COUGHLIN LEADS UTICA CITY TO WIN OVER ST. LOUIS

Utica, N.Y. – Andrew Coughlin made 15 saves and Ricardo Diegues chipped in with a goal and assist as Utica City FC outlasted the St. Louis Ambush 4-3 on Friday night at the Adirondack Bank Center. Cristhian Segura, Nate Bourdeau, and Momo, also scored for Utica.

Coughlin stood tall all evening for the home side. Early in the first quarter, the goaltender made a double-save to keep the game scoreless. Ambush forward Oitomeia Souza had an open shot at the top of the box which Coughlin kicked away. The rebound fell to Tony Walls, but the Baldwinsville, NY native answered the call once again for the home side.

City opened the scoring through midfielder Cristhian Segura. The midfielder blasted a left-footed attempt over Ambush keeper Paulo Nascimento for his 15th goal of the season. Utica doubled their lead shortly after Segura's strike with a lethal counterattack. Coughlin had his hand in the offense when he launched a cross-field throw to Diegues. City's striker chested the pass perfectly into the path of Nate Bourdeau to calmly score his 4th of the season. The visitors scored on a top of the box restart to end the first quarter at 2-1.

Momo restored City's two-goal lead with under six minutes to play in the second quarter. The midfielder's first headed attempt on goal was saved by Nascimento, but the Serbian stuck with the play and his second header crossed the goal line for his sixth goal of the campaign. Stefan St. Louis scored just before the close of the first half to send both teams back into the locker room with City's lead cut to a single goal at 3-2.

The third quarter continued to see the game hang in the balance. Coughlin came through again for the home side when he stopped Mario Marcos with another kick save. Shortly after Coughlin's huge save, Diegues scored City's fourth goal of the night. The striker forced a turnover from Nascimento as his left-footed strike gave City a short-lived two-goal lead before the Ambush scored again with an unstoppable shot from Vadim Cojocov.

The fourth quarter opened with a flurry of chances for Utica, but Nascimento answered every City question to keep the game at 4-3. The Ambush pushed for the equalizing goal, but the Coughlin repelled chance after chance. The Utica keeper finished the match with 15 saves as Utica moved into a tie for second place in the Eastern Conference.

Utica City is back in action on February 9 when they host the Rochester Lancers. Kickoff at the Adirondack Bank Center is at 2 p.m. Tickets are still available at the Box Office, over the phone by calling (315) 790-9070, or online at www.empirestatetix.com. The game can be viewed on MASL.tv.

Scoring Summary

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