The St. Louis Ambush fell 7-4 to the Kansas City Comets in the first game of their Ron Newman Cup playoff series Friday night at the Cable Dahmer Arena in Independence.
The Comets scored the lone goal in the first quarter when Rian Marques found the back of the net with under four minutes remaining in the period. The Ambush drew even when Tony Walls sent a pass across the penalty area to a charging Vadim Cojocov, who pounded the ball into the net in the second minute of the second quarter. The Comets used their one Coach’s Challenge when a Leo Gibson goal at 4:29 was waved off due to a foul called on Ignacio Flores. The referees’ video review erased the foul, making the goal good and giving the Comets a 2-1 lead and the momentum, as they rattled off four unanswered tallies before the end of the first half to take a 6-1 lead. Those goals came from Ray Lee, James Togbah, Ignacio Flores and Marques’ second of the contest.
The Ambush got their second tally of the night on the only goal of the third quarter when Max Ferdinand scored near the three minute mark. The Ambush lost a player when Jonatan Santos was red-carded for spitting on Kevin Ellis at 5:13. Neither team scored again in the period, giving the home team a 6-2 lead heading into the final stanza.
The Ambush shaved the deficit further when Max Ferdinand sent a short pass on a restart to JT Thomas, who executed a well-placed shot through Kansas City’s defensive wall at 9:26 of the fourth quarter to make the score 6-3. With the sixth attacker in play and a power play advantage, the Ambush gave up a crushing short-handed goal when Matt Lewis notched an empty-netter at 10:28 to give the home team a 7-3 lead. Less than a minute later, Felipe Silva scored the last goal of the game for St. Louis, making it a 7-4 final score.
St. Louis outshot Kansas City 33-31. Nicolau Neto made 13 saves in 17 save opportunities (.764 Sv%) in earning the win in goal for the Comets while Paulo Nascimento stopped 18 in 24 chances (.750 Sv%) in goal for the Ambush.
Games between these two Missouri rivals are often intense and physical and Friday’s duel was no different. Officials handed out one red card (Ambush), five blue cards (three to Comets and two to Ambush) and one yellow card (Comets).
The quarterfinal series now shifts to St. Charles, where the Ambush will host the Comets in game two Sunday afternoon at 3:05 p.m. at the Family Arena. The Ambush have their backs against the wall on Sunday. If they lose game two, their season is over and the Comets will advance to the semifinals. If the Ambush win game two, a 15-minute mini-game will be played following game two to decide which team will move on and which one will go home. Either way, this series will be decided on Sunday at the Family Arena.
Tickets for Sunday’s series-deciding match are on sale at the Family Arena box office or online at Ticketmaster.com. All seats for Sunday’s match are $20 and are general admission. Fans in attendance Sunday will also receive a free team poster while supplies last. All MASL postseason games can be viewed online at Facebook Live PPV. Fans can stay current on all Ambush news by visiting the team’s official website, stlambush.com or on social media outlets.
