The St. Louis Ambush pulled off a stunning 8-3 victory over a first place team when they defeated the San Diego Sockers 8-3 at the Family Arena Sunday night. It was only the third loss of the season for San Diego, who presently occupy first place in the MASL Pacific Division. The win improved St. Louis’ record to 3-5, while San Diego dropped to 6-3. An enthusiastic crowd of 6,574 fans cheered the Ambush on to their second win in their past three games.
The Ambush scored their first goal of the night when they capitalized on a power play opportunity early in the first quarter. San Diego’s Evan McNeeley was sent to the penalty box for tripping at 3:23. A Blake Ordell shot hit the board and Manny Forbes was able to put the rebound into the goal at 4:21. St. Louis increased their lead just 30 seconds later (4:51) when Jeff DiMaria tapped a loose ball in front of the goal and pushed it into the back of the net. Nick Perera answered for the Sockers at 6:45 to make the score 2-1. The Ambush increased their lead to two again when a shot by Elvir Kafedzic was blocked and Odaine Sinclair was in position to fire the rebound into the goal at 9:31. San Diego closed the gap to 3-2 when Eduardo Velez scored on a restart pass from Chiky Luna at 12:04. Following the goal by Velez, the Ambush defense and goalkeeper Greg Crook would shut out the Sockers for over 33 minutes; until early in the fourth quarter. Kafedzic got the last tally of the period at 13:02 to close out the first quarter with the Ambush on top, 4-2.
St. Louis got another power play opportunity when Dan Antoniuk was sent to the penalty box for tripping at 8:32. A shot from Kory Dowell hit the board and Richard Schmermund was able to bury the rebound at 9:07. It would be the only goal of the period and the first half ended with the Ambush enjoying a 5-2 lead.
The third quarter saw only one goal, with Kory Dowell earning an unassisted tally at 8:38, to increase St. Louis’ lead to 6-2.
Adnan Gabeljic, playing in his first professional game for the Ambush, was called for boarding as the buzzer sounded to end the third quarter, so the Sockers began the final stanza with a power play opportunity. It only took Kraig Chiles 36 seconds to find the back of the net and reduce the Ambush lead to 6-3. Chiles’ goal, however, would be the last one for San Diego. Gabeljic got his first career goal at 4:47 and Vandegriffe made good on a shootout opportunity at 9:57 to finalize the 8-3 win for the home side.
Greg Crook earned his third win and turned in another fine performance in goal for the Ambush, making 19 saves on 22 opportunities. Chris Toth saved 17 on 25 chances in taking the loss for the Sockers.
The Ambush are back in action next Saturday, January 3 at 7:35 p.m., when the cross-state rival Missouri Comets invade the Family Arena for the first time this season. The Comets are undefeated and the Ambush would love nothing more than to hand their rivals their first loss.
