The St. Louis Ambush lost 12-6 to the Tacoma Stars Saturday night at The Family Arena. The win for Tacoma improves their season record to 7-5-1 while St. Louis dropped to 4-9-3.
Tacoma scored at the one minute mark when Eddie Na was left unmarked and was able to get a shot by Ambush goalkeeper Jose Ogaz St. Louis answered when Marcel Berry went on a breakaway in the fourth minute of the first quarter and got off a shot that Tacoma keeper Chris Toth couldn’t stop. Tacoma took a 2-1 lead in the eleventh minute when a series of shots, blocks and rebounds ended up coming to Jamael Cox, who was able to put the ball in the net. The visitors struck again when Sebastian Navarro lobbed the ball over Ogaz’s head. At the end of the opening frame, Tacoma enjoyed a 3-1 lead.
Tacoma went on a power play when St. Louis’ Richard Schmermund was blue carded for tripping. They made good on the opportunity when Nani Mendoza made it a 4-1 game in the fifth minute. Micheal Ramos scored for Tacoma in the seventh minute to increase the lead to 5-1. Cox struck again in the eleventh minute. With just under a minute remaining, Lucas Almeida sent a backheel pass to Mike Da-Silva, who got the ball by Toth for a 6-2 game at halftime.
The Ambush got a power play of their own when Toth was sent to the penalty box for a hand ball in the third minute of the third quarter. Richard Schmermund took the penalty shot for St. Louis against Stars backup keeper Luis Birrueta and shaved the score to 6-3. Nearly two minutes later, James Thomas found the back of the net for the Ambush, making it a 6-4 game. St. Louis made it a one-goal game (6-5) when VcMor Eligwe scored off a pass from Schmermund in the eleventh minute. The Stars got one back in the twelfth minute when Ambush goalkeeper Steven Hamersky, who came in at the top of the quarter) made a save but couldn’t get a handle on the ball, which was kicked in by Tacoma’s Willie Spur, making the score 7-5 heading into the final frame.
Less than a minute into the fourth quarter, Tacoma’s Kyle Rivers went on a breakaway and put a shot out of Hamersky’s reach for an 8-5 score. Tacoma pulled away in the ninth minute of the period on a goal from Logan Jones. The Stars drove another nail in the coffin when Spurr got his second of the night with a high shot out of Hamersky’s reach in the eleventh minute. Less than a minute later, St. Louis was able to answer when Thomas got his second tally of the contest to make it 10-6. The Ambush then employed the sixth attacker, which promptly backfired when Cox completed the hat trick to give the visitors an 11-6 lead. Logan Jones posted his second goal of the night in the final minute to seal the 12-6 win for Tacoma.
The Ambush take to the road next weekend when they visit the Milwaukee Wave at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena Friday, February 16 at 6:35 p.m. CT. The next Ambush home game is slated for Sunday, February 25, when the two teams go at it again at 2:05 p.m. CT at The Family Arena.
