The St. Louis Ambush closed out the 2024-25 MASL regular season with a 10-5 loss to the Milwaukee Wave. The win improved Milwaukee’s record to 14-8-2, while St. Louis dropped to 11-12-1 and saw their five-game winning streak come to an end.
The Ambush are still in the running for the eighth and final playoff berth and it all comes down to tonight’s game between the Tacoma Stars and San Diego Sockers. St. Louis holds a one-point lead over Tacoma in the MASL standings, so a loss by Tacoma would see the Ambush make an appearance in the Ron Newman Cup Playoffs.
Ian Bennett drew first blood for Milwaukee in the ninth minute of the first quarter when Ambush goalkeeper Paulo Nascimento was down after making a save and couldn’t scramble back to his feet in time to stop Bennett’s shot. Will Eskay notched the first goal for St. Louis, assisted by Duduca Carvalho, in the final minute of the period but Franck Tayou countered for the Wave eight seconds later for a 2-1 Milwaukee lead at the end of the opening frame.
Bennett struck again when he headed the ball on target at the goal mouth just 26 seconds into the second period to extend Milwaukee’s lead to 3-1. St. Louis got one back in the second minute when Riley Urie went on a run, drew Wave goalkeeper William Banahene out, and put the ball in the net. Milwaukee regained a two-goal lead (4-2) when Javier Steinwascher fired a hard high shot, out of Nascimento’s reach, from two steps inside the yellow line. The Wave offense shifted into high gear in the twelfth minute when Ricardo Carvalho got open and put a top shelf shot on target to make it a 5-2 contest. The Wave piled on in the fourteenth minute when Alex Sanchez took a shot, Paulo attempted a diving save, the ball came off the board and Sanchez followed the rebound, which he pounded in as Nascimento struggled to get to his feet in time. With one second remaining in the first half, Bennett went on a breakaway and completed the hat trick to give Milwaukee a 7-2 lead at halftime.
In the third minute of the third period, Carvalho and Eskay combined again for Eskay’s second goal of the duel to make it a 7-3 game. Milwaukee bounced back with two tallies in the seventh minute on the second of the match from Sanchez and the fourth from Bennett, making it a 9-3 game. St. Louis chipped away at the lead in the fourteenth minute when Eskay got a foot on a loose ball for his own hat trick and a 9-4 score heading into the fourth quarter.
Milwaukee went up 10-4 in the sixth minute of the final frame when Nascimento was out of the goal, having made a save, enabling Breno Loveiro to tap the ball in. St. Louis answered just over a minute later when James Thomas scored off a pass from Axel Chakounte to make the score 10-5 and those numbers would be the final ones as the regular season came to a close.
Season tickets for the 2025-26 season are now on sale. Call the Ambush office at 636-477-6363 for more information.
