ST. LOUIS AMBUSH FALL HARD IN MILWAUKEE

Milwaukee, Wisconsin (December 15, 2023) – The St. Louis Ambush started Friday night’s game with a roar and ended it with a whimper. The Ambush fell 14-7 to the Milwaukee Wave at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena. The loss dropped the Ambush to 0-3-1 (wins-losses-overtime losses) on the season, while the Wave improved to 2-1-1.

The Ambush stormed out of the gate early when Billy Stimac scored just 31 seconds into the match, assisted by William Eskay. Just over two minutes later, Eskay scored and Stimac assisted to give the visitors an early 2-0 lead. St. Louis went up 3-0 when Robert Kristo took a shot that a Wave defender got a foot on before it made it into the goal in the ninth minute. Milwaukee got on the board in the twelfth minute when Mario Alvarez was able to scoot a low shot by Ambush goalkeeper Paulo Nascimento. Ian Bennett charged toward the goal mouth in time to connect with a pass from Marcio Leite to make it a 3-2 game with just over four minutes remaining in the opening stanza.

Milwaukee drew even (3-3) in the fifth minute of the second quarter when Nascimento was screened by a Wave player, enabling Alex Bradley to put a shot in the back of the net. The Wave took a 4-3 lead in the eighth minute when Bradley sent a pass to Salvador Nunez, who sent it to Bennett, who nailed his second goal of the contest. The Ambush knotted the score (4-4) in the tenth minute when Kristo nutmegged Wave keeper William Banahene. Milwaukee went on a power play in the thirteenth minute when Ambush forward Mike Da-Silva was blue-carded for tripping. The first half expired in a 4-4 tie.

Milwaukee’s offense went into overdrive in the third period, scoring seven unanswered goals. Just 47 seconds into the frame, Derek Huffman tapped a slow roller to Leite, who found the back of the net to give Milwaukee a 5-4 advantage. Less than a minute later, the Wave went up 6-4 on a goal from Javier Steinwascher. Three seconds short of the three minute mark, Cesar Correa beat Nascimento with a shot to make it 7-4 and prompting an Ambush timeout to regroup. In the seventh minute, blue cards were pulled on both teams when Nascimento was down after making a save and was kicked in the face by Nunez. Nascimento retaliated by swinging a foot at Nunez. After a video review by the officials, both players were sent to the penalty box with backup goalkeeper Jose Ogaz minding the net for St. Louis. Huffman scored on Ogaz in the tenth minute to increase Milwaukee’s lead to 8-4. The Wave went up 9-4 when Bennett took a shot that Nascimento saved but didn’t get control of and the ball went straight to Ricardo Carvalho, who had no trouble putting it on target in the twelfth minute. Milwaukee went on another power play when St. Louis’ Christian Briggs took a trip to the sin bin for taking down Carvalho in the thirteenth minute. The Wave made good on the advantage as Leite scored his second of the duel to give the home team a 10-4 lead. In the final half minute of the quarter, Stuart Grable beat Nascimento to make it 11-4.

Ogaz replaced Nascimento in goal in the fourth quarter for St. Louis. Despite the lopsided score, the Ambush didn’t quit as James Togbah scored his first goal of the season in the fifth minute, followed by Mike Da-Silva 18 seconds later to close the scoring gap to 11-6. Milwaukee made it 12-6 in the seventh minute on a restart when Leite fed the ball to Huffman, who beat Ogaz. Togbah scored his second in the ninth minute (12-7), but Milwaukee came back with goals from Breno Oliveira (13-7) and another from Alvarez to make it 14-7.

Friday’s battle was a chippy one, with officials pulling a total of ten cards. The Ambush got five blue cards and two yellow, while the Wave got two blue and one yellow.

The Ambush are back in action in two days as they host the Dallas Sidekicks on Sunday, December 17, 2023 at 3:05 p.m. CT at The Family Arena. Following Sunday’s action, the Ambush get a break over Christmas weekend before returning to the turf on Thursday, December 28 when they visit the Kansas City Comets at 7:05 p.m. CT at the Cable Dahmer Arena in Independence. The two teams then clash again on New Year’s Eve at 2:05 p.m. at The Family Arena. All games are webcast at twitch.com.

Single game, season and group tickets for the 2023-24 season are now on sale. Call the Ambush office at 636-477-6363 for more information. Single game tickets can also be purchased online at ticketmaster.com. Fans can stay current on all Ambush news by visiting the team’s official website, stambush.com and on social media outlets.