UTICA BATTLES KANSAS CITY IN SUNDAY NIGHT SHOWDOWN

Tonight's Game: Utica City FC continues their three-game road trip in Kansas City. Kickoff is at 8:05 p.m.

Last Game: Utica City scored early and often as they rolled to an 8-5 victory over the St. Louis Ambush Saturday night at The Family Arena. Slavisa Ubiparipovic, Joey Tavernese, and Nate Bourdeau all scored twice. Mohamed Kenawy and Logan Roberts chipped in goals as well and Andrew Coughlin made eight saves to secure the win.

Head-to-Head: This will be The City’s first and only matchup with Kansas City this season. Utica City FC is playing in their inaugural season while the Comets are in their ninth season of existence. City comes into the matchup with an 8-2 record this season.

Scouting the Comets: The Comets are currently 4-5 and are second in the South Central Division. Seven players have five or more goals and nine players have eclipsed the five-point mark. The Comets have the third best power play in MASL with a 62.5 percent success rate. Their goal differential of +7 also ties for eighth-best in MASL.

A Star Amongst Comets: Kansas City’s Leo Gibson has the second-most points in the MASL with 26. Additionally, he has the second-most assists (14) in the MASL. Utica will have to keep Gibson in check in order to come away with a win.

High Powered: Utica City has been tough to stop on the power play. Utica is 9-18 on the man advantage and have scored at least one power play goal in five of their last six games. City’s power play is tied for fourth in the league at 50%.

Leading The Way: Slav Ubiparipovic has been a big factor in Utica’s early success this season. Ubiparipovic has recorded at least one point in every game this season, with eight of those 10 games being multi-point efforts. The forward leads Utica with 21 points (13-8-21) this season.

Big Leap: Liam Callahan is off to a hot start this season. Callahan has already surpassed his career highs in goals and points. He has also tied his career best in assists. The midfielder has 10 points (8-2-10) in 10 games this year.

Next Game: Utica City plays the last game of a three-game road trip against division rival Harrisburg on Friday, January 25 at 7:35 p.m. at PA Farm Show Arena.