By Amber Dieringer, STLSportsPage.com
With four games left in a seven-game homestand and eight games left in the season overall, the St. Louis Ambush’s young talent could be headed to the #2 spot in their division and earn their first trip to the MASL playoffs.
The Ambush have tied their single season win (with the current Ambush franchise). Before that, their best season was 2014-15 when they finished 8-12 and after Saturday night’s game they are 8-8.
The team gets a week off before the next home game when they welcome the Orlando SeaWolves Friday, February 22 at 7:35 p.m. at the Family Arena.
Saturday night the St. Louis Ambush grinded out a huge win against the Kansas City Comets in an offensive slugfest on the night of Saturday, February 9, scoring a season-high 10 goals to the Comets’ 8 goals.
The match started off slowly, but quickly grew to be intense, physical, and chaotic, and justifiably so—this game was a “must win” for both teams involved in order to settle into the #2 position in the MASL South Central Division at the end of the regular season. Before the start of the match, Kansas City held the second playoff spot as the #2 team in the South Central division with a 7-5 record and St. Louis followed closely behind as the #3 ranked team in the division.
Both teams stepped off the pitch at the end of the match with the Ambush improving their record to 8-8 and the Comets dropping to 7-6, and St. Louis now just one more win from taking the second of two playoff spots away from Kansas City. This would be huge for the St. Louis Ambush, as it would be the first time ever that the team has earned a spot in the MASL playoffs.
St. Louis took the lead quickly, with forward Zach Reget and defender Felipe Silva putting away two goals in the first six minutes. The Comets struggled to counter until late in the second quarter, ending the half at 3-2 Ambush. The late swing in momentum propelled the Comets to put up a strong fight and tie the score 6-6 at the beginning of the fourth quarter. The final quarter was a high-scoring brawl, highlighted by multiple brilliant saves from goalkeeper Paulo Nascimento and a last-second goal by forward Justin Stinson.
Midfielder Lucas Almeida and Stinson led St. Louis offensively in the match, with Almeida tallying one goal and four assists, and Stinson adding three goals and one assist.
The future is bright for this young, talented Ambush team—second-year Stinson and rookie Reget carry the team in goals and overall points, and Nascimento is improving off of an All-Rookie Honorable Mention 2017-18 season.
Stinson has charged forward into a remarkable second-year campaign, averaging over 1.3 points per match. His 22 points over the season is good to rank him #21 in the MASL for overall points, and #1 on the Ambush.
Reget currently leads all rookies in the MASL in goals scored, has already been named MASL Player of the Week once, named to the Sporturf Team of the Week twice, earned honorable mention four times, as well as sitting at #22 in the MASL for overall points. This impressive rookie campaign could make him a solid pick for MASL Rookie of the Year.
The Ambush will continue their march toward the 2019 playoffs as they face the Orlando SeaWolves at 7:35 on Friday, February 22nd in the Family Arena.
For fans unable to catch any game in person, all MASL games are webcast live at masl.tv. Group and single game tickets are on sale for all Ambush home games. For more information, call the Ambush office at 636-477-6363. Keep up to date on all Ambush news by following the official website, stlambush.com and on Facebook and Twitter.
