The St. Louis Ambush concluded their 2022-23 Major Arena Soccer League season with a 6-3 loss to the Florida Tropics Sunday afternoon at the RP Funding Center. The loss gives the Ambush a 9-13-2 final record, while the Tropics finish the regular season at 12-7-5. The game was closer than the final score would indicate, as Florida scored two goals against the sixth attacker in the final minute of the match.
The Tropics scored first when Victor Parreiras got a rolling shot by Ambush goalkeeper Jose Ogaz in the fourth minute of the first quarter. Twenty-nine seconds later, Vini Dantas made it 2-0 with an upper shelf shot. The Ambush struck when rookie Zachary Druhe scored his first career goal in the ninth minute. The Ambush drew even on a restart when Lucas Almeida passed to Dom Alvarado, who got a shot past Florida goalkeer Jorge Navarrete in the fourteenth minute of the quarter. Florida would take the lead just before halftime when Ricardo De Queiroz Diegues scored in the fourteenth minute of the second stanza to make the score 3-2.
The Floridians took a 4-2 lead in the tenth minute of the third quarter when Breno Oliveira got off a long shot that eluded Ogaz. St. Louis inched back when Druhe notched his second of the contest with a rocket launched from the yellow line in the tenth minute of the fourth period. Florida went on a power play when Lucas Almeida was sent to the penalty box for kicking in the thirteenth minute of the period. After a barrage of shots that were either saved by Ogaz or blocked by the Ambush defense, Vini Dantas finally found a hole and put the ball in the net to give the home team a 5-3 lead with less than half a minute left in the match. With the sixth attacked in play for the Ambush, Joey Tavernese scored an empty netter with 11 seconds left on the clock for a 6-3 final.
With their tenth season in the books, the Ambush now begin planning for their 2023-24 season. Season tickets for next season are now on sale. Call the Ambush office at 636-477-6363 for more information.
