AMBUSH COME FROM BEHIND TO BEAT MILWAUKEE

by Jim Fossell

St. Charles, Missouri (December 19, 2021) – The St. Louis Ambush posted their second win of the 2021-22 season when they defeated the Milwaukee Wave 7-6 a the Family Arena Sunday afternoon. The win improved the Ambush to 2-2 on the season, while Milwaukee finds themselves at 0-1 and one overtime loss.

Following a scoreless first quarter, the Ambush drew first blood 51 seconds into the second frame when a pass from Milwaukee goalkeeper Matt Perrella found the foot of JT Thomas, who fired a rocket into the goal. St. Louis made it 2-0 two minutes later when Sam Guernsey scored off a pass from Tony Walls. Milwaukee got on the board for the first time when Gordy Gurson scored at 4:23 to make it 2-1. Milwaukee went on a power play when Ambush defender Pepe Junqueira was sent to the penalty box for holding at 9:43 of the second quarter.  The Wave made good on the opportunity when Ian Bennett scored the equalizer at 10:15. It would be the last tally of the period, sending the teams into halftime tied 2-2.

Milwaukee took their first lead of the contest when Bennett found the back of the net for his second of the game at 3:57 of the third stanza. The visitors quickly made it 4-2 when Alex Bradley scored 34 seconds later. The Wave increased their lead to 5-2 when Luan Oliveira caught Ambush goalkeeper Sway Mazon out of position and put the ball in the empty net at 8:08 of the third. Following five consecutive Milwaukee goals, St. Louis finally answered when Vadim Cojocov scored at 8:31 to make the score 5-3.  In the final minute of the quarter, Mo Ndiaye took a shot that Perrella knocked down, but the ball made its way to a waiting Ado Jahic, who was able to find the net to close the gap to 5-4 at 14:25.

The equalizer for St. Louis came on a restart when Duduca fired a shot into the upper ninety at 2:07 of the fourth quarter. The Ambush got a power play opportunity when Bennett earned a blue card for holding at 2:42. Thomas scored his second of the match one second into the power play to give the Ambush a 6-5 lead. St. Louis went on another power play when Milwaukee’s Daniel Chamale tripped Duduca right in front of the referee. Thomas completed the hat trick at 5:54 to make it 7-5 St. Louis. Milwaukee would get one back when Tyler Turner beat Mazon at 6:26 for a 7-6 score that would hold until the final buzzer.

Between the pipes for St. Louis, Mazon posted 12 saves on 18 opportunities (.667 save percentage) in earning the win, while Perrella made 14 saves on 21 opportunities (.667 save percentage) in taking the loss for Milwaukee. 

Following a Christmas break next week, the Ambush will be back in action the last two days of the year, paying a visit to Texas to tangle with the Sidekicks on Thursday, December 30 at the Credit Union of Texas Event Center at 7:00 p.m. CST. The next day, the Ambush and Sidekicks tangle again in a New Year’s Eve matinee affair at 3:05 p.m. at The Family Arena.

Tickets are available at the Family Arena box office and at ticketmaster.com. Fans can stay current on all Ambush news by visiting the team’s official website, stlambush.com and on social media outlets.