The St. Louis Ambush lost their second game in three days to the Syracuse Silver Knights Sunday at the Family Arena. After losing 9-5 on Friday, the Ambush fell 6-4 to the Knights on Sunday. The loss dropped the Ambush to 2-13, while Syracuse improved to 7-6.
The Ambush drew first blood in Sunday’s contest when Syracuse goalkeeper Andrew Coughlin stopped a restart shot by Hewerton, who stayed on the rebound and was able to get off an upper ninety shot for the first goal of the game at 1:55 of the first quarter. The Silver Knights answered less than a minute later (2:26) when defender Darren Toby found an opening in the Ambush defense and got a shot passed Ambush goalkeeper Paulo. The home team would get the go-ahead tally before the end of the quarter, courtesy of Richard Schmermund at 13:13.
The Ambush went up by two (3-1) when Stefan St. Louis fired a rocket that hit the board inches from the goal, then managed to scoot by Coughlin two minutes into the second quarter. At 4:17, Syracuse midfielder Kenardo Forbes received a red card and ejection for deliberately striking Ambush defender Raphael Nascimento after Nascimento went after the ball with a high kick. Nascimento also received two minutes in the penalty box for the play. Joey Tavernese closed the scoring gap to 3-2 when he found the back of the net at 8:57. With no further scoring by either team, the first half elapsed with St. Louis holding a 3-2 advantage.
Syracuse tied, then took the lead, in the first five minutes of the second half. Nate Bourdeau scored at 4:43, followed quickly by Bo Jelovac, who took a restart pass from Jake Schindler and scored at 5:00 to give the visitors a 4-3 lead. Syracuse increased the lead to 5-3 when Toby caught Paulo off to the side and scored easily in the wide space available at 8:20. Raphael Nascimento earned a trip to the penalty box for a hand ball at 10:50, giving the Silver Knights a power play they would waste no time taking advantage of, as Slavisa Ubiparipovic scored at11:53.
With Pablo Da Silva in as the sixth attacker for the Ambush, Hewerton fired a powerful shot in the net at 9:52 of the fourth quarter to shrink the deficit to two goals (6-4). That tally would be the lone goal of the quarter, as the Ambush failed to mount any more of a comeback and the Silver Knights held on for the win.
Next up for the Ambush is a trip to Milwaukee to square off with the Wave at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena on Sunday, January 28 at 1:05 p.m. CT.
