The St. Louis Ambush was a professional

indoor soccer Indoor soccer or arena soccer is a form of five-a-side football, five-a-side or six-a-side version of minifootball. It is derived from association football and adapted to be played in walled hardcourt indoor arenas. It differs from the FIFA, FIFA ...

team based in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

. Before they moved to St. Louis they were known as the Tulsa Ambush.

History

The Ambush were founded in

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa ( ) is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, second-most-populous city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the List of United States cities by population, 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The po ...

: the team played one season at Tulsa's

Expo Square Pavilion The Expo Square Pavilion, sometimes called simply The Pavilion, and formerly known as the Tulsa Fairgrounds Pavilion, is a 6,311-seat multi-purpose arena, in the Tulsa State Fairgrounds in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was built in 1932; the architect was ...

. Vernon Riggs was the general manager. Keith Dial was the managing general partner. Former Tulsa Roughneck and Major Indoor Soccer League player

Victor Moreland Victor "Vic" Moreland (born 15 June 1957) is a retired professional footballer from Northern Ireland who began his career in Northern Ireland, spent two seasons in the Football League before moving to the United States. He then played six seaso ...

was signed to be the player/coach. The Wichita-based ownership group had hoped to buy a Wichita NPSL franchise but moved forward with the team in Tulsa when the Wings remained in the MISL for the 1991–1992 season. When the Wings did join the NPSL for the 1992–93 season after the MISL folded with two other MISL teams (Cleveland and Baltimore) and after searching for Tulsa owners, the team was sold to St. Louis physicians Dr. Abraham Hawatmeh and Dr. Richard Rende in the summer of 1992. Hawatmeh and Rende moved the franchise to St. Louis and played first in the

St. Louis Arena St. Louis Arena (known as the Checkerdome from 1977 to 1983) was an indoor arena in St. Louis, Missouri. The country's second-largest indoor entertainment venue when it opened in 1929, it was home to the St. Louis Blues and other sports franchis ...

, then the

Kiel Center The Enterprise Center is an 18,096-seat arena located in Downtown St. Louis, downtown St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Its primary tenant is the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League, but it is also used for other functions, such as ...

. The Ambush made the playoffs every year that they played in St. Louis, except their final year of 1999–2000. The Ambush won one National Professional Soccer League championship (1994–1995 season), and played in four NPSL Championship series (1994, 1995, 1998, 1999), losing to the

Cleveland Crunch The Cleveland Crunch is an American professional indoor soccer club located in Cleveland, Ohio. Formed in 1989 as an expansion team in the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL), the Crunch played a total of 16 seasons in three separate leagues unde ...

twice (in 1994 and 1999), and to the

Milwaukee Wave The Milwaukee Wave are an American professional indoor soccer team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that competes in the Major Arena Soccer League (MASL). Founded in 1984, they have been the oldest continuously operating professional indoor footbal ...

(1998), but defeated the Harrisburg Heat in 1995 for their lone NPSL title. In 2013, an

expansion team An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...

in the third Major Indoor Soccer League was named after this franchise. That team became a member of the

Major Arena Soccer League The Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) is a professional indoor soccer league in North America. The MASL features teams playing coast-to-coast in the United States and Mexico. The league is the highest level of arena soccer in North America. The le ...

after the MISL collapsed.

Year-by-year

Coaches

(1991–1992) *

Steve Pecher Steve Pecher (born St. Louis, Missouri) is an American former soccer defender who is currently the President of St Louis Scott Gallagher. Youth and college Pecher began playing soccer with the youth club, Florissant Cougars, then with his high ...

(1992–1993) * Daryl Doran (1993–1999) * Jamie Swanner (1999–2000) * Joe Reiniger (2000) * Jorge Espinoza (2000)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Louis Ambush (1992-2000) A A Association football clubs established in 1991 Defunct indoor soccer clubs in the United States National Professional Soccer League (1984–2001) teams Association football clubs disestablished in 2000 1991 establishments in Oklahoma 2000 disestablishments in Missouri