Tropics Triumph Over Ambush

Lakeland, FL (January 15, 2017) – While the St. Louis area braced for a weekend of icy winter weather, the St. Louis Ambush journeyed to Florida for a pair of games with Tropics SC. After dropping a 4-3 match Friday night, the Ambush suffered a 9-4 loss on Sunday.

Things started out well for the boys in teal as the Ambush drew first blood within the first minute of the contest when Kory Dowell scored at the 38 second mark. The Tropics posted the equalizer when former Ambush star Freddy Moojen scored three minutes later (3:38). The opening stanza expired with the scored tied 1-1.

The Tropics went up 2-1 when Marco Rodriguez fired a shot that went wide and hit the dasher board, then rebounded off the board before it ricocheted off Ambush goalkeeper Casey Clark’s back and into the goal at 3:18 of the second quarter. St. Louis drew even (2-2) when midfielder Nick Kolarac, playing in his first professional indoor soccer game, was able to score off a pass from Dylan Hundelt at 5:36. The rest of the half would go downhill for the Ambush as the Tropics tallied the next four goals. Florida gained a 3-2 advantage when Victor Rojas scored on a restart, off a Freddy Moojen pass, at 7:58. The home team increased their lead to two less than a minute later (8:48) when Rodriguez scored his second of the match. Florida’s Lucas Texeira increased the lead to three when the Ambush defensive wall faltered on a restart at 12:13. The Tropics weren’t done yet as Rojas got his second of the night when he beat Clark in the last minute of the period (14:30). The first half expired with the Tropics enjoying a 6-2 lead.

The third quarter remained scoreless until the 12:08 mark, when former Ambush midfielder Anthony Arico fired a shot that Clark got a glove on, but couldn’t control to increase Florida’s lead to 7-2. The Ambush answered quickly when Lucas Almeida scored off a pass from Victor France at 13:25. As they did in the second quarter, Florida scored in the final minute of the third quarter when Moojen got his second tally of the contest at 14:39.

The fourth quarter kicked off with Florida up 8-3. Cody Costakis made it 8-4 when Florida goalkeeper Piotr Sliwa came out of the goal and Costakis was able to beat him at 9:50. St. Louis’ efforts at a comeback were short-lived, as Rodriguez scored seconds later (10:19) to complete the hat trick and give Florida a 9-4 lead, which they would hold until the final buzzer.

The loss dropped the Ambush to 1-11 on the season, while the Tropics improved to 6-7 and jumped into second place in the MASL Eastern Division. With seven games left on their regular-season schedule, the expansion Tropics are in the hunt for one of two playoff spots that will be captured in each division.

The Ambush return to the Family Arena next weekend for Friday and Sunday games at home. On Friday, January 20, the Ambush host the Harrisburg Heat at 7:35 p.m. All fans in attendance at the January 20 game will receive a free ticket to X-Treme Ice Racing, slated for January 28 at the Family Arena. On Sunday, January 22, the Milwaukee Wave invade the Family Arena for a 3:05 p.m. matinee affair.

Fans can catch all Ambush games this season live on the MASLtv YouTube channel. Single game and group tickets are available for all remaining home games. For more information, call the Ambush office at 636-477-6363. Keep up to date with Ambush news by visiting the official website, stlambush.com, the team’s Facebook page and on Twitter and Instagram.