AMBUSH QUELL TROPICAL STORM

by Jim Fossell

St. Charles, MO (February 1, 2019) – The St. Louis Ambush defeated the Florida Tropics 8-3 Friday night at the Family Arena. The win improved the Ambush to 7-7 on the season, while Florida dropped to 4-8.

The lone tally of the opening frame came from Pepe for the Ambush to give the home team a 1-0 lead. The Ambush outscored the Tropics 2-1 in the second quarter on goals from Stefan St. Louis and Lucas Almeida. Between those goals. Ricardo De Queiroz Diegues scored for Florida. The Ambush took a 3-1 lead into halftime.

The Ambush drew first blood in the second half on consecutive goals from Vadim Cojocov and Justin Stinson, before Caio Ruiz answered for the Tropics to make the score 5-2. Clayton scored for the Ambush in the final minute of the third quarter to give the Ambush a 6-2 heading into the final stanza. 

Andre Braithwaite started the scoring in the fourth quarter when his goal closed the gap to 6-3. The rest of the contest belonged to the Ambush. With Tropics goalkeeper Hugo Silva out of the area, Justin Stinson scored an empty netter for his second goal of the night, followed by JT Thomas, who stole the ball from Silva and scored an empty netter of his own to lock in the final numbers of 8-3 in favor of the boys in teal. 

Paulo turned in another stellar performance in goal for the Ambush, making 17 saves in 20 attempts for an impressive .850 save percentage. Silva saved 13 in 21 (.619) opportunities for the Tropics. 

The Ambush are back in action tomorrow night when they host the Orlando SeaWolves at 7:05 p.m. CT at the Family Arena. Following Saturday’s game, the Ambush clash with another division rival, the Kansas City Comets, next Saturday, February 9 at 7:05 p.m. CT at the Family Arena. For fans unable to catch the game in person, all MASL games are webcast live at masl.tv.

Group and single game tickets are on sale for all Ambush home games. For more information, call the Ambush office at 636-477-6363. Keep up to date on all Ambush news by following the official website, stlambush.com and on Facebook and Twitter.

PHOTOS BY JERRY MCGRATH (SCROLL DOWN FOR MORE PHOTOS)

MASL MATCH REPORT

Match: St. Louis Ambush vs. Florida Tropics

Date: February 1, 2019

Venue: The Family Arena

Kickoff: 7:35 PM CT

Attendance: 1,427

SCORING BY QUARTER1234OTSOF
St. Louis Ambush1232----8
Florida Tropics0111----3

postgame notes

  • Ambush forward Zach Reget, the team's leading goal-scorer, had one assist on the season at the start of Friday's game. Although he didn't score on Friday, Reget showed offensive versatility by logging three assists in one game.  Zach earned assists on Almeida's second quarter goal, Cojocov's third quarter goal and Clayton's third quarter goal.
  • Antonio Manfut was traded from the Ambush to the Tropics on January 16. In his first game against his former team, Manfut tallied two goals and an assist as the Tropics defeated the Ambush last Saturday. The Ambush turned the tables on the Tropics with Friday night's win and also on Manfut, who was neutralized with no points. 
  • The Tropics have two games in Missouri this weekend. Tonight against the Ambush, then Saturday night against the Comets in Independence.