AMBUSH DROP OPENER TO COMETS
St. Charles, Missouri (November 26, 2021) – The Kansas City Comets spoiled the St. Louis Ambush home opener in a back-and-forth battle that ended up with Kansas City posting a 6-4 win Saturday at The Family Arena.
At 6:29 of the first quarter, the Comets went on a power play when Mo Ndiaye was sent off for tripping, but the Ambush successfully killed off the penalty. The Ambush got on the board first when JT Thomas sent the ball into the wall and Ndiaye was in position to get a foot on the rebound and put it in goal at 11:17. The opening period elapsed with the Ambush holding a 1-0 lead.
The equalizer for the Comets came on a restart by John Sosa at 4:27 of the second stanza. St. Louis got a power play of their own when Kansas City’s Leo Gibson earned a trip to the penalty box for tripping at 5:06. The Ambush made good on the opportunity when Thomas scored 20 seconds later to give the home team a 2-1 lead. Kansas City drew even on a restart when a shot by Ray Lee hit the foot of Ambush goalkeeper Sway Mazon and found its way into the net at 8:33. The closing minutes of the period saw a player for each team earn a trip to the sin bin. St. Louis’ Howard Miller Jr. was sent off for tripping at 13:22 followed by Kansas City’s Kevin Ellis at 14:31. Neither team scored before the halftime buzzer, leaving the score knotted at two.
With the penalties not yet elapsed, the teams took the field for the second half in a four-vs-four situation but both teams killed off their respective penalties. The Comets took their first lead (3-2) of the match when Gibson found the back of the net at 3:37 of the third quarter. The Ambush tied the game again on a penalty kick, following a handball call on the Comets, when Ndiaye notched his second of the game. Kansas City bounced back 20 seconds later when Kyle McLagan beat Sway to give his team a 4-3 lead at 13:51.
The Ambush found themselves playing short again when Will Nyamsi was sent off for kicking at 3:58 of the final frame. They turned the tables, however, when Thomas went on a breakaway and passed the ball to Vadim Cojocov, who scored the equalizer at 4:18. The seesaw scoring continued when Gibson scored at 5:28 to give the Comets a 5-4 lead. With the sixth attacker in play for the Ambush, Ray Lee scored an empty-netter to give Kansas City a 6-4 lead at 13:33, and that score would hold until the final buzzer.
The Ambush were playing without the services of several usual starters who are dealing with injuries. Duduca Carvalho, Tony Walls, Lucas Almeida, and Stefan Mijatovic were all unavailable for this game.
Action now shifts to the Comets’ home turf when the two team square off again tomorrow night at 6:00 p.m. at the Cable Dahmer Arena in Independence, Missouri. Fans can catch all the action on the masltv channel on YouTube.
Following tomorrow night’s contest, the Ambush travel to Texas to face the Dallas Sidekicks Saturday, December 4 at 7:00 p.m. CST. The next Ambush home game is slated for December 19, when the Milwaukee Wave invade The Family Arena for a 4:05 p.m. match. Fans can stay current on all Ambush news by visiting the team’s official website, stlambush.com and on social media outlets.