TODAY's GAME • This Is the Second Game of the 2021 MASL Ron
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Sunday, March 28, 2021 · 3:05 p.m. CDT Axius Fi !d a" Th Fami!y Ar na · S". Char! s, M# St. $%uis Ambush 's. (ansas Ci"y C%m "s ) &cas": Fac &%%* $i' ++, S". $%uis Am&ush 2021 MASL -%n / wman Cup +!ay%1s (ansas Ci"y C%m "s 2021 - .u!ar S as%n 2021 - .u!ar S ason 8-7 OVERALL 7-5 OVERALL 7-4 HOME 6-2 HOME 1-3 AWAY 2uar" rfina! -ound - 5am 2 1-3 AWAY 1-1 HEAD TO HEAD 6 st #7 T0o S ri s 1-1 HEAD TO HEAD 8Mini-5am Tie&r a* r 97 / d d F%!!%0in. 5am 2: (ansas City $ ads S ri s 1-0 TODA;<S GAM= • This is the second game of the 2021 MASL Ron Newman Cup Quarterfinal series between the Ambush and Comets. • The Comets won game one 7-4 Friday night at the Cable Dahmer Arena in Independence. • The Ambush and Comets went 1-1 during the 2021 regular season. • This year’s playoffs mark the first postseason appearance for the current Ambush franchise. • If the Comets win game two, they advance to the semifinals and the Ambush season is over. • If the Ambush win game two, a 15-minute mini-game tiebreaker will be played after game two with a brief intermission between the end of game two and the start of the mini-game. The winner of the mini-game would then advance to the semifinals and the loser’s season would be over. ST. $#>9S ,S. (A/SAS C9T; +$A;OFF ?9ST#-; • St. Louis professional indoor/arena soccer teams (Steamers and Ambush) have clashed with Kansas City professional indoor/arena soccer teams (Comets and Attack) in 27 postseason games prior to today. (The St. Louis Storm never faced Kansas City in the postseason.) • Kansas City teams hold a 15-12 edge over St. Louis teams in those 27 games. • 1983-84: The St. Louis Steamers defeated the Kansas City Comets three games to two in the quarterfinal round (MISL). • 1984-85: The Kansas City Comets defeated the St. Louis Steamers two games to zero in the wild card round (MISL). • 1992-93: The Kansas City Attack defeated the St. Louis Ambush two games to one in the finals (NPSL). • 1994-95: The St. Louis Ambush defeated the Kansas City Attack three games to two in the division finals (NPSL). • 1995-96: The Kansas City Attack defeated the St. Louis Ambush three games to two in the division finals (NSPL). • 1996-97: The Kansas City Attack defeated the St. Louis Ambush three games to one in the conference finals (NPSL). • 1997-98: The St. Louis Ambush defeated the Kansas City Attack two games to zero in the conference semifinals (NPSL). • St. Louis teams have captured one league championship when the 1994-95 Ambush won the NPSL crown. • Kansas City teams have won three league titles: The Attack nabbed the NSPL title in 1992-93 and 1996-97. The current Comets franchise won the MISL Championship in 2013-14. • Ambush assistant coach Jamie Swanner was the starting goalkeeper for the 2004-05 NPSL champion Ambush team. • Despite having some great teams and legendary players, neither the original St. Louis Steamers (1979-88) or the original Kansas City Comets (1981-91) won a league title. MAS$ A//#>/C=S ,9D=O -=,9=) F#- +$A;OFFS • On Tuesday, the MASL announced a video review process for the playoffs. • Each team is allotted one challenge during regulation play. • Should a game go into overtime, each team will receive one additional challenge. • Unused challenges from regulation play will not carry over to overtime. • To initiate a challenge, a coach will throw their challenge flag onto the field of play. • To overturn a referee’s on-field call, it will take indisputable evidence and MASL Head of Officiating Ryan Cigich believes this will give referees the ability to correct errors in a fast-paced game. • Coaches must challenge during the next stoppage of play following the disputed call and the play becomes unchallengeable once play restarts. • The officials’ goal will be to have plays reviewed in under 90 seconds, but Cigich has emphasized that accuracy is more important than speed. • Plays which will be permissible to challenge include whether a blue card should be issued; whether a PK should be awarded on incidents within the penalty area; embellishing; whether a direct red card should be issued; potential fouls directly leading to a goal being scored; major rules errors; and goal / no goal calls. • If a coach has used their challenge, a referee can initiate a review if they have a strong sense that a clear and obvious error has been made and the incident has a potential major impact on the game. A $##( AT T?= AM6US? COM9/G 9/TO T?9S 5AM= • A battle against COVID-19 and a slew of injuries saw the Ambush suffer three straight losses in early February, but the team bounced back to win four of their last five regular season games. • 21 different players, including goalkeeper Paulo Nascimento, scored for the Ambush during the regular season. • The Ambush finished the regular season tied with the Florida Tropics for the best power play percentage (.389) in the league. • Tony Walls finished the regular season tied for first in the MASL in power play goals with three. • Only four short-handed goals were scored across the league during the regular season. Lucas Almeida scored one of them. • Goalkeeper Paulo Nascimento finished the regular season with a 5.23 goals against average, good for fourth in the league. His .706 save percentage was also good for fourth in that category (tie), while he tied for second among goalkeepers in wins with seven. • Stefan Mijatovic will be eligible for today’s game after sitting out Friday’s match due to a suspension. • Jonatan Santos will not be eligible for today’s game as he is serving a two-game suspension for spitting on Kanas City’s Kevin Ellis during Friday’s game in Independence. A $##( AT T?= COM=TS C#M9/G 9/T# T?9S GAM= • The Comets finished the regular season strong, winning six of their last seven games. • Player/Head Coach Leo Gibson finished the regular season tied for fifth in the MASL in points (27), fourth in assists (12) and tied for first in power play goals with three. • 19 different players scored for the Comets during the 2021 regular season. • Only four short-handed goals were scored across the league during the regular season. Matt Lewis scored one of them. • Goalkeeper Nicholau Neto tied with Paulo for the league’s fourth-best save percentage at .706 during the regular season. Neto was third in the MASL in wins with five. ( ==+9/G 9T 9/T=-=ST9/5 • Seven of the nine wins by the Ambush in the 2019-20 season were by a single goal. • Four of the eight Ambush wins during the 2021 regular season were also by a single goal. T=AM STATS ST. $#>9S AM6US? S9T>AT9#/A$ STATS 2021 REGULAR SEASON FINAL 2021 REGULAR SEASON FINAL ST. LOUIS AMBUSH CATEGORY KANSAS CITY COMETS AMBUSH RECORD WHEN..... 15 Games Played 12 Scoring first 3-2 8-7 Overall Record 7-5 Opponent scores first 5-5 .533 Winning Percentage .583 Leading at halftime 4-2 5 Average Goals Scored Per Game 7.7 Trailing at halftime 3-6 5.9 Average Goals Against Per Game 5.6 Tied at halftime 1-0 -14 Goal Differential +25 Game goes into overtime 1-0 3.6 Average Penalty Minutes Per Game 7.3 Game goes into overtime with a shootout 0-0 75 Total Goals For 92 Playing on a Monday 0-0 89 Total Goals Against 67 Playing on a Tuesday 0-0 SPECIAL TEAMS Playing on a Friday 2-4 18 Power Plays 24 Playing on a Saturday 2-2 7 Power Play Goals For 9 Playing on a Sunday 4-1 6 Power Play Goals Against 7 Game starts before 5:00 p.m. CT 3-2 .389 Power Play Percentage .375 Game starts after 5:00 p.m. CT 5-5 21 Number of Times Short Handed 24 Playing at The Family Arena 7-4 1 Short Handed Goals For 1 Playing on the road 1-3 0 Short Handed Goals Against 1 .714 Penalty Kill Percentage .708 MA@#- A-=/A SOCC=- $=A5>= STA/D9/5S 2021 REGULAR SEASON FINAL Team GP W L W% GF GA Diff Home Away Streak 1 Florida 13 10 3 .769 82 59 +23 6 - 2 4 - 1 W 3 2 Ontario 10 7 3 .700 72 51 +21 2 - 1 5 - 2 W 2 3 Kansas City 12 7 5 .583 92 67 +25 6 - 2 1 - 3 W 2 4 St. Louis 15 8 7 .533 75 89 -14 7 - 4 1 - 3 W 2 5 San Diego 10 4 6 .400 41 43 -2 1 - 2 3 - 4 W 1 6 Tacoma 11 4 7 .364 53 62 -9 0 - 2 4 - 5 W 1 7 Dallas 11 1 10 .091 44 88 -44 1 - 5 0 - 5 L 6 WIN PERCENTAGE > HEAD TO HEAD > GOAL DIFFERENTIAL > WINS > LOSSES MAS$ T=AM OF T?= )==( ST. LOUIS AMBUSH PLAYERS NAMED TO THE MASL TEAM OF THE WEEK DURING THE 2021 REGULAR SEASON Week 1 None Week 2 Max Ferdinand, Paulo Nascimento Week 3 Lucas Almedia, Vadim Cojocov Week 4 Max Ferdinand, Paulo Nascimento, Stefan Mijatovic Week 5 Vadim Cojocov, Tony Walls Week 6 Magui Souza Week 7 None Week 8 None Week 9 Paulo Nascimento, Stefan Mijatovic, Vadim Cojocov, Lucas Almeida, JT Thomas Week 10 JT Thomas Week 11 None (Final week of regular season play for the Ambush.) ST.