The St. Louis Ambush prevailed in a seesaw battle when they defeated the Dallas Sidekicks 6-5 Saturday night at the Allen Event Center. The win improved the Ambush to 1-2 on the 2021 season, while Dallas dropped to 0-2.
Dallas got on the board first when Lipe Andrade took the ball at midfield and got off a quick shot to beat Ambush goalkeeper Paulo at 5:22 of the first quarter. Just over six minutes into the second period, Ambush forward Howard Miller, Jr. was sent to the penalty box for charging Dallas goalkeeper Juan Gamboa. It would prove to be a costly penalty, as Oscar Romero scored for the Sidekicks a minute into the power play to give the home team a 2-0 lead. The Ambush went on a power play of their own when TJ Nelson earned a trip to the sin bin for tripping at 12:21. Ambush defender Magui Souza was able to find the back of the net at 13:00 to make the score 2-1 heading into the halftime break.
Thirty seconds into the third quarter, the Ambush drew even on a Dallas own-goal, credited to Ambush defender Axel Duarte. The Ambush took their first lead of the night on another power play when Dallas’ Victor Almendariz was blue carded for a dangerous play. St. Louis made good on the opportunity when Duduca Carvalho executed a shot from outside the box to make the score 3-2 at 6:40 of the third stanza. Former Ambush forward Freddy Moojen scored against his former team on a restart for a 3-3 tie at 8:51. The Ambush regained the lead (4-3) in the final minute of the period when Duduca fired a shot off the board and Vadim Cojocov got a foot on the rebound and put it away.
The Sidekicks tied the game (4-4) once again when Oscar Romero put a shot into the upper rear corner of the goal at 1:54 of the fourth quarter. The back-and-forth continued when Stefan Mijatovic scored on a restart off a pass from Max Ferdinand at 6:05 to give the visitors a 5-4 lead. The fifth power play of the match occurred when the Ambush were cited for too many men but this time, they were able to score a rare short-handed goal, courtesy of Lucas Almeida, to take a 6-4 lead at 11:34. Dallas wasn’t done yet, as Moojen scored his second of the contest, on a restart, at 13:52, but the Ambush were able to hold on until the final buzzer for the 6-5 win.
Ambush forward Max Ferdinand also stood out for his performance, assisting on four of the six St. Louis tallies.
Dallas outshot the Ambush 29-22. Officials handed out five blue cards, three to the Ambush and two to the Sidekicks. Ambush goalkeeper Paulo stopped 20 shots on 25 chances in earning his first win of the season while Gamboa made 10 saves on 16 chances in goal for the Sidekicks.
The Ambush close out the month of January with four consecutive home games. The home opener is slated for Saturday, January 16, when the cross-state rival Kansas City Comets come to town for a 7:05 p.m. CST affair at the Family Arena. The balance of the month sees visits from the Tacoma Stars on January 24 and the Florida Tropics on January 29 and 31.
