April 25 (1995)

The Ambush wins St. Louis’s first and only pro soccer national league championship, indoors or outdoors, rebounding from an 11-0 deficit to beat the Harrisburg Heat 14-11 in the fourth and deciding match of the NPSL best-of-seven championship series at the Farm Show Arena in Harrisburg, Pa. Winning the best-of-seven series is sweet revenge for the Ambush, who had lost to the Cleveland Crunch in the 1994 NPSL finals. The Heat, coached by St. Louis native Jim Pollihan, had gone ahead 11-0 in game four on a scoring binge that included a goal by Mark Pulisic, father of current U.S. Men’s National Team and Chelsea player Christian Pulisic. Player-coach and future Indoor Soccer Hall of Famer Daryl Doran finally breaks the shutout for the Ambush with a two-point goal at 14:04 of the second quarter. The second half is all Ambush: Mark Moser and Kevin Hundelt net three-pointers, Mike LaPosha has a two-pointer and Steve Maurer scores two two-pointers. Hundelt’s three-point goal at 2:16 of the fourth quarter proves to be the game-winner. His shot caroms off the head of a defender and into the net. Jamie Swanner takes over from Bill Cowie in goal during the second half and faces only 11 shots after Cowie was bombarded with 21 — 17 in the second quarter — in the first half. “This team’s come back from a lot,” Doran tells the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “They did it again and they did it at the right time. Sure, we were worried, but we knew we could come back.”