The St. Louis Ambush fell 6-5 to the Florida Tropics Friday night at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland Florida. The win improved the Tropics to 11-7-5 on the season and locked up a third place finish. The loss dropped the Ambush to 9-12-2.
St. Louis found the back of the net early when Lucas Almeida scored in the second minute of the opening period. It would be the only tally of the quarter. The Ambush went up 2-0 when Almeida struck again. Lucas caught Florida goalkeeper Chris Frederick a little too far out of goal and struck with a long shot from midfield that found its mark in the seventh minute of the second quarter. The Tropics answered 25 seconds later on a power play goal from Vini Dantas to make it 2-1. Florida drew even when Drew Ruggles scored on another power play in the eleventh minute of the period, then took a 3-2 lead when Breno Oliveira scored in the twelfth minute. It was a lead they would enjoy through the halftime break.
In a rarity for professional indoor soccer, the third quarter was scoreless. Within the first minute of the final frame, it was evident it would not echo the third quarter’s lack of goals. Drew Ruggles scored for the Tropics and Marcel Berry for the Ambush, making it a 4-3 game. Christian Briggs scored in the third minute for St. Louis to knot the score, but Victor Parreiras scored 38 seconds later for the Tropics to regain the lead (5-4). Florida went up by two (6-4) when Oliveira notched is second of the night, beating Ambush goalkeeper Mark Baker with a long shot in the twelfth minute of the period. With 61 seconds left on the clock, Will Eskay scored for St. Louis with a shot into the top shelf of the goal, inching his team to within a goal of tying the match. Time was not on St. Louis’ side as the clock wound down and Florida came away with the 6-5 win.
The two teams will close out the regular season with a rematch at the RP Funding Center on Sunday at 2:05 p.m. CDT. Sunday’s game can be viewed online at twitch.com.
Season tickets for the 2023-24 season are now on sale. Call the Ambush office at 636-477-6363 for more information.
