AMBUSH POST 10-4 WIN OVER DETROIT

February 19, 2016

St. Charles, MO – The St. Louis Ambush won their second consecutive game as they claimed a 10-4 victory over the Detroit Waza Flo Friday night at the Family Arena. The win improved St. Louis’ record to 4-13, while Detroit dropped to 8-8.

The Ambush got on the board early when Lucas Almeida scored just 51 seconds into the contest. St. Louis added to their lead less than a minute later when Ross MacGregor found the back of the net at 1:15. The first quarter expired with the Ambush up 2-0.

St. Louis added to the lead when a shot by Chris Mattingly went high, but the rebound rocketed to Freddy Moojen, who was able to score at 1:49 of the second period. Detroit responded seconds later when Thiago Goncalves scored at 2:19. The Ambush regained a three-goal lead when Cody Costakis scored at 7:02, but the Waza Flo wasted no time countering as Leonard de Oliveira scored 27 seconds later. Andre Hayne put the Ambush up 5-2 with an unassisted tally at 12:03. The back-and-forth scoring continued on a restart goal by Dominic Scicluna at 13:39. St. Louis held a 5-3 lead at the halftime break.

The Ambush increased their lead to 6-3 when a Lucas Almeida shot went through the legs of Waza Flo goalkeeper Rafael Dias at 4:02 of the third quarter. St. Louis would increase their lead to four when Moojen sent a slow rolling pass to Almeida near the goal mouth and Almeida tapped another slow roller back to Moojen, who fired it into the net at 14:16 for his second tally of the game, giving the Ambush a 7-3 lead that held until the end of the quarter.

Costea Decu scored for Detroit at 3:44 of the final stanza, but it would be the last goal of the match for the visitors. The rest of the period was all Ambush as MacGregor scored his second of the game at 4:36 and Victor France scored at 11:38. Almeida completed the hat trick when he caught Dias out of the goal and was able to score easily at 13:51 to seal the 10-4 win for St. Louis.

Marcelo Moreira made 14 saves on 28 save attempts in earning the win for St. Louis. Dias and Nate Steinwascher shared goalkeeping duties for the Waza Flo, with Dias logging 42:07 and Steinwascher minding the net for 17:53. Dias saved 12 on 18 attempts and Steinwascher made two saves on six attempts. Officials charged each team with 13 fouls and, in a rarity, no penalty minutes were assessed.

The Ambush are back in action Saturday night when they host the Cedar Rapids Rampage at 7:05 p.m. at the Family Arena. Former Ambush players Gordy Gurson, Bobby Hurwitz, Blake Ordell and Jeff Richey make their return to the Family Arena (depending on who Head Coach Jeff Kraft decides to play) so a healthy rivalry could be on display as these players angle for a good showing against their former team.

After Saturday, the Ambush have only one home game and one road game remaining on the 2015-16 schedule. Next Friday, February 26, 2016 is Jamie Swanner Night, when the Ambush honor the legendary goalkeeper and the team’s current goalkeeper coach, Jamie Swanner. The Ambush host the Baltimore Blast in the final home game of the season at 7:35 p.m. that night. At halftime, Swanner’s number 00 will be retired and a special banner with his number will hang inside the arena. Swanner is only the third player in St. Louis professional soccer history to have his number retired. The first was Slobo Ilijevski’s number 30 in 1994 and the second was Daryl Doran’s number 7 in 2006. The first 5,000 fans in attendance February 26 will receive a free Jamie Swanner poster. The Ambush conclude the season on the road when they battle the Milwaukee Wave Saturday, February 27 at 6:05 p.m.

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.