The St. Louis Ambush squandered a four-goal lead to fall 8-7 to the Milwaukee Wave Sunday afternoon at The Family Arena. The loss dropped the Ambush to 4-11-4 (wins-losses-overtime losses) on the season, while Milwaukee improved to 11-5-2.
St. Louis got on the board first, courtesy of their goalkeeper, Paulo Nascimento, who fired a rocket from beyond the yellow line in the ninth minute of the game. Milwaukee answered in the fourteenth minute on a goal from Marcio Leite, making it a 1-1 contest at the end of the first quarter.
The Ambush took a 2-1 lead in the third minute of the second period when William Eskay nutmegged Wave goalkeeper William Banahene. Twenty-eight seconds later, James Togbah extended St. Louis’ lead to 3-1. The Ambush went on a power play when Milwaukee’s Cesar Correa was sent off for holding in the seventh minute. They made good on the opportunity when Richard Schmermund took a shot that came off the board and found a waiting Eskay for his second tally of the afternoon, making it a 4-1 game. Milwaukee made it 4-2 in the ninth minute when Derek Huffman put a high shot out of Nascimento’s reach. St. Louis went up 5-2 in the eleventh minute of the quarter when James Thomas scored off a pass from Robert Kristo. Milwaukee would score again before the half elapsed when Correa got a shot by Nascimento with just over a minute left, giving thee Ambush a 5-3 lead at halftime.
St. Louis went up 6-3 in the seventh minute of the third frame when a shot by Raphael Araujo came off the board, hit Banahene in the back and went into the net. The home team increased their lead to four in the ninth minute when Lucas Almeida went low and put the ball in the net from a prone position. Huffman tallied his second goal of the match in the twelfth minute with an upper ninety shot out of Nascimento’s reach to make it a 7-4 game heading into the final stanza.
Milwaukee continued to chip away at the Ambush lead when Ian Bennett scored with a long high shot in the second minute of the fourth quarter. The Wave went on a power play when St. Louis’ Christian Briggs was sent off for charging. The visitors made good on the opportunity when Ricardo Carvalho scored to make it a one-goal game (7-6). Carvalho struck again in the seventh minute with the equalier (7-7) and the fourth consecutive Milwaukee goal. Neither team scored before the clock ran out, sending the duel into sudden-death overtime.
Huffman completed the hat trick with 30 seconds left on the clock to nail the overtime victory for the Wave.
Next for the Ambush is a road game when they visit the Kansas City Comets March 2 at 6:05 p.m. at the Cable Dahmer Arena in Independence.
All MASL games are available for viewing via webcast at twitch.tv.
