UTICA CITY OPENS UP WEEKEND SERIES AGAINST ST. LOUIS

Tonight’s Game: Utica City FC hits the road to take on the St. Louis Ambush for the first time this season. Kickoff is at 8:35 p.m. EST.

Last Game: Utica City went up 3-0 early, then trailed 5-3 before ripping off four unanswered goals to come away with a 7-5 victory over the Harrisburg Heat Sunday afternoon at the Adirondack Bank Center. Cristhian Segura led the way with three goals, while Bo Jelovac, Liam Callahan, Jake Schindler, and Nate Bourdeau all chipped in a goal apiece. Andrew Coughlin made 11 saves in the win.

Head to Head: This is the first matchup between Utica and St. Louis this season. The two teams met only once last season, with Utica winning 8-5. The two sides will clash two more times this season.

Scouting the Ambush: St. Louis comes in with a record of 4-5 and sits in sixth place in the Eastern Division. They most recently beat the Milwaukee Wave 8-7 in overtime this past Sunday. Tony Walls leads the offense with 17 points, followed by Duduca Carvalho with 13 points. Paulo Nascimento is the leading goalkeeper with a record of 4-3, a 6.14 goals-against average and a .709 save percentage

White Hot: Cristhian Segura continues to pile on points. Segura recorded a hat trick in Sunday’s win over Harrisburg to run his point streak to four games. He has 11 points (7-4-11) during his point streak. Sunday was also Segura’s sixth game this season with three or more points. The midfielder leads Utica with 19 points (13-6-9) in 8 games this year. 

Nasty Nate: Nate Bourdeau is starting to find a groove on offense. Bourdeau has four points (1-3-4) in his last two games and scored the game-winning goal on Sunday. He has also recorded three multi-point games this season. Overall, Bourdeau has eight points (2-6-8) in eight games this season.

Brick Wall: Andrew Coughlin is turning in a stellar season so far. Coughlin has started all eight games for Utica, helping the squad take six of their last seven games and ranks second in the league in wins, third in goals-against average, and eighth in save percentage.  The fifth-year keeper holds a record of 6-1-1, a 4.33 goals-against average, and .670 save percentage.

Streaking: Ricardo Diegues may not have scored in Sunday’s win, but he still managed to get on the board. Diegues recorded the assist on the game-winning goal to extend his point streak to seven games. Dating back to last season, the forward also has points in three straight road games, picking up seven points (6-1-7) in those three games. Overall, Diegues has 13 points (11-2-13) in seven games.

Next Game: Utica City finishes up their weekend series against St. Louis Sunday afternoon. Kickoff at The Family Arena is at 4:05 p.m. EST The game can be viewed on MASL.tv.