Missouri Comets
at ''The Blue Testament'' {{DEFAULTSORT:2014-15 Missouri Comets season Kansas City Comets (2010–)