On Star Wars night at The Family Arena, the force was with the St. Louis Ambush, who pulled off a 10-3 victory over the Harrisburg Heat. The win improved St. Louis to 3-8-3 (wins-losses-overtime losses) on the season, while Harrisburg slipped to 1-11-0.
Harrisburg drew first blood in the first minute of the contest when Ambush goalkeeper Paulo Nascimento fumbled a save, enabling Josiah Ramirez to tap the ball in. William Eskay scored the equalizer for St. Louis, assisted by Ado Jahic, in the sixth minute. The Ambush took a 2-1 lead in the thirteenth minute when James Thomas scored off a pass from VcMore Eligwe. Less than a minute later, Alejandro Arbelaez beat Nascimento with a shot to knot the score 2-2.
The second period would see St. Louis pull away. John Eskay scored off a pass from Eligwe in the sixth minute, followed by Mike Da-Silva, assisted by Robert Kristo, and Eskay’s second of the contest to give the Ambush a 5-2 lead at halftime.
The day before this game, St. Louis announced the acquisition of Raphael Araujo from the Baltimore Blast and the newcomer went right to work ingratiating himself to the Ambush fans. He scored his first goal as a member of the team in the fourth minute of the third quarter when he went on a long breakaway from the opposite end of the field to make the score 6-2. Just under four minutes later, Araujo struck again when he beat Harrisburg goalkeeper Jorge Navarrete for his second tally of the night. Harrisburg got one back when Roshawn Panton scored in the eleventh minute to make it 7-3. The Ambush answered when Araujo completed the hat trick in the twelfth minute, followed by Kristo less than a minute later to give the Ambush a 9-3 lead heading into the final frame.
The fourth quarter would see only one goal, when John A. Eskay got his second goal and fourth point of the match (he recorded two assists earlier) with his goal in the twelfth minute of the fourth quarter to complete the 10-3 Ambush win.
The Ambush are back in action Sunday when they host the cross-state rival Kansas City Comets at 2:05 p.m. CT.
All MASL games are available for viewing via webcast at twitch.tv. 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.
