HOME SWEET HOME OPENER

by Jim Fossell

St. Charles, MO (December 16, 2018) – In their home opener, the St. Louis Ambush pulled off a dramatic, come-from-behind, overtime victory over the rival Kansas City Comets Sunday afternoon at the Family Arena. With the win, the Ambush improved to 2-2 on the season, while the Comets dropped to 1-3.

The Comets struck early, taking a 3-0 lead within the first seven minutes of the opening quarter on goals by Leo Gibson and two by Kiel Williams. Williams scored Kansas City’s second goal when he managed to draw Ambush goalkeeper Paulo out, giving him a clear shot at the empty net.

Kansas City posted the first goal of the second frame when Lucas Rodriguez took a pass from Leo Gibson, on a restart, and completed a tough angle shot at 6:16. The remainder of the period was scoreless and the visitors took a 4-0 lead into the halftime break.

The Ambush were blanked in the first half, but after halftime, a different team emerged from the dressing room. St. Louis was the first to get on the board in the second half when Clayton scored off a pass from Hewerton in the second minute of the third quarter. Fourth quarter goals by Mario Marcos and a power play goal by Hewerton closed the gap to 4-3. The equalizer came at 5:36 on Zach Reget’s unassisted tally. Kansas City regained the lead (5-4) when Rodriguez found the back of the net five minutes later. As he did earlier in the period, Reget was able to find his mark and score with less than a minute remaining to knot the score again (5-5).

The game winner came when Jerjer Gibson dished the ball to Corey Adamson, who was able to beat Comets goalkeeper Brett Petricek at 4:48 of overtime, much to the delight of the 4,750 fans in attendance.

Ambush goalkeeper Paulo did everything but stand on his head to help keep his team in the game, making 17 saves in 22 attempts. Despite the loss, Petricek also turned in a stellar performance, saving 28 in 34 chances.

The Comets won’t have to wait long for a shot at revenge, as these two teams will do battle again next Saturday, December 22 at 7:05 p.m. CST at the Silverstein Eye Centers Arena in Independence. Following that rematch, the two teams return to the Family Arena for another duel Saturday, December 29 at 7:05 p.m. CST. Given the intensity of Sunday's match, fans can expect more of the same when St. Louis and Kansas City square off the next two games.

Season, group and single game tickets are on sale for all home games. For more information on season and group tickets, 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.

MASL MATCH REPORT

Match: St. Louis Ambush vs. Kansas City Comets

Date: Sunday, December 16, 2018

Venue: The Family Arena

Kickoff: 3:05 PM CST

Attendance: 4,750