AMBUSH HOLD ON FOR A CLOSE WIN

St. Charles, Missouri (February 28, 2025) – The St. Louis Ambush ground out a 9-8 win over Utica City FC Friday night at The Family Arena. The win improved the Ambush to 5-10-1 on the season, while Utica dropped to 9-6-1. The Ambush took an early lead and never trailed in the game, although Utica made things interesting with a fourth quarter comeback that turned the contest into a nail-biter down to the final buzzer.

The first quarter went scoreless until the twelfth minute when Will Eskay connected for the Ambush to make it 1-0. Utica answered in the fourteenth minute when Ambush goalkeeper Paulo Nascimento made a save but was unable to get control of the ball and Utica’s Barbaro Shelier was able to tap it into the net.

St. Louis regained the lead in the eleventh minute of the second period when James Thomas took a shot that came back to him off the board and he slammed the ball into the net. With no further scoring, the Ambush enjoyed a 2-1 lead at halftime.

The Ambush replaced Nascimento in goal with Pollo Cortes at the start of the third frame. Utica knotted the score in the third minute of the third quarter on a goal from Cole Stephens. Three minutes later, Raphael Araujo scored for the Ambush to retake the lead, but Jayce Berger would score for Utica in two minutes to make it a one goal game (4-3) once again. Thomas scored off a pass from Lucas Almeida to complete the hat trick and give St. Louis a two-goal lead (5-3). In the thirteenth minute, the Ambush were awarded a penalty kick when Utica’s Nelson Santana was called for pushing. Duduca Carvalho took the penalty kick and made good on the opportunity, giving St. Louis a 6-3 lead going into the final stanza.

Utica shaved the lead in the fifth minute of the fourth quarter on a tally from Sergio Pinal. With the sixth attacker in play for Utica, Eskay scored his second, giving the Ambush a 7-4 lead. Eskay completed his own hat trick with an empty netter in the eighth minute to make it 8-4. Utica mounted a late comeback on two goals less than a minute apart from Mehrsad Ahmadi and Nilton de Andrade for an 8-6 game. Carvalho posted his second of the contest in the thirteenth minute to give St. Louis a 9-6 lead. Utica bounced back again with two goals less than a minute apart, courtesy of Shelier and Vini Dantas, to make it a one-goal (9-8) duel. The Ambush managed to hold on and keep the visitors from scoring again and seal the deal for an important win.

The Ambush are back in action at home on Sunday March 2 when the Dallas Sidekicks come to town for a 5:05 p.m. first kick at The Family Arena.

Single-game and group tickets are now on sale for the remainder of the 2024-25 regular season. Call the Ambush office at 636-477-6363 for more information. Fans can stay current on all Ambush news by visiting the team’s official website, stlambush.com and on social media outlets.