The St. Louis Ambush fell 4-2 to the Kansas City Comets Saturday night at the Cable Dahmer Arena in Independence, Missouri, splitting the opening weekend home-and-home series between the two teams. The Ambush (1-1-0) won their home opener Friday night and the Comets (1-0-1) returned the favor Saturday night.
The Comets got on the board first at 6:03 when James Togbah placed a shot in the corner of the goal out of reach of Ambush goalkeeper Mark Baker, who was starting his first MASL game. In the last minute of the opening quarter, the Ambush found themselves a man down when Will Eskay was assessed a blue card for boarding and the Comets made good on the opportunity when John Sosa scored with one second remaining to give Kansas City a 2-0 lead.
The Ambush got a power play of their own when Comets goalkeeper Neto was called for a handball outside the penalty area, resulting in a penalty kick. Tony Walls took the kick but Neto was able to block the shot. Less than a minute later, Kevin Ellis scored for the Ambush, on a restart, off a pass from Lucas Almeida, to close the gap to 2-1.
Following a scoreless third frame, the Comets got another power play when Robert Kristo was sent to the penalty box for contact above the shoulder at 10:16 of the fourth quarter. The Ambush managed to kill off the penalty, but Leo Gibson tapped the ball past Baker at 12:24 to increase Kansas City’s lead to 3-1 with less than three minutes left in the match. With the sixth attacker in play for the Ambush, Lesia Thetsane scored an empty netter to make it a 4-1 game. In the final minute of the game, Neto earned a blue card for tripping, resulting in a penalty kick, which Ellis completed with relative ease, for a final score of 4-2 Comets.
Playing in his first-ever MASL game, rookie goalkeeper Mark Baker turned in a stellar performance for the Ambush. He made 17 saves on 20 opportunities, for a .850 save percentage. Despite the loss, Baker had a great debut. In goal for the Comets, Nicolau Neto continues to cement his reputation as a superb goalkeeper, logging 11 saves on 12 opportunities (.917 save percentage).
Next for the Ambush is a visit to Milwaukee to battle the Wave on Sunday, December 11 at 6:05 p.m. CT at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena. The next Ambush home game is slated for Sunday, December 11, when the Baltimore Blast invade the Family Arena for a 4:05 p.m. CST match. All Ambush games are available for webcast at twitch.com.
Tickets for all Ambush home games are available from the Family Arena box office and ticketmaster.com. For season or group tickets, call the Ambush office at 636-477-6363.
