The first win of the season eluded the St. Louis Ambush Saturday night when they were defeated 8-7 by the Empire Strykers. The loss drops St. Louis to 0-2-1 on the season, while the Strykers improved to 1-2-0.
The Strykers struck first and did so early in the contest, scoring twice in the first two minutes, with Claude Dielna and Stefan Mijatovic giving the visitors a 2-0 lead. Alan Perez scored in the fifth minute, making it 3-0. The Ambush got on the board in the tenth minute on an unassisted tally from Billy Stimac.
The second quarter remained scoreless until the tenth minute when Adam James beat Ambush goalkeeper Jose Ogaz to give the Strykers a 4-1 advantage. Just over two minutes later, Robert Kristo scored for St. Louis off a long pass from Stimac, to make it 4-2.
In the thirteenth minute of the third quarter, St. Louis shaved the lead to one when William Eskay scored with an assist from Kristo.
The Strykers got one back in the seventh minute of the final period when Ogaz was down after making a save and Justin Stinson put the ball out of his reach and into the net for a 5-3 score. The visitors opened the gap (6-3) when Perez nailed his second of the contest In the eighth minute. The Ambush got one back less than a minute later on William Eskay’s second of the night. Empire struck back in the ninth minute when Gerardo Jurado scored to make it 7-4. One minute and one second later, Kristo threaded the needle with a masterful shot into goal for a 7-5 score. The back-and-fortth continued when Empire’s Andy Nunez made it 8-5 in the thirteenth minute. St. Louis wasn’t done yet, as Eskay completed the hat trick with a goal less than a minute later for an 8-6 score. Eskay struck again when he made it an 8-7 game with 9.8 seconds left on the clock. Despite the valiant effort from the St. Louis squad, time ran out and the Strykers left town with the 8-7 victory.
The Ambush will be in action twice next weekend. They travel to Milwaukee to clash with the Wave on Friday, December 15 at 6:35 p.m. CT, then return home to host the Dallas Sidekicks Sunday, December 17 at 3:05 p.m. CT.
Single game, season and group tickets for the 2023-24 season are now on sale. Call the Ambush office at 636-477-6363 for more information. Single game tickets can also be purchased online at ticketmaster.com.
