UTICA HOSTS AMBUSH IN FIRST FRIDAY HOME GAME

Tonight’s Game: Utica City hosts the St. Louis Ambush in their first Friday night home game in team history. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. 

Last Game: Utica City scored early and often as they rolled to an 11-5 victory over the St. Louis Ambush Sunday evening at The Family Arena. Bo Jelovac, Ricardo Diegues and Moises Gonzalez all scored twice, while Cristhian Segura, Darren Toby, Onua Obasi, Ben Ramin, and Jake Schindler chipped in with one goal each.

Head to Head: The season series is tied at one apiece after the two sides split their weekend series two weeks ago. Utica has outscored St. Louis 17-12 through two games. 

Scouting the Ambush: St. Louis comes in with a record of 6-7 and sits in seventh place in the Eastern Division. They most recently fell to the Florida Tropics 7-1 this past Saturday. Tony Walls leads the way offensively with 21 points, followed by JT Thomas with 20 points. Paulo Nascimento is the top goalkeeper with a record of 6-5, a 6.41 goals-against average and a .691 save percentage.

Home Sweet Home: Utica City returns to the friendly confines of the Adirondack Bank Center where the team has played extremely well this season. City has won four of their last five home games, with their only loss coming in overtime. Utica has outscored opponents 29-21 in five home games this year.

Heating Up: After a bit of a slow start offensively, Bo Jelovac is starting to heat up on offense. Jelovac has eight points (3-5-8) in his last two games and 10 points (4-6-10) in his last four games. He also has four multi-point games this season. Overall, the captain has 17 points (6-11-17) in 10 games. 

Welcome Back: Utica City welcomes back forward Mauricio Salles to the lineup for the first time since last season. Expect the Brazilian striker to play a big role right away, especially on free kicks and power play. Salles tallied 16 points (12-4-16) in 15 games with Utica last season.

Going Streaking: Ricardo Diegues will look to keep his hot streak intact tonight. Diegues is riding a nine-game point streak into tonight’s match and has points in 12 of his last 14 games dating back to last season. He also has four multi-point games this year, two of which he recorded four or more points. The forward has 18 points (14-4-18) in nine games with Utica this season. 

Next Game: 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.