The St. Louis Ambush defeated the Florida Tropics 5-4 Saturday night at the Family Arena. The win improved the Ambush record to 4-4, while Florida dropped to 3-4. The Ambush also passed the Tropics in the MASL South Central Divsion, taking sole possession of second place.
Victor Parreiras scored the lone goal in the opening frame for Florida. The second quarter belonged to the Ambush with five unanswered goals. Felipe, JT Thomas and Jerjer Gibson each found the back of the net and Zach Reget did so twice to give the Ambush a 5-1 lead at halftime.
Jose Luiz Birche fired a high shot out of reach of Ambush goalkeeper Paulo to make the score 5-2 midway through the third period. Florida continued chipping away at the lead with fourth quarter goals by Guilherme Dos Santos and Maycon Franca to close the gap to 5-4. It would be too little, too late as Paulo and the Ambush defense held on to shut the door on the Tropics and win the match.
Paulo made eight saves in 12 save attempts (.667) in earning the win in goal for the Ambush. Hugo Silva saved 14 in 19 attempts (.737) in taking the loss for Florida.
Next for the Ambush is road trips to Milwaukee (January 12) and Kansas City (January 18) before returning home to host Utica City FC on Saturday, January 19 at 7:05 p.m. at the Family Arena.
