The St. Louis Ambush fell 4-3 to the Kansas City Comets in a preseason duel Saturday night at the Dellwood Recreation Center.
With less than 20 seconds remaining in the first quarter, the Ambush scored on a restart when Clayton Matheus tipped in the ball off Zach Reget. It would be the lone tally in the opening stanza, which expired with the Ambush leading 1-0.
Bryan Perez answered for Kansas City in the early minutes of the second quarter when his shot beat Ambush goalkeeper Paulo. The Comets went on a power play when Matheus was assessed a two minute penalty for charging. A solid Ambush defense managed to keep the visitors at bay and the score remained knotted when the penalty expired. With less than seven minutes remaining in the period, the Comets got another power play opportunity when Corey Adamson was sent to the box for two minutes for tripping. Again, the Ambush held off the Comets’ attack and the scored stayed 1-1 at the end of the first half.
With just over three minutes remaining in the third quarter, Antonio Manfut scored the go-ahead goal for the Ambush, on a restart, assisted by Lucas Almeida. The Ambush got a power play opportunity when Alain Matingou was sent to the sin bin for tripping in the last minute of the quarter, which expired with the Ambush holding a 2-1 advantage.
Just over a minute into the fourth quarter, Kansas City’s Odaine Sinclair was charge two minutes for tripping, giving the Ambush a 5-3 man advantage. The Ambush went up 3-1 on the power play when Douglas Dos Santos, who joined the team today after being acquired from Harrisburg, scored with an assist by JT Thomas. Kansas City trimmed the lead to 3-2 when Ramone Palmer scored, assisted by Gui Gomes. With just over two minutes left in the contest, Lucas Rodriguez posted an unassisted tally to tie the game. Less than a minute later, Ramone Palmer’s goal gave the Comets a 4-3 lead that they would hold until the final buzzer.
The Ambush kick off their 2018-19 regular season with road games on November 30 at Orlando, December 1 at Florida and December 8 at Harrisburg. The upcoming season will consist of 24 games, with all 12 home games being played at the Family Arena in St. Charles. The home opener is slated for Sunday, December 16 at 3:05 p.m. CT when the Ambush host the Kansas City Comets.
