AMBUSH LOSE 9-5 TO MUSTANGS

Hoffman Estates, IL

The Chicago Mustangs improved to 3-2 on the season when they handed the St. Louis Ambush a 9-5 defeat Saturday night at the Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. The loss left the struggling Ambush (0-4) still seeking their first win of the season.

Stellar goalkeeping was on display in the low-scoring first half as Chicago goalkeeper Jesus Flores made 11 saves on 12 save attempts and St. Louis goalkeeper Marcelo Moreira stopped 11 in 13 attempts. Chicago’s goals came from Ricardo Carvalho at 1:28 of the first quarter and from Taylor Bond at 13:48 of the second. The lone Ambush goal came from Odaine Sinclair at 1:42 of the second quarter. The two teams went into halftime with the Mustangs enjoying a 2-1 lead.

Early in the third quarter (2:08), St. Louis went on a power play when Chicago was penalized for too many men on the field, then Joshio Sandoval was issued a blue card at 2:43 for a slide tackle on Gordy Gurson, giving St. Louis a five to three advantage that resulted in power play goals from Richard Schmermund (3:20) and Anthony Arico (3:33). Those two Ambush goals would be the only offense from either team in the third period, which ended with the visitors holding a 3-2 lead.

While the first three quarters produced only five goals from both teams, the final stanza saw nine tallies. Unfortunately for the Ambush, seven of those came from Chicago. The Mustangs took a 4-3 lead on early fourth quarter goals by Taylor Bond (:26) and Edgar Martinez (3:11). St. Louis drew even on a goal by Gordy Gurson, then Chicago responded with a tally from Miguel Vaca to retake the lead (5-4). The Ambush left Ricardo Carvalho wide open on a restart play and he made the visitors pay with a rocket into the upper 90 for his second goal of the night at 11:05. The Ambush closed Chicago’s advantage to one on a goal from Elvir Kafedzic at 12:29. Chicago gained a man advantage when Dylan Hundelt was given a blue card for charging with just two minutes remaining in the game. The Mustangs didn’t waste their man advantage as Taylor Bond completed the hat trick at 14:01 to put the Mustangs up 7-5. The Ambush then went to the sixth attacker strategy and it resulted in open net goals from Mario Alvarez at 14:45 and Joshio Sandoval at 14:57 for the 9-5 Mustangs win.

Next up, the Ambush travel to Milwaukee to tangle with the Wave next Sunday, December 6 at 2:05 p.m. The Ambush return home to the Family Arena when they host the Tacoma Stars on Saturday, December 12 at 7:05 p.m.

Season, group and single game tickets are now on sale for all remaining home games. Call the Ambush office at 636-477-6363 for more information. Keep up with Ambush news anytime by visiting the team’s official web site, stlouisambush.com, the Ambush Facebook page, facebook.com/stlouisambush, or on Twitter, twitter.com/stlouisambush.