Saturday, January 19, 2019 · 7:05 PM CST The Family Arena · Saint Charles, Missouri St. Louis Ambush vs. Utica City FC St. Louis Ambush MASL Game 73 Utica City FC 5-5 OVERALL St. Louis Ambush Game 11 7-2 OVERALL 2-1 HOME St. Louis Ambush Home Game 4 5-1 HOME 3-4 AWAY Utica City FC Game 10 2-1 AWAY 0-0 HEAD TO HEAD Utica City FC Away Game 4 0-0 HEAD TO HEAD TONIGHT’S GAME • Tonight’s game is the only meeting between the Ambush and Utica City FC during the 2018-19 regular season. LAST TIME OUT FOR EACH TEAM • In their most recent game, the Ambush defeated the Kansas City Comets 8-5 last night at the Silverstein Eye Centers Arena in Independence. • In their last game, Utica City FC defeated the Harrisburg Heat 6-4 at home on Sunday. PLAYERS TO WATCH: AMBUSH • Zach Reget leads the Ambush in goals (11) and points (12) and currently leads all rookies in the MASL in goals scored. He’s been named MASL Player of the Week once, named to the Team of the Week twice and earned honorable mention once. If he continues at this rate, he’s a candidate for Rookie of the Year. • Lucas Almeida and Magui have become key playmakers for the Ambush and are tied for the team lead in assists with five each. • Defender Axel Duarte has been an important component of the Ambush defense and currently leads the MASL in blocked shots with 20. • Goalkeeper Paulo has been good all season for the Ambush, but was absolutely brilliant in last night’s game, making 23 saves on 28 save attempts, for an .821 save percentage. What makes his performance even more impressive is the fact that at different points in the game, Paulo took a ball to the face and a foot to the face from a Comets player. Although he finished last night’s contest, the hope is he won’t have any residual effects from those bumps and will be able to answer the call for tonight’s match. • Paulo’s .694 save percentage ranks him sixth in the league in that category. PLAYERS TO WATCH: UTICA CITY FC • Slavisa Ubiparipovic’s 18 points (11 goals, seven assists) leads the team and ranks him tied for fifth in the league in that category. A consistent scoring threat, he has tallied over 30 points each of the last two seasons. • Joey Tavernese’s 15 points (eight goals, seven assists) rank him closely behind Ubiparipovic. Another perennial scoring threat, he has posted over 20 goals each of the past two seasons. • If the scoring threats from Utica’s offense isn’t enough to contend with, their defense is bolstered by goalkeeper Andrew Coughlin. His 4.72 goals against average is good for sixth in the league. ABOUT TONIGHT’S OPPONENT • The team formed in 2010 as the Syracuse Silver Knights in the Major Indoor Soccer League. • After the 2013–2014 season, the team announced that it was leaving the MISL along with five other teams (including the Ambush) and joining the PASL, which was subsequently renamed the MASL. • On June 13, 2018, the team announced that it had partnered with the Utica Comets of the AHL and would be moving to Utica as Utica City FC for the 2018-19 season. They had played seven seasons in Syracuse. • The move has been successful at the gate thus far. The Silver Knights average attendance was 2,300 per game for the 2016-17 season and 2,398 per game for the 2017-18 season. Utica City FC has played six home games thus far this season, averaging 3,160 per game. • Utica City FC’s president Robert Esche is also president of the Utica Comets of the American Hockey League. He is a former professional hockey player who played eight seasons in the NHL for the Phoenix Coyotes and Philadelphia Flyers. • Utica City’s Head Coach Ryan Hall enjoyed a professional indoor soccer playing career that spanned from 2003-2013. He played for the Cleveland Force, California Cougars, Chicago Storm, New Jersey Ironmen and Syracuse Silver Knights. UTICA CITY FC TRADES FOR FREDDY MOOJEN • On Thursday, Utica City FC announced the trade of forward Andre Braithwaite (one goal and one assist in five games played) to the Florida Tropics for veteran forward Freddy Moojen (five goals and four assists in six games played). Ambush fans will remember Moojen from the 2015-16 season, when he scored 10 goals and five assists in 12 games played for the Ambush. ANOTHER FAMILIAR FACE • Although he may not play tonight, another familiar face on Utica City’s roster is backup goalkeeper Marcelo Moreira, who split time in goal with Piotr Sliwa, appearing in 10 games with the Ambush during the 2015-16 season. AMBUSH SHUFFLE ROSTER • On Thursday, January 10, the Ambush made some roster moves, placing injured forward Jerjer Gibson on the inactive roster and adding veteran Stefan St. Louis and rookies Nic Powers and Eduardo Maia. • The 2018-19 season marks the eighth in professional indoor soccer for Stefan St. Louis. He has played with the Detroit Waza Flo (PASL), Missouri Comets (MISL and MASL) and Milwaukee Wave (MASL). Stefan appeared in 33 games with the Ambush during the 2014-15, 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons. • Midfielder Nic Powers is a hometown product who played high school soccer at Francis Howell Central, where he was team captain. His collegiate soccer career was split between William Woods University (one year), St. Charles Community College (one year) and Columbia University (two years). When not playing, Powers coaches at Columbia College. • Defender Eduardo Maia is a native of Rio De Janeiro, Brazil who came to the United States at the age of 21 and played three years of collegiate soccer at Missouri Baptist University. When not playing soccer, he coaches at Core Soccer Training and Vetta Sports. • On Wednesday, the Ambush announced the trade of midfielder Antonio Manfut to the Florida Tropics for forward Jowayne Laidley. The native of Kingston, Jamaica has played for the Tropics since 2016. The current season is his third in professional indoor soccer. He has appeared in eight of the nine Tropics games this season, tallying one goal, four assists and two blocked shots. MASL TEAM OF THE WEEK / PLAYER OF THE WEEK St. Louis Ambush players earning Team of the Week, Player of the Week or Honorable Mention during the 2018-19 regular season. (The Player of the Week is selected from the Team of the Week by a combination of votes from each MASL team and from fans.) WEEK TEAM OF THE WEEK PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORABLE MENTION 1 -- -- Jerjer Gibson 2 -- -- -- 3 -- -- Corey Adamson, Zach Reget 4 Zach Reget -- Paulo, JT Thomas 5 -- -- Antonio Manfut 6 Zach Reget Zach Reget Axel Duarte, Felipe, Paulo 7 -- -- -- TEAM STATS 2018-19 REGULAR SEASON TO DATE ST. LOUIS AMBUSH CATEGORY UTICA CITY FC 10 Games Played 9 5 Average Goals Scored Per Game 6.6 6.7 Average Goals Against Per Game 4.9 -17 Goal Differential +10 5.5 Average Penalty Minutes Per Game 7 50 Total Goals For 59 67 Total Goals Against 44 17 Power Play Opportunities 14 4 Power Play Goals For 7 10 Power Play Goals Against 7 .235 Power Play Percentage .500 17 Short Handed 19 0 Short Handed Goals For 1 0 Short Handed Goals Against 0 .412 Penalty Kill Percentage .632 ST. LOUIS AMBUSH SITUATIONAL STATS 2018-19 REGULAR SEASON TO DATE Ambush record when scoring first: 1-2 Ambush record when opponent scores first: 4-3 Ambush record when leading at halftime: 2-0 Ambush record when opponent leads at halftime: 2-4 Ambush record when tied at halftime: 1-1 Ambush record in overtime games (with or without a shootout): 2-0 Ambush record in overtime games with a shootout: 1-0 Ambush record when playing on a Monday: 0-1 Ambush record when playing on a Friday: 2-0 Ambush record when playing on a Saturday: 2-4 Ambush record when playing on a Sunday: 1-0 ST. LOUIS AMBUSH 2018-19 SCHEDULE & RESULTS DATE TIME VISITOR HOME VENUE RESULT Fri, Nov 30 3:05 p.m. CST St. Louis Ambush Orlando SeaWolves Silver Spurs Arena W 5-4 Sat, Dec 1 6:05 p.m. CST St. Louis Ambush Florida Tropics RP Funding Center L 9-4 Sat, Dec 8 6:05 p.m. CST St. Louis Ambush Harrisburg Heat PA Farm Show Arena L 7-6 Sun, Dec 16 3:05 p.m. CST Kansas City Comets St. Louis Ambush The Family Arena W 6-5 Sat, Dec 22 7:05 p.m. CST St. Louis Ambush Kansas City Comets Silverstein Eye Centers Arena W 6-5 Sat, Dec 29 7:05 p.m. CST Kansas City Comets St. Louis Ambush The Family Arena L 10-4 Mon, Dec 31 3:05 p.m. CST St. Louis Ambush Milwaukee Wave UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena L 11-5 Sat, Jan 5 7:05 p.m. CST Florida Tropics St. Louis Ambush The Family Arena W 5-4 Sat, Jan 12 1:05 p.m. CST St. Louis Ambush Milwaukee Wave UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena L 7-1 Fri, Jan 18 7:35 p.m. CST St. Louis Ambush Kansas City Comets Silverstein Eye Centers Arena W 8-5 Sat, Jan 19 7:05 p.m. CST Utica City FC St. Louis Ambush The Family Arena Fri, Jan 25 6:35 p.m.