Sunday, May 26, 2013
WINNIPEG, Manitoba – The Thunder Bay Chill completed a weekend sweep of WSA Winnipeg, claiming six points that took them to the top of the table in the Heartland Division with a 2-1 victory on Sunday evening at the Winnipeg Soccer Complex. Axel Sjoberg and Nolan Intermoia had the goals for the Chill, who had defeated Winnipeg by the same score on Saturday night to open their season.
Intermoia scored what proved to be the winner in the 58th minute on a header off a free kick by Sergio Campano. The Chill took control of the game early but it was WSA that had the first great scoring opportunity with a shot from inside the penalty area going just wide with rookie goalie Daniel Alvarado out of position. The Chill continued pressing and were rewarded with a goal in the 27th minute with a great header from Sjoberg off a corner from Paul Dillon. The teams headed to the locker room at halftime with the Chill leading 1-0.
Winnipeg came out in the second half looking to press the Chill with the hope of salvaging some points in this weekend doubleheader, but it was not to be. With the score 2-0 the Chill made changes to secure the win. WSA pressured, but was unable to create much in the way of any good scoring opportunities. However, in the 75th minute Dante Moses converted a penalty kick to cut the lead in half, giving the home town fans optimism that a draw might still be possible.
Winnipeg held the bulk of possession during the last 15 minutes of the game, but were unable to carve out a chance to equalize, giving the visitors the sweep and the full six points that were available.
“I was much happier with the ball movement today,” said Chill head coach Tony Colistro, "but we still have a lot of work to do before next weekend. WSA challenged us this weekend so we fully earned our six points through hard work from all our players, but it was nice to get these two games out of the way, so that some of the new players got to experience play against a PDL opponent.
Daniel Alvarado started in goal in his first PDL game, and was tagged with the foul that caused the penalty kick when he went to make a save that was deemed to have fouled a WSA player. In addition to Chill players already injured, two other players sustained injuries in Saturday’s game against WSA and were not available today. Sidelined were midfielder Dominic Roberts and striker Sunny Omoregie.
Colistro was very happy with the play of Gavin Hoy who put in a solid 90 minutes up front. “He ran his tail end off and did what he was supposed to do,” said Colistro.
The Chill will open at home next week Saturday June 1, 2013 at the newly named Tbaytel Field at Chapples Park. Kick-off is 7:30 p.m. Few tickets still remain for the league opener against one of the Chill’s biggest rivalry in the Menace. The Menace currently sit with four points from their first three games of the season. Call the box office at 623-5911 for game day tickets.