COMETS REMAIN UNDEFEATED, BEAT AMBUSH 7-5

by Jim Fossell

Independence, MO

The Missouri Comets remained undefeated (13-0) when they handed the St. Louis Ambush a 7-5 loss Friday night at the Independence Events Center. The loss dropped St. Louis’ record to 3-8.

The Comets shut out the Ambush in the first quarter, then St. Louis returned the favor by blanking Missouri in the second quarter, then the Comets shut out the Ambush in the third quarter.

Missouri’s goals in the opening stanza came from Vahid Assadpour, Brian Harris, Andrew Braithwaite and Leo Gibson. The quarter ended with Missouri on top, 4-0.

Chris Mattingly put the Ambush on the board with a goal just 54 seconds into the second period. Neither team would score for the next 10:02 until an exchange between Elvir Kafedzic and Adnan Gabeljic resulted in a goal for St. Louis. Gabeljic sent a pass across the goal mouth to Kafedzic, who then sent it back to Gabeljic, who was able to score, sending the teams into the halftime break with the Comets holding a 4-2 lead.

Missouri increased their lead to 5-2 at 6:20 of the third quarter when Alain Mattingou went on a breakaway and beat Ambush goalkeeper Alan Hagerty. Mattingou’s goal was the lone tally of the quarter.

Ross MacGregor scored a restart goal off a pass from Elvir Kafedzic to narrow Missouri’s lead to two (5-3) at 4:35 of the fourth quarter. Assadpour got his second goal of the contest when he fired a laser that hit the horizontal post then went into the goal at 8:07 to increase the Comets’ lead to 6-3. With 3:18 remaining on the clock, Ambush head coach Daryl Doran pulled goalkeeper Hagerty and designated Mattingly as the sixth attacker. At 11:43, Blake Ordell’s restart goal again closed the gap to two (6-4).

The final minute of the match saw a flurry of activity as Assadpour completed the hat trick at 14:14 and Kory Dowell answered for the Ambush at 14:34, but time ran out before St. Louis could mount a comeback and Missouri walked away with the 7-5 victory.

On a positive note for St. Louis, Missouri’s seven goals is the lowest they have scored in their 13 wins this season.

Both teams were without the services of their starting goalkeepers due to injuries. Alan Hagerty started his first game in goal for St. Louis and Stephen Paterson got the start minding the net for Missouri.

Next up, the Ambush journey to Park City, Kansas to battle the Wichita B-52s tomorrow night, January 17, at 7:05 p.m. for a rematch of last Saturday’s game that saw the Ambush lose in the final minute of action. Given how close that game was, another fierce duel is expected Saturday night as the Ambush plan to turn the tables on their division rivals.

For the latest Ambush news, watch the Ambush official website, stlouisambush.com and the team’s Facebook page, facebook.com/stlouisambush. Group and single game tickets are available for all remaining Ambush home games. Call the Ambush office at 636-477-6363 for more information. Single game tickets can be purchased at the Family Arena box office or online at metrotix.com.