The St. Louis Ambush lost their fourth consecutive game Friday night at The Family Arena when they fell 11-8 to the Chihuahua Savage. The loss dropped the Ambush to 5-8-1 on the season, while Chihuahua improved to 2-5-2.
St. Louis got on the board within the first minute of the contest when Vadim Cojocov scored off a pass from Mo Ndiaye. Chihuahua answered and then took the lead on goals from Carlos Hernandez and Bryan Macias. The equalizer for the Ambush came when Tony Walls got off a shot while charging the goal mouth, off a pass from Richard Schmermund, to make it a 2-2 game at the end of the opening period.
The Ambush took a 3-2 lead when Vadim Cojocov took a shot that went wide, but found the foot of Dudca Carvalho, who was able to put it in goal in the fourth minute of the second stanza. Chihuahua bounced back with the next two tallies, courtesy of Hugo Puentes and the second of the night from Macias, to take a 4-3 lead. Cojocov and Ndiaye combined again to knot the score in the eighth minute of the period but Chihuahua kept the pressure on, regaining the lead (5-4) when Eduardo Garay was able to get a shot by Ambush goalkeeper Jose Resendiz. The visitors would notch one more before halftime when Jorge Rios scored with just under three minutes left in the quarter for a 6-4 lead at the halftime break.
Ndiaye scored for the Ambush in the fourth minute of the third quarter, but the Savage came back with the next two goals, both from Brayan Aguilar, to give Chihuahua a three goal (8-5) lead. The Ambush got one back when Chihuahua goalkeeper Berna Valdovinos attempted to clear the ball out of his end, but was blocked by Ambush defender Richard Schmermund, sending the loose ball in the direction of Robert Kristo, who promptly buried it in the net for an 8-6 score. The Savage tacked on one more when Luis Medrano scored to make it a 9-6 game heading into the fourth quarter.
Each team scored twice in the final period with St. Louis goals coming from Nidaye and Richard Schmermund and Chihuahua goals coming Aguilar and Puentes for an 11-8 final score.
The Ambush will have to figure out what went wrong and regroup quickly as they are back in action tomorrow night when Utica City FC invades The Family Arena for a 7:05 p.m. match. Saturday is also Alumni Night, featuring a halftime mini-game with alumni players from past St. Louis Steamers, St. Louis Storm and St. Louis Ambush teams.
