The St. Louis Ambush suffered a frustrating loss to the Baltimore Blast Friday night at the TU Arena in Towson, Maryland. The Ambush took an early lead and didn’t fall behind until the last goal of the match in overtime. The win improved the Blast to 3-4-0 on the season, while the Ambush dropped to 1-6-1.
St. Louis took a 4-2 lead in the first quarter. William Eskay and Lucas Almeida each found the back of the net twice and Eskay also assisted on one of Almeida’s tallies. Marcel Berry also recorded two assists in the period. Baltimore’s goals came from Tony Donatelli and Jesus Pacheco. Donatelli’s goal came on a penalty kick after a controversial call where officials sent Ambush goalkeeper Paulo Nascimento to the penalty box for a two footed tackle while making a save with his feet, requiring backup keeper Jose Ogaz to come in cold off the bench to face the penalty kick.
Baltimore got another power play in the second minute of the second quarter when Nascimento came out of the penalty area to make a save and was called for a handball, resulting in shootout. Ogaz came in, made a worthy effort, but not enough to stop a goal by Baltimore’s Juan Pereira, resulting in a 4-3 score. With 16.3 seconds remaining, Almeida completed the hat trick to give the visitors a 5-3 lead at halftime.
The third frame remained scoreless until 28.5 seconds remained when Pacheco posted his second goal of the contest for the Blast to make it a one-goal game (5-4) heading into the final stanza.
In the fourth minute of the fourth quarter, Donatelli scored his second of the duel to knot the score at 5-5. Baltimore clearly was feeling the momentum of having scored four of the last five goals in the match. Less than a minute later, St. Louis regained the lead when Christian Briggs nailed a long shot that deflected into the net off the body of Baltimore defender Mike Deasel. The Ambush increased their lead in the eleventh minute when Triston Austin sent a pass across the penalty area to Curtis Kirby, who was able to beat Baltimore goalkeeper Quantrell Jones. Baltimore countered with the sixth attacker and did so effectively, with Jamie Thomas scoring in the twelfth minute to make the score 7-6. With 31.6 seconds left on the clock, Baltimore drew even on a goal from Ricardinho Sobreira, sending the battle into sudden death overtime.
In the fifth minute of overtime, Deasel got off a rocket of a shot from near midfield and Nascimento couldn’t get a handle on it, for the 8-7 game winner for the Blast.
Next, the Ambush will need to prepare for next weekend, with back-to-back games at The Family Arena on Friday and Saturday. On Friday, January 12, the Milwaukee Wave come to town for a 7:35 p.m. CT affair, followed by a visit from Utica City FC on Saturday, January 13 at 6:05 p.m. CT.
Both nights are also theme nights. The January 12 game is Five Acres Animal Night. Fans can purchase a ticket for their dog, bring their dog to the game and proceeds will go to the Five Acres Animal Shelter. The next night, January 13, is Family Night. Ambush players will walk out with their families during player introductions. January 13 is also Sumner One Poster Series night with poster #2 being handed out at the door and a postgame autograph session on the field.
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.
