ST. LOUIS AMBUSH BEAT CHIHUAHUA TO MAKE IT A TWO-WIN WEEKEND
St. Charles, Missouri – The St. Louis Ambush defeated the Chihuahua Savage 10-7 Sunday afternoon at The Family Arena. The win is the second of the weekend for the Ambush, who improved to 5-5 on the season, while the Savage dropped to 0-4.
The Savage were the first to do damage when Hugo Puentes executed a bicycle kick into the net at 3:48 of the first quarter. The Ambush answered when Will Eskay and Triston Austin combined in a skillfull exchange where Eskay passed to Austin, then Austin back-heeled to Eskay, who pounded the ball into the net at 5:25. The Ambush took a 2-1 lead when a shot by Ado Jahic came off the wall to Niko Karidis, who was able to put the ball in goal at 13:37. The Savage scored the equalizer, courtesy of Bryan Macias, at 14:03 to make it 2-2 at the end of the opening stanza.
Chihuahua took a 2-1 lead on a restart goal by Jorge Rios at 3:10 of the second period. The Ambush drew even when a shot by Eskay came off a Savage defender and into the net at 4:27. The lead changed hands again when Ambush goalkeeper Pollo Cortes was peppered with shots and one by Puentes found its mark for his second goal of the match at 10:47 to give the visitors a 4-3 lead that would hold until halftime.
The Savage was first to score in the second half when Enrique Canez found the back of the net at 4:42 of the third quarter to give the visitors a 5-3 lead. St. Louis got one back when Eskay completed the hat trick off a pass from Robbie Kristo at 9:58 to make it 5-4. Neither team scored again in the third frame, giving Chihuahua a one-goal lead going into the fourth quarter.
St. Louis knotted the score when Kristo scored off a long pass from Christian Briggs at 1:18 of the final period. The Savage took the lead back (6-5) when Puentes went on a breakaway and was able to beat Cortes at 4:21. The Ambush tied things up again when Vadim Cojocov went on a long run with the ball, sent a perfect pass to a waiting Ado Jahic, who placed his shot out out of reach of Savage goalkeeper Ivan Munoz, for a 6-6 score at 8:21. The Ambush took the lead (7-6) for the first time since the first quarter when Vadim Cojocov beat Munoz for an unassisted tally at 11:22. St. Louis took an 8-6 lead with 2:16 left in the match when Kristo nailed a masterful upper ninety shot on a restart. Just over a minute later (13:48) Eskay scored for the fourth time to give the Ambush a 9-6 lead. Chihuahua wasn’t done yet as Rios was able to score his second of the afternoon to make it 9-7 at 14:17. St. Louis wasn’t comfortable having a two-goal lead in the last minute of the game as Mohamed Ndiaye scored at 14:26 for a final score of 10-7.
Ambush goalkeeper Eduardo “Pollo” Cortes saved 15 on 22 chances (.682 Sv%) in earning his fourth win of the season. Chihuahua keeper Ivan Munoz made 17 saves on 25 save opportunities (.680 Sv%) in taking the loss.
Next for the Ambush is three on the road, visiting the Harrisburg Heat on January 28, the Florida Tropics on January 30 and the Milwaukee Wave on February 6 before returning to The Family Arena to host The Savage on February 11.
Tickets for all remaining Ambush home games are available at the Family Arena box office and at ticketmaster.com. Fans can stay current on all Ambush news by visiting the team’s official website, stlambush.com and on social media outlets.