The St. Louis Ambush lost a 7-6 contest to the Harrisburg Heat Saturday night at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Arena. The loss dropped the Ambush to 1-2 on the season, while Harrisburg improved to 1-1.
Harrisburg took an early lead in the opening frame with a goal by Nelson Santana, followed by Dominic Francis 30 seconds later. Magui scored his first goal of the young season for the Ambush, followed by Ricardo Carvalho for the Heat with less than a minute remaining to give the Heat a 3-1 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Tavoy Morgan found the back of the net for Harrisburg and Mario Marcos answered for the Ambush in the second quarter. In the last minute of the half, Ambush goalkeeper Casey Clark was penalized for holding, giving the Heat a shootout opportunity. With Antonio Manfut serving the penalty for St. Louis, Carvalho went one-on-one with Clark and scored his second of the night to close out the half with the home side enjoying a 5-2 lead.
Just over ten minutes into the second half, with neither team having scored yet, Clark made a phenomenal save on the goal line to foil a potential Harrisburg goal. Minutes later, Ambush forward JT Thomas scored off a pass from Magui to make the score 5-3. It would prove to be the lone tally of the period.
Harrisburg wasted no time getting on the board in the final stanza, as Francis scored his second of the match within the first minute. St. Louis would answer less than two minutes later when Zach Reget scored his first goal when he fired a shot that deflected off Harrisburg midfielder Danny Diprima and into the net. Reget scored his second of the night when he got off a shot on a loose ball in front of the goal to reduce the deficit to one. With less than four minutes remaining in the match, Ambush Head Coach Hewerton put Lucas Almeida in as the sixth attacker, a strategy that proved to be effective, as St. Louis drew even on Justin Stinson’s goal at 12:01. The Heat would pull off a win in the last minute as Morgan scored his second to slam the door on the Ambush and seal the 7-6 win for the Heat.
William Banahene made 10 saves on 16 attempts (.625) in goal for the Heat, while Clark saved 12 in 18 chances (.667). Harrisburg outshot St. Louis 21-18.
Saturday’s contest was the third of three on the road to open the 2018-19 season for the Ambush. They return home to the Family Arena in St. Charles for their home opener when they host the Kansas City Comets Sunday, December 16 at 3:05 p.m.
