833
After getting outscored 7-1 in the first half of their match against the Cedar Rapids Rampage Sunday afternoon, the St. Louis Ambush bounced back to outscore their opponents 6-2 in the second half, but that was not enough as the comeback fell short for the fourth loss of the season for St. Louis (0-4). Cedar Rapids improved to 2-3.
The Rampage struck early and often in the first quarter. Mohamed Kenawy stunned the Ambush when he put a shot past goalkeeper Paulo just 32 seconds into the match. Pablo Da Silva (6:42), Gordy Gurson (7:12) and Tony Walls (13:59) followed with goals of their own to give the home team a 4-0 advantage. The visitors finally answered when Jerjer Gibson scored with 20 seconds remaining to close out the opening period with the Rampage leading 4-1.
The Ambush managed to slow Cedar Rapids’ offense in the second quarter. Walls got his second tally of the contest at 1:40, Gurson stung his former team with his second of the night at 11:51 and Joshio Sandoval scored in the closing seconds (14:48) to give Cedar Rapids a 7-1 lead at halftime.
The Ambush got on the board first in the second half when Hewerton posted a goal at 3:05of the third quarter to make the score 7-2. Hewerton would be instrumental in another goal when he passed to Corey Adamson, who was at the goal mouth and easily scored at 6:50. Gurson completed the hat trick at 9:00 to give the Rampage an 8-3 lead. At 9:56 of the third, Rampage goalkeeper Brett Petricek was assessed a blue card, giving the Ambush a shootout opportunity that Victor France made good on when he was able to out-maneuver Petricek and score at 10:01 to make the score 8-4.
Gurson and Walls wouldn’t be the only Rampage players to post multiple goals as Kenaway scored his second of the match at 4:27 of the final stanza to give the home team a 9-4 advantage. The Ambush answered at 5:35 when Stefan St. Louis tapped in a shot by Axel Duarte to close the gap to 9-5. Ambush goalkeeper Paulo contributed to the offense when he buried a long shot from outside the yellow line to make the score 9-6. In the final seconds of the game (14:39), Adamson scored his second of the evening for what would become the final score of 9-7 Rampage.
Next for the Ambush are two road games on back to back days when they visit the Harrisburg Heat on December 1 at 6:35 p.m. CT, then travel to Baltimore to face the Blast on Saturday, December 2 at 5:05 p.m. CT. The next home game for the Ambush is slated for Friday, December 8 at 7:35 p.m. CT when the Milwaukee Wave come to town.
