The St. Louis Ambush dropped a 6-2 match to the Cedar Rapids Rampage Friday night at the US Cellular Arena in Cedar Rapids. The loss dropped the Ambush to 1-9, while the Rampage improved to 6-4.
In an unusual occurrence for professional arena soccer, neither team scored in the first half despite 20 shots (12 for Cedar Rapids and eight for St. Louis). The Ambush gave the Rampage three power play opportunities which the home team was unable to capitalize on.
The scoring drought ended at 4:22 of the third quarter, when Bobby Hurwitz nailed an unassisted tally for Cedar Rapids. The Rampage increased their lead to 2-0 on Mohamed Kenawy’s tally at 7:02. Neither team scored in the period, sending the game into the final quarter with Cedar Rapids enjoying a 2-0 lead.
Cedar Rapids increased their lead to three when Taylor Bond took a pass from Alex Bradley and fired it into the back of the net at 8:11 of the fourth quarter. With Hewerton wearing the sixth attacker jersey for the Ambush, the Rampage scored the next two goals seconds apart; Bobby Hurwitz at 10:35 and Sam Guernsey at 10:47, to make the score 5-0. The Ambush finally got on the board thanks to Lucas Almeida’s unassisted tally at 13:01. In the final minute of the game (14:21), Jerjer Gibson scored off a pass from Hewerton for the second Ambush goal, but Hurwitz scored with ten seconds remaining to solidify the 6-2 win for Cedar Rapids.
The Ambush will be back in action at home when they host the Florida Tropics on New Year’s Eve, December 31 at 2:05 p.m. CT.
