(ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI) — Not allowing bumps in the road to define them, Peoria City’s USL League Two squad returned to its winning ways Tuesday night in St. Louis, Missouri.
The Flying Carp traveled down to STL for their third and final matchup against FC Ambush, at Missouri Baptist University’s Spartan Field.
St. Louis and Peoria met in both squad’s first two matches of their respective 2025 campaigns. First in St. Louis, where Peoria City won 2-1.
Followed up by Peoria’s home opener at Shea Stadium, where Peoria earned three points at home in a 3-1 victory.
It was a similar scoreline Tuesday night, as scorching heat continued across the Midwestern United States.
Lucas Fontana (Chicago State) would get the start in goal.
The match would go scoreless until just before halftime.
Smart thinking by Jose Gomez (Northern Illinois) would see him strike a corner kick quickly, catching St. Louis off guard.
Luke Persenico (Clarke) would flick the ball behind him, while streaking towards the net, finding Tanner Anderson (Saint Louis) on the opposite side of the box.
Anderson would strike the ball, scoring Peoria’s first goal of the night. Peoria would enter half time with a 1-0 lead.
Scoring goals didn’t take as long in the second half. DJ Koulai (Bradley) found his rhythm, showing off his fancy footwork and precision strikes early on.
In the 49th minute, Koulai would receive a smooth cross from Josh Reddy (Clarke), and take the defender head on.
After dribbling around the first defender, Koulai would strike the ball in between three Ambush athletes, finding the bottom right corner of the net.
Peoria goes up 2-0.
Just four minutes later, Koulai would find the back of the net again, but not without persistent hard work from his teammates.
Wes Gibson (SIUE) would cross the ball to Charlie Dickerson (Providence College). Dickerson would sprint through getting kicked by the St. Louis defender, powering through, heading straight for the goal.
Dickerson would cross the ball to Persenico, whose shot would be deflected. Luckily Koulai would be in the perfect spot, striking the ball into the net and giving Peoria a 3-0 lead.
FC Ambush would score their lone goal late in the match, making the final score be 3-1.
A stellar performance by Josh Reddy would earn him the Man of the Match nod Tuesday night.
While he had one assist, Reddy was notorious for winning balls out of the air in the midfield. He also consistently shook things up for St. Louis in the midfield and attacking zone, not allowing them to secure many chances.
Peoria returns home on Saturday night, hosting Santafe Wanderers. This will be the Carp’s first home match at Shea Stadium in 25 days.
Peoria City is thrilled to welcome Iron Spirit Pro Wrestling back to Peoria Saturday night ahead of the matchup.
Gates will open early at 5:45 p.m., followed by a live wrestling show on the stadium concourse at 6:15.
Peoria’s USL League Two regular season ends with four straight matches at home.
The Carp are set to face off against Santafe, Des Moines, Springfield, and Sunflower State.
The July 2 match against Des Moines will be followed by a post-game fireworks show.
Tickets for the remaining home matches can be found here.
