The St. Louis Ambush dropped a 6-3 battle to the San Diego Sockers Friday night at The Family Arena. The loss dropped St. Louis to 6-11-1 on the season, while San Diego improved to 16-3-0.
Tavoy Morgan put San Diego on the board first in the second minute of the match. St. Louis scored the equalizer in the tenth minute when Will Eskay went on a long run from the opposite end of the field, evaded an opposing defender, and pounded the ball in the net. With his back against the boards, Axel Chakounte made an improbable shot into the goal for the Ambush with one second remaining to close the door on the first quarter with a 2-1 lead for the home side.
San Diego went on a power play in the sixth minute of the second period when St. Louis’ Christian Briggs was sent to the penalty box for kicking. The visitors made good on the opportunity when Drew Ruggles was left open near the goal and easily scored off a pass from Gabriel Costa to knot the score. Neither team found the back of the net and the game was tied 2-2 at halftime.
In the second minute of the third quarter, the Sockers got a shootout when Ambush goalkeeper Paulo Nascimento was called for handling the ball outside the box. With Nascimento in the penalty box, Pollo Cortes came in cold off the bench and faced Kraig Chiles, who scored to give San Diego a 3-2 lead. It should be noted that, ironically, the referees didn’t pull a card on a play seconds earlier when a Sockers player pushed Ambush midfielder Ryan Khedoo head-first into the boards, leaving him down for several minutes, clearly dazed and requiring assistance off the field and to the locker room. With the winds of momentum blowing at their backs, Tavoy Morgan scored for San Diego in the fifth minute to make it a 4-2 contest. Sebastian Mendez scored for the Californians in the tenth minute to increase the lead to 5-2. With seven seconds remaining, James Thomas scored for St. Louis, sending the game into the final frame at 5-3 in favor of the visitors.
San Diego increased their advantage to 6-3 when Chiles scored with a high shot on a restart in the seventh minute of the fourth period. That would also be the final numbers, as the Sockers held strong for the win.
The Ambush are back in action this Sunday, March 9, 2025 when they host the dangerous Milwaukee Wave in a 2:05 p.m. CDT matinee at The Family Arena. Sunday’s match against Milwaukee is the second of four meetings between the two teams during the regular season. The Wave won the first game 7-6 on December 15 at The Family Arena. The final two encounters will close out the regular season and be split between The Family Arena (on March 28) and the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena (on March 30).
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.
