Lazers Fall to Comets in Overtime

After opening the season with consecutive victories over the defending champion San Diego Sockers, Lazer Coach Keith Tozer wasn’t worried about an emotional letdown going into Wednesday night’s Major Indoor Soccer League game against the Kansas City Comets.

He was too busy agonizing about how his team would stop last season’s most productive offense.

“We have to watch their offensive stars like (Jan) Goossens and (Dale) Mitchell,” Tozer said before the game.

Though the Comet stars did trouble the Lazers, it was an unlikely hero, former Lazer Greg Ion, who handed Los Angeles (2-1) its first loss.

After the Lazers had rallied from a 5-3 deficit to tie, 5-5, Ion scored 7:53 into the overtime to lift the Comets to a 6-5 victory before a crowd of 3,894 at the Forum.

“Goose (Goossens) got control of the ball, and I know how he likes to use the boards, so I just tried to anticipate it,” Ion said.

Goossens, always a source of agony for the Lazers, finished the game with 2 goals and 2 assists. The Comets improved their record to 1-2.

Goossens, who finished third in MISL scoring last season, evened the game at 3-3 in the third period and put the Comets on top, 4-3, 6:31 into the final period with a 25-foot shot after taking a crossing pass from Kia.

The same combination widened the Comets’ lead to 5-3 midway through the period, this time with Kia on the receiving end.

However, the Lazers came back against the Comets, who also had the league’s weakest defense last season, allowing 294 goals.

Lazer newcomers Hector Marinaro and Gary Heale scored goals about 4 minutes apart, Heale evening the game 13:48 into the fourth.

“We made a lot of mental mistakes,” said Tozer. “But they’re the same team that beat us (in the playoffs) last year. They’re always tough on us.”

Lazer goalkeeper A.J. Lachowecki, starting in place of Jim Gorsek, who sat out with a broken finger he suffered before the start of the season, was impressive at the outset but was out of position at times.

He made 26 saves while facing 41 shots.

Said Tozer in Lachowecki’s defense: “He wasn’t playing because of Gorsek’s broken finger. He’s been playing well and he’ll be getting lots of playing time.”