Saint Louis FC opened it’s home season with a 0-0 draw against Tulsa Roughnecks FC. There was a sold out crowd on hand to re-open the World Wide Technology Soccer Park after the worst flooding in recorded history caused extensive damanage to the Soccer Park in January.
Mark Pais had a strong game throughout. Pais dove hard for a save against Tulsa’s first scoring chance of the evening early in the first half. Later, a corner kick by Tulsa threatened to score but Pais saved again. “At the end of the day, we need that shutout. So to be able to power through 90 and get a shutout, it’s definitely a positive to take away.” said Pais.
At minute 73 things heated up when Ambersley shot high. Saint Louis FC brought it back soon and Ambersley shot too high again.
At 80, Saint Louis FC switched things up with substitutions with Bushue and Conner coming in fresh for Maher and Hardware. Saint Louis kept the pressure on and Conner had a shot but it was blocked by Tulsa keeper, Alex Mangles.
Three minutes of time was added by the referee, but Saint Louis was unable to bring the ball back for another shot.
“We were good on the ball up to a certain point, but you have to figure out how to break them down” said Saint Louis FC Coach Dale Schilly.
Saint Louis FC picked up another yellow card as James Musa was booked late in the 2nd half for a tackle at midfield.
Saint Louis FC will take the pitch again next Saturday when they travel to Sacramento to play the Sacramento Republic FC at 9:30 p.m. cst. It will be the first of two meetings this season for the two sides and the first in franchise history.
For more information, visit saintlouisfc.com.