The St. Louis Ambush suffered a 10-4 loss at the hands of the Milwaukee Wave Saturday night in Milwaukee. The loss dropped the Ambush to 0-8, while Milwaukee remained undefeated at 8-0.
The dynamic duo of Max Ferdinand and Ian Bennett put Milwaukee on the board 53 seconds into the contest with Ferdinand’s goal, assisted by Bennett. The Wave went up by two when Bennett lured Ambush goalkeeper Paulo out of the goal, then passed it to Ferdinand, who easily buried it in the open goal at 7:41 of the first quarter. Bennett got a goal of his own when the Ambush left him open and he took a long pass from goalkeeper Josh Lemos and blasted it into the net at 11:16. The Ambush defense faltered again when Robert Renaud sent a pass to Marcio Leite, who scored at 12:16, to give the Wave a 4-0 lead that held until the end of the opening period.
The second quarter started much like the first, with the Wave finding the back of the net early. Hans Dennison stole the ball from Paulo, passed it to Bennett, who scored just 24 seconds into the period to give the home team a 5-0 advantage. The Ambush answered when Antonio Aguilar fired a rocket from the wall for an unassisted tally at 3:14. Milwaukee’s Drew Ruggles scored at 4:30 to regain their five goal lead (6-1). Milwaukee goalkeeper Josh Lemos was helped off the field after his face collided with Ambush midfielder Corey Adamson’sknee. Milwaukee’s backup keeper, Rafael Dias, took over the goalkeepingduties. With no further goals by either team in the period, the Wave held a 6-1 lead at halftime.
Ambush player/coach Hewerton was sent to the penalty box for tripping at 14:14 of the second quarter. That penalty was still in effect at the start of the third quarter and the Wave took full advantage of it as Ian Bennett posted a power play goal at 1:03 to complete the hat trick and give his team a 7-1 advantage. The Ambush chipped away at the deficit when Hewerton scored with an upper ninety shot at 7:48. St. Louis scored again when Pablo Da Silva passed to Hewerton on a restart, Hewerton sent the ball to Joao Pepe, who was able to find the back of the net at 13:14 and sent the game into the final stanza with Milwaukee enjoying a 7-3 lead.
The first part of the fourth quarter saw no scoring. With 7:31 of the fourth quarter remaining, the Ambush went with the sixth attacker, with Hewerton donning the sixth attacker jersey. Pepe scored his second of the night for the Ambush at 10:00 to make the score 7-4. Paulo came back in goal for the Ambush, but Renaud went on a breakaway and beat Paulo with a shot to the far post at 11:06. With Hewerton back as the sixth attacker, Bennett pounded two more into the net to finish off the Ambush 10-4 and give himself an eight-point (5 goals, 3 assists) night.
The Ambush will have little time to ponder this loss, as they scurry back home to host the Cedar Rapids Rampage Sunday afternoon at 3:05 p.m. at the Family Arena. The Ambush will still be seeking their first win on Sunday, while the Rampage (5-3) come to town riding the momentum of a 14-11 win over Kansas City Saturday night.
