The St. Louis Ambush dropped a 9-5 contest to the Syracuse Silver Knights Friday night at the Family Arena, dropping the Ambush to 2-12 on the season, while Syracuse improved to 6-5.
After a scoreless first quarter, Syracuse got on the board when Ambush goalkeeper Paulo came out to make a save and while the ball was pinballing around in front of the goal, Joey Tavernese managed to fire it into the open net at 5:03 of the second quarter. Stefan St. Louis scored the equalizer for the Ambush when he took a pass from Joao Pepe and executed a beautiful backheel kick into the goal at 7:38. With neither team scoring again, the score remained knotted 1-1 at halftime.
Ambush player/coach Hewerton scored the go-ahead goal just 43 seconds into the third quarter. Slavisa Ubiparipovic tied things up again with his goal for the Silver Knights at 2:04, followed by another from Joey Tavernese at 3:35. The visitors would increase their lead to 4-2 when Liam Callahan found the back of the net at 7:26. At 12:28, Ambush goalkeeper Paulo went down after tripping over a downed Syracuse player, enabling Ben Ramin to score with little effort to make the score 5-2. The Silver Knights weren’t done yet, as Nate Bourdeau scored at 14:17 to end the third quarter with Syracuse enjoying a 6-2 lead.
Clayton “Pedaleira” Matheus scored for the Ambush at 2:13 to reduce the deficit to three goals (6-3). Less than a minute later (2:54), a shot by Corey Adamson hit the board, but Adamson followed the shot skillfully and was able to get a foot on the rebound and convert it into a goal at2:54. Tavernese got one back for Syracuse when the Ambush employed the sixth attacker and Tavernese scored an empty-netter at 11:03 to regain a three-point lead (7-4). The Ambush answered with Adamson’s second tally of the night at 13:17. Syracuse answered quickly, with Kenardo Forbes scoring at 14:12. With a three-goal lead and less than a minute remaining, Ubiparipovic sunk an empty-netter with seven seconds remaining to cinch the 9-5 win for Syracuse.
Syracuse travels to Milwaukee to tangle with the Wave Saturday afternoon, then returns to the Family Arena for a rematch with the Ambush Sunday, January 21 at 3:05 p.m. On Sunday, Ambush players will wear special yellow jerseys in support of childhood cancer awareness, and will include an auction for the game-worn jerseys, with proceeds going to charity.
