The St. Louis Ambush handed the Florida Tropics their first loss of the season in an 8-4 rout Sunday afternoon at the Family Arena. The win improved the Ambush to 4-3 on the season, while Florida dropped to 6-1. It also allowed the Ambush to avenge Friday’s 8-3 loss at the hands of the Tropics.
The Ambush struck first when Vadim Cojocov sent a long pass to Max Ferdinand, who was approaching the goal mouth, where he tapped the ball in for a 1-0 score at 2:27 of the opening period. St. Louis increased their lead to 2-0 when Howard Miller, Jr. took a shot that Florida goalkeeper Hugo Silva stopped but couldn’t get control of and Tony Walls was there to tap the loose ball into the net at 2:20 of the second quarter. Less than two minutes later, Walls struck again when he took a pass from Magui Souza and sent it into the goal at 4:16. Vadim Cojocov was the next man up for the Ambush when he took a shot that rebounded off the wall and headed it into the goal at 5:36. Florida put their first mark on the scoreboard at 6:43 when Joey Tavernese was able to beat Ambush goalkeeper Brett Petricek to make the score 4-1. Florida got another tally when Victor Parreiras went on a long run with the ball before firing off a shot that found its mark at 13:37, giving the Ambush a 4-2 lead at halftime.
Florida wasted no time applying offensive pressure in the second half as Parreiras posted his second goal of the game at 1:02 of the third frame to shave the Ambush lead to 4-3. The home team responded quickly as Vadim Cojocov nailed his second goal of the game, assisted by Axel Duarte, at 3:32 to increase St. Louis’ lead to 5-3. Rafa Alves, positioned between the yellow line and center line, got off a long and accurate shot for Florida to close the gap to 5-4 at 9:00 of the third quarter.
In the final stanza, the Ambush turned up the offense with three consecutive goals. Tony Walls completed the hat trick at 8:38, Stefan Mijatovic beat the sixth attacker at 12:28 and Corey Adamson scored an empty netter at 14:45 for a final score of 8-4.
In earning the win in goal for St. Louis, Brett Petricek stopped 13 shots in 17 opportunities for a .765 save percentage.
The Ambush return to action with back-to-back home games this weekend, hosting the Ontario Fury Friday, February 5 at 7:35 p.m. CST with a return engagement slated for Saturday, February 6 at 7:05 p.m. CST. All Ambush home games are at Axius Field at the Family Arena. Tickets for upcoming home games are available at the Family Arena box office or online at ticketmaster.com. All Ambush games can also be viewed online at Facebook Live PPV.
