AMBUSH DROP CLOSE CONTEST TO WAVE IN SEASON FINALE

february 27, 2016

Milwaukee, WI – The St. Louis Ambush finished the 2015-16 season with a 5-15 record after falling to the Milwaukee Wave in a 6-5 nailbiter Saturday night in Milwaukee. The Wave finished the season with a 13-7 record and will face the Chicago Mustangs in round one of the playoffs.

St. Louis struck early when David Paul scored off a pass from Freddy Moojen just 52 seconds into the game. The Ambush increase their lead to 2-0 on a restart opportunity when Richard Schmermund scored, assisted by Lucas Almeida at 10:36. Almeida earned a trip to the penalty box for elbowing at 13:00, giving the Wave a power play opportunity. Sean Totsch wasted no time capitalizing on the man advantage as he scored a power play goal 41 seconds later. With no further scoring in the opening stanza, the Ambush took a 2-1 lead into the second period.

Marcio Leite nailed a high shot that went over Ambush goalkeeper Piotr Sliwa’s head, hit the crossbar and into the goal to tie things up at 8:33 of the second quarter. Former Ambush player Stefan St. Louis steamrolled Cody Costakis at 12:44, resulting in a two minute penalty for pushing. Playing a man short, the Wave scored a short-handed goal when Leite hit the far post and into the back of the net to put the home team up 3-2 at 13:37. Despite giving up the short-handed tally, the Ambush didn’t waste the man advantage as Victor France took a pass from Andre Hayne and was able to score the equalizer at 14:08. In the closing seconds of the first half (14:30), Max Ferdinand scored to give Milwaukee a 4-3 lead that they would carry into the second half.

Milwaukee increased their lead to 5-3 when a shot by Tenzin Rampa hit the upper ninety at 6:21. The Wave inflated their lead to three on a restart when Ian Bennett was left unmarked near the goal and was able to score easily at 9:13. The third quarter ended with the Wave on top, 6-3.

The Ambush did all the scoring in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t quite enough to snatch the win. Ian Garrett scored an unassisted tally at 4:44 to make the score 6-4. Daniel Berko went on a breakaway and nutmegged Milwaukee goalkeeper Marcel Feenstra to move the Ambush within one on the scoreboard (6-5). The Ambush threatened in the final seconds with several shots on goal that almost tied the game but the clock ran out and Milwaukee prevailed in the regular season finale for both teams.

Feenstra made 18 saves on 23 save attempts in goal for Milwaukee. The win improved his record to 3-0. Piotr Sliwa saved nine on 15 attempts in goal for St. Louis, finishing the season with a 4-7 record. Milwaukee was charged with eight fouls in the match, while St. Louis collected 11. Officials handed out seven penalty minutes to the Ambush and nine to the Wave.

The end of the season also marked the end of Tony Glavin’s first season as Head Coach of the Ambush. After the Ambush started the season 0-6, Glavin was named Head Coach on December 14 and coached his first game December 19. Under the leadership of Glavin, Assistant/Goalkeeper Coach Jamie Swanner and Assistant Coach/Player Freddy Moojen, the Ambush compiled a 5-9 record.

Keep informed of all Ambush news during the off-season by visiting the team’s official website, stlouisambush.com, the Ambush Facebook page, facebook.com/stlouisambush, or on Twitter, twitter.com/stlouisambush.