clarinews@clarinet.com (02/03/90)
ST. LOUIS (UPI) -- Rookie Dan Donigan scored his first goal of the year 1:29 into overtime, pacing the St. Louis Storm to a 5-4 victory over the Kansas City Comets Friday night. Donigan, the St. Louis No. 1 draft choice and second overall, entered the game with only one assist, but he slipped a low shot from outside the area behind Kansas City goalkeeper Jim Gorsek and inside the right post. The victory ended a four-game Kansas City winning streak against St. Louis. The Comets are 1-4 versus the Storm. With the victory, St. Louis remains in second place in the Western Division with a 13-13 record. Kansas City, in thid place in the Eastern Division, dropped to 13-15. Dale Mitchell and Doug Neely scored :19 apart late in the fourth quarter, rallying the Comets to a 4-4 tie. Mitchell knocked in a rebound at 9:28, then Neely, who had his initial shot blocked by St. Louis goalie Slobo Ilijevski, chested in his own rebound over the sprawled keeper at 9:47. St. Louis scored three times in the third period to take a 4-2 lead. Claudio De Oliveira, who scored two goals and added an assist, started the comeback, tying the score 2-2 at 7:07 of the third. He banged a left-footer off the hands of Kansas City goalkeeper Jim Gorsek. Defender David Eise snapped that deadlock at 11:16, drilling a shot from outside the penalty area off the leg of Neely and behind Gorsek. Thompson Usiyan scored a power-play goal at 12:53 of the third, giving St. Louis a 4-2 lead. With Kim Roentved in the penalty box for tripping, it took the Storm only 11 second to score with the man-advantage. Mitchell, named to the Eastern Division All-Star team for the third straight year, beat Western Division All-Star keeper Ilijevski, giving the Comets a 2-1 lead at halftime. De Oliveira gave St. Louis a 1-1 tie 2:47 into the second quarter, scoring with a hard shot from just inside the area after a restart. David Doyle started the scoring for Kansas City at 3:29 of the first quarter.