UTICA CITY STUNNED IN ST. LOUIS

St. Charles, Mo. – Utica City surrendered a 5-1 lead before falling 7-6 in a shootout to the St. Louis Ambush Friday night at The Family Arena. Ricardo Diegues, Momo, Ben Ramin, Bo Jelovac, Moises Gonzalez scored for Utica. Matt Perrella got the start in net, making 37 saves.

Diegues got the scoring started four and a half minutes into the game, taking a cross from Nate Bourdeau and burying a shot from the middle of the box. Momo made it 2-0 with a right footed strike to the top corner off his own rebound with 3:16 to play in the opening quarter. JT Thomas cut the lead in half with 1:18 to go in the first.

Ramin regained Utica’s two-goal lead when he sprinted down the middle and sent home a rebound from a Bo Jelovac shot with 5:29 to go in the second quarter.

Jelovac’s header off a volley from a Gonzalez shot made it 4-1 Utica with 9:39 remaining in the third quarter. Gonzalez added a power play goal with 46 seconds to go in the third quarter after some stellar ball movement and a great shot fake from Gonzalez before blasting a shot to the top corner.

Thomas added his second of the night three minutes into the fourth quarter to cut Utica’s lead to 5-2. Duduca Carvalho brought St. Louis within two after a turnover in Utica’s defensive end. The scoring run continued when Anthony Grant deflected a shot past Perrella with 7:46 to go in the fourth. Bourdeau answered 29 seconds later to regain the two-goal lead for Utica. Lucas Almeida pull the Ambush back within one with a strong strike with 2:55 to play in regulation. Carvalho tied the game at six 50 seconds later to eventually send the game to overtime. 

Neither team could find a winner in overtime and the game would head to a shootout.

Bo Jelovac was the lone scorer for Utica in the shootout, while Carvalho and Pepe Junqueira scored for the Ambush to give them the win.

City remains in St. Louis for a rematch with the Ambush on Sunday afternoon. Kick-off is at 4:05pm EST. The game can be seen on MASL.tv.  

Scoring Summary

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