Strong First Half Propels Rampage to 6th Straight Win
ST. CHARLES, MO ( December 18, 2016) – If a 6-0 halftime lead was a good start for the Cedar Rapids Rampage, a 6-3 final score was good enough. The Rampage overcame an uneven second half performance to defeat the St. Louis Ambush at Family Arena on Sunday afternoon and extend their winning streak to six games.
Jamar Beasley returned to the lineup for the first time since November 12 and scored the first goal of the game by volleying an intercepted head ball past Ambush goalkeeper Casey Clark. The Rampage (7-2) went up 2-0 on a similar miscommunication in the back when Mitch Garcia headed a ball directly past his teammate Clark.
Early in the second quarter, Gordy Gurson’s little flick pass set up a streaking Hewerton Moreira who extended the lead to 3-0. Gurson’s assist also extended his point scoring streak to 25 games.
Hewerton scored his second goal of the game on a restart pass from Pablo Da Silva midway through the quarter. Derek Huffman scored on a breakaway three minutes later and Jonnathan Pachar closed the scoring with some nifty footwork near the end of the half.
Trailing 6-0, the Ambush (1-7) replaced Clark with Nikola Marojevic and the Rampage went into a defensive shell in the second half. Cedar Rapids lost the shutout at 9:08 of the third quarter on a long shot by Greg Kranz. Goalkeeper Brett Petricek may have been screened on the shot.
In the fourth quarter Richard Schmermund scored on a direct free kick and Stefan St. Louis scored 14 seconds later to cut the margin to 6-3 with 11:20 left in the game, but the Rampage were able to stop the bleeding, run out the clock, and head home with another win.
Hewerton was named the game’s First Star and Petricek, who was credited with 17 saves, was the Second Star. The Ambush’s Schmermund was the Third Star.