The St. Louis Ambush scored an 11-6 pre-season win over the Cedar Rapids Rampage Friday night at US Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Ambush forward Gordy Gurson scored five goals and looks like he’s ready to pick up where he left off last season after capturing the Rookie of the Year award and finishing second in the MASL in goals scored.
St. Louis got on the board first when Anthony Arico scored just 42 seconds into the match. Alex Megson answered for the Rampage at 6:42. Jacob Johnson gave the home team a 2-1 lead with his tally at 12:11. Former Ambush forward Corey Adamson scored against his former team at 12:34, giving the Rampage a 3-1 lead at the end of the opening period.
The Ambush drew even in the second quarter thanks to Gurson’s first goal of the night at 7:59 and one by Lucas Almeida at 10:50.
St. Louis took a 4-3 lead at 5:46 of the third quarter on Richard Schmermund’s goal and increased their lead at 12:20 when Gurson found the back of the net for his second of the contest.
The first three quarters saw seven goals scored between the two teams, but the fourth quarter provided a scoring explosion as nine total goals were scored. Chad Vandegriffe increased the Ambush lead to 6-3 at 1:36 and Lucas Almeida scored his second of the night at 4:34. Hewerton Moreira scored the fourth Rampage goal at 7:02 but Gurson came back with his third of the night less than a minute later (7:45) to increase St. Louis’ lead to 8-4. Seven seconds later, Alex Megson answered for Cedar Rapids with his second of the night to make the score 8-5. Moreira donned the sixth attacker jersey for the Rampage and quickly tallied his second of the night at 9:30. Daniel Berko gave St. Louis a 9-6 lead with a goal at 11:12. Gurson would finish things off with the next two goals (at 12:41 and 13:47) to wrap up the 11-6 win for St. Louis.
Friday’s duel marked the fifth consecutive win for the Ambush. They were triumphant in their final three games of the 2014-15 regular season, then defeated Cedar Rapids in a pre-season contest October 3 at the Family Arena, then again on October 30. The Ambush hope to keep the winning momentum going when they open the 2015-16 regular season against the Chicago Mustangs on Saturday, November 14 at 4:35 p.m. at the Family Arena.
