The St. Louis Ambush dropped a 7-5 contest to the Chicago Mustangs Friday morning at the Family Arena. The win improved Chicago’s record to 8-7 and dropped the Ambush to 1-17
The opening quarter saw only one goal and that was scored by Chicago’s scoring leader, Taylor Bond, at 9:22. The Ambush were charged with a two minute penalty at 14:47 when goalkeeper Casey Clark handled the ball outside of the goalkeeper area.
With the remainder of Clark’s penalty still on the clock, the Mustangs made good on the power play opportunity when Bond scored again at 1:08 of the second quarter. The visitors took a three goal lead less than two minutes later when Osvaldo Rojas posted an unassisted tally at 3:04. The Ambush got on the board at 4:58 when Lucas Almeida beat Mustangs goalkeeper Jesus Flores. Chicago answered less than a minute later (5:24) when Douglas Dos Santos took a pass from Bond and made a high shot that Clark couldn’t reach. Victor France reduced the lead to 4-2 when he was able to score off a Lucas Almeida pass at 11:31.
The second half kicked off with the Mustangs enjoying a 4-2 lead and it took them less than two minutes to add to it when Bond completed the hat trick with a header at 1:26 of the third quarter. Kentaro Takada answered for the Ambush when he found the back of the net at 4:10 to make the score 5-3. The Ambush reduced the gap to a lone goal (5-4) when Takada scored again at 11:21.
The final stanza remained scoreless until when Francisco Gonzales put the ball by Clark at 8:53 to make the score 6-4. The Ambush chipped away at the lead when France scored his second of the contest at 13:35. The fortunes turned for the Ambush when Lucas Almeida was sent to the penalty box at 14:27 for pushing and awarded the Mustangs a shootout. Wilo Martinez made good on the opportunity, scoring on Clark with relative ease at 14:30 to seal the 7-5 victory.
Head Coach Tony Glavin said that although nobody likes losing, he felt the team came out fot this game with a good attitude. “We made some mistakes,” Glavin said, “and Chicago capitalized on them.” Overall, Glavin said the team has grown in some areas, but “it’s the end of the season, not the beginning.” Glavin added that he felt there are some positives that “we can carry forward and build on” next season.
The Ambush take to the road this Sunday, February 12, when they journey to Tacoma, Washington to clash with the Stars at 5:05 p.m. CT. Following that contest, the Ambush have only one game remaining in the 2016-17 season. The Ambush close out the season when they host the Baltimore Blast on Sunday, February 26, 2017 at 3:05 p.m. at the Family Arena. The first 1,200 fans in attendance that day will receive a FREE Slobo Ilijevski bobblehead in honor of the late great legendary goalkeeper from the St. Louis Steamers, Storm and Ambush. The Slobo bobblehead promotion is sponsored by Rockwood Bank and MaddockHenson PC, in partnership with the St. Louis Steamers Soccer Club. The doors at the Family Arena open at 2:00 p.m. onFebruary 26.
Fans can catch all Ambush games this season live on the MASLtv YouTube channel. Single game and group tickets are available for the February 26 game. For more information, call the Ambush office at 636-477-6363. Keep up to date with Ambush news by visiting the official website, stlambush.com, the team’s Facebook page and on Twitter and Instagram.
