The St. Louis Ambush closed out their 2023-24 Major Arena Soccer League season with a 7-2 loss to the Dallas Sidekicks Saturday evening at the Credit Union of Texas Event Center in Allen, Texas. The loss gives the Ambush a 4-14-6 final record on the season, while the Sidekicks finish at 6-18-0.
St. Louis got on the board in the first minute of the contest when Skylar Funk maneuvered himself into an open spot and scored off a pass from Ryan Khedoo. Dallas would outshoot St. Louis 9-2 in the first period, but the only goal belonged to the Ambush, who led 1-0.
The Sidekicks drew even two minutes into the second quarter when Yahir Romero sent a backheel pass to Moises Hernandez, who was beyond the yellow line but still able to put the ball out of reach of Ambush goalkeeper Alec Redington. St. Louis went on a power play in the fourth minute of the period when Bradlee Baladez was sent off for boarding but Dallas was successful in killing off the penalty. The Sidekicks took a 2-1 lead in the ninth minute when a shot by Oscar Romero came off the board and found the foot of Blas Perez, who put a shot in the low corner of the goal. The Ambush outshot the Sidekicks 4-3 in the second quarter but Dallas posted two goals to enjoy a 2-1 advantage at halftime.
In the first minute of the third quarter, Oscar Romero gave the Sidekicks a 3-1 with a restart goal. In the tenth minute, St. Louis’ Greg Kranz sent a pass to Kyle Swanner, who found the back of the net to make it a 3-2 game. In the thirteenth minute, the Ambush defensive wall faltered on a restart, giving Baladez a goal and Dallas a 4-2 lead. Dallas got a power play when St. Louis’ Greg Kranz earned a blue card for boarding in the thirteenth minute. The third frame expired with the home team ahead 4-2. Dallas outshot St. Louis 9-8 and outscored them 2-1 in the quarter.
The final period started with eight seconds left on the Dallas power play, but St. Louis successfully killed it off. That success would be short-lived though, as Hernandez scored his second of the match at the 32 second mark to give the Sidekicks a 5-2 lead. Oscar Romero tallied his second goal of the duel in the sixth minute for a 6-2 score. Dallas got another power play in the seventh minute when Funk was sent to the sin bin for tripping, but the Ambush managed to kill it off without a goal. With five and a half minutes left on the clock, St. Louis employed the sixth attacker in an effort to get back in the game. The Sidekicks would add one more when Anthony Powell scored an empty-netter with 10.6 seconds remaining on the clock for a final score of 7-2. Dallas outshot St. Louis 7-6 in the fourth quarter and outscored them 3-0.
Despite the loss, Alec Redington turned in a stellar performance in goal for the Ambush in his first-ever MASL game. He made 17 saves on 23 opportunities for a very respectale .739 save percentage.
With the 2023-24 season in the books, the work of figuring out what went wrong in a disappointing campaign begins immediately. The current Ambush squad has substantial talent and the team owners and coaches will strive to assemble a winning squad for the 2024-25 season.
