The St. Louis Ambush battled a snow storm and hours of boredom riding a bus halfway across this great nation to win one of two games in two days.
Friday (Jan. 30), the Ambush were in Harrisburg, Pa. to take on the winless Heat. Maybe the bus ride took its toll because the Ambush collapsed in the second half and gave the Heat their first win.
After getting back on the bus and heading back West around Lake Erie, the Ambush took on Detroit Waza Flo for the second time this year on Saturday. And for the second time the Ambush were victorious. Freshly-signed Goalie Tim Kelly became the third Ambush keeper to get a win a day after giving up 11 goals and only stopping 4 shots in his debut.
Odaine Sinclair, St. Louis’ leading scorer last year, appears to have found his footing in a less fruitful year with three goals in two days to run his total to nine.
Special teams continues to be a huge problem for the Ambush. They are only 35.7% on the power play this season and this weekend certainly didn’t help that number. They were 1-9 over the two days including the dismal 0-4 performance against Harrisburg where they gave up two shorthanded goals to rub a little salt in the wound.
Harrisburg Heat 25, St. Louis Ambush 16
If you thought combining the PASL and MISL would bring clarity to the scoring of indoor soccer, you would be wrong. The MASL Eastern Division plays by the old MISL “basketball” rules unlike the rest of the league. Goals are worth two points, or three if scored from beyond the three-point arc.
Harrisburg jumped out to an early 4-0 lead, but the Ambush rallied and the two sides played the rest of the half tight. There were five lead changes and three ties in the first half and the pair went to the break tied 12-12.
The second half was a different story. The Heat outscored the Ambush 13-4 including 5-0 in the fourth quarter.
Tyler Witmer led the way for Harrisburg as he became the second player in two weeks to drop 6 goals on the Ambush.
Eight different players scored for St. Louis. Corey Adamson and Richard Schmermund both scored from distance for 3-pointers.
St. Louis Ambush 6, Detroit Waza Flo 5
If you thought the MASL saying the Eastern Division played by the 2s and 3s scoring system meant the entire Eastern Division played by the “basketball” rules, you would be wrong yet again. The Ambush and the “creatively” named Waza Flo played to 1-1 draws in every quarter except the third, in which there was a comparative deluge of scoring.
In the third the Ambush outscored Detroit 3-2 and it proved to be the difference. Odaine Sinclair got one of his two unassisted goals on the day to open things up in the third. The other multiple-time scorer for the Ambush, Adnan Gabeljic’s second goal was came 5:05 into the fourth quarter and proved to be the game-winner.
The real star of the game was the goalkeeper Tim Kelly. After a catastrophe and probably the worst performance of the season in the Ambush net the night before, Kelly turned in arguably the best in Detroit, stopping 32 of 37 shots he faced.
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The Ambush are next in action Friday, Feb. 6 at 7 p.m. when they host the Missouri Comets in the last game of their three-game season series. It will be Throwback Night once again. This time the 2000-2006 St. Louis Steamers and the original Ambush will be honored. The alumni will break into two squads and scrimmage at halftime like their older alumni did for the last Throwback Night. There will also be a celebrity game
(Photo Credit: Scott Neer/ StLouisAmbush.com)
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