LOSS TO FLORIDA GIVE AMBUSH WEEKEND SPLIT

Lakeland, FL (January 26, 2019) – The St. Louis Ambush dropped a 9-7 game to the Florida Tropics at the RP Funding Center Saturday night in Lakeland, Florida. The loss dropped the Ambush to 6-7 on the season, while Florida improved to 4-7. The Tropics took a 2-1 lead on the season series against St. Louis with a rematch set for next Friday on the Ambush home turf.

Florida took an early lead with two goals within the first two minutes, courtesy of Phibo Arriaga (1:25) and  Ricardo De Queiroz Diegues (1:41). Stefan St. Louis answered for the Ambush at 8:30 to make the score 2-1. Antonio Manfut, traded from the Ambush to the Tropics on January 16, made a good showing against his former team by scoring the next two goals, at 11:36 of the first quarter and 3:32 of the second. Less than a minute later (3:48), Clayton scored for the Ambush to make the score 4-2. Eleven seconds later, Andre Braithwaite answered for Florida. The Tropics went up 6-2 when an unfortunate bounce gave Guilherme Dos Santos a goal. Dos Santos’ shot was wide, hit the board, then bounced off the back of Ambush goalkeeper Paulo and into the net. Magui reduced the deficit to 6-3 on a restart when Braithwaite and Max Touloute were arguing a previous play with the referee and not setting up the defensive wall, giving Magui a relatively easy shot at the goal. The Ambush went on a power play when Manfut was sent to the penalty box for contact above the shoulder at 11:39. The visitors would make good on the opportunity when Justin Stinson scored at 12:50 to make the score 6-4. The Ambush would find the back of the net one more time before the first half expired, as Pepe navigated a difficult angle to beat Tropics goalkeeper Hugo Silva at 14:40, reducing Florida’s lead to 6-5 at halftime. 

The Tropics drew first blood in the second half when Diegues scored at 4:52 of the third quarter. The Ambush answered when Pepe scored his second of the contest at 7:40, sending the game into the final stanza with Florida clutching onto a one-goal lead (7-6). The Ambush knotted the score 7-7 when Zach Reget stole the ball from Silva and put it into the net at 1:13 of the fourth quarter. The Tropics regained the lead (8-7) when Victor Parreiras beat Ambush goalkeeper Paulo with a rocket on a restart with less than six minutes remaining in the match. Florida was awarded a shootout when Paulo took down former teammate Antonio Manfut and Parreiras scored with relative ease at 10:56 to give the Tropics a 9-7 advantage that they would hold until the clock ran out.

The Ambush finished the weekend with a split, defeating the Orlando SeaWolves 7-6 on Friday night, then falling to the Tropics on Saturday night. Both Florida teams will invade the Family Arena next weekend when the Ambush host the Tropics Friday, February 1 at 7:35 p.m. CT, then the  SeaWolves Saturday, February 2 at 7:35 p.m. CT.

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. 

MASL MATCH REPORT

Match: Florida Tropics vs. St. Louis Ambush

Date: Saturday, January 26, 2019

Venue: RP Funding Center

Kickoff: 7:15 p.m. ET / 6:16 p.m. CT

Attendance: 3,569