The St. Louis Ambush fell to the Milwaukee Wave in a 12-6 contest to finish out their two-game weekend Sunday afternoon. The Ambush now hold an 8-11 record, and the Wave rise to 12-4.
The first quarter began with an intensity that led to the Ambush leading 2-1. The first goal of the game was the result of a targeted cross from Oitomeia that connected to JT Thomas for the shot. The Wave returned with a goal from Guilherme Veiga, his fourth of the season, to level the score at 1-1. The Ambush retaliated only 12 seconds later with an unassisted goal by Stefan St. Louis to take the lead at 2-1. Notably, Ambush goalkeeper Paulo played a key role in this quarter with impressive saves, including a three-on-none sliding stop.
Only one minute into the second quarter, Milwaukee’s Max Ferdinand fired a shot into the bottom corner of the goal to close the gap at 2-2. Ten seconds after a withdrawn goal for the Wave due to a penalty, Anthony Grant charged down the field sending the ball into the back of the net to earn a 3-2 lead for the Ambush. Milwaukee responded with a no-look finish by Andrew Weidabach, but the Ambush took the lead again when Grant ran by goalkeeper Joey Kapinos to score his second of the afternoon. The Ambush finished the half leading 4-3.
The Wave took momentum in the third quarter ending with a score of to 9-5. In a power play situation with Grant stuck in the penalty box, Milwaukee took advantage of the mismatch with Luan Oliveira powering a shot into the goal. Bringing the Wave into the lead for the first time, Oliveira proceeded to score a restart goal into the upper right corner just out of Paulo’s reach for a 5-4 lead. St. Louis answered with a goal for the Ambush off of an assist from Lucas Almeida at 9:05. Just 19 seconds later at 9:24, Ian Bennett found the net to regain Milwaukee’s lead at 6-5. Lengthening the gap to 8-5, Max Ferdinand scored off of a backheel assist from Dani Morillo, and Bennett executed a hard driven shot from the top of the penalty arch. At 14:36, Bennett completed a hat trick in a single quarter bringing the tally to 9-5.
To start the final quarter, Bennett positioned himself one on one with Paulo and shot high to bring the Wave to a 10-5 lead only 29 seconds into the period. In a 6th attacker setup, Thomas scores his second goal for the Ambush narrowing the divide to 10-6. To finish out the game, Bennett marks his fifth and sixth points of the match, and Oitomeia and Vadim Cojocov received a blue and red card respectively. This rounds out the contest with a final score of 12-6.
Coming up next for the Ambush is a home match against the cross-state Kansas City Comets on Sunday March 1 at 3:05 p.m. at the Family Arena.
