THUNDER BAY – Thanks to the red-hot Tyler Attardo, the Thunder Bay Chill built a two-goal cushion by halftime.
It’s a good thing, they needed it.
Minneapolis City SC may have rolled in from the Twin Cities moments before Friday night’s contest at Tbaytel Field at Chapples Park, but by the game’s end, they looked like they still had plenty left in the tank.
They just ran out of time.
The Chill didn’t help their own cause, when Sam Jordan was ejected with 20 minutes to go for picking up his second yellow card of the night, leaving Thunder Bay down a man the rest of the contest, which included seven minutes of nerve-wracking injury time, that included Minneapolis’s second penalty kick chance of the night.
Chill goaltender Josh Moya guessed right on the first try, awarded when the ball ricocheted off his hand in the box, diving to his left to stop Eli Goldman’s attempt.
He wasn’t as intuitive on the second attempt, and Henri Tophoven drove it home three minutes into injury time, cutting the Thunder Bay lead to 3-2.
It was only a matter of inches that prevented Minneapolis City from tying the match, but Max Kent’s header attempt with seconds remaining sailed wide and the Chill held on for the one-goal win.
Attardo opened the scoring in the eight minute and made it 3-1 Thunder Bay in the 32nd, just three minutes after Nicholas Kent cut the Chill’s 2-0 lead in half, booting a bouncing ball off a corner kick past Moya.
His effort gives him 10 goals in nine appearances, but more importantly helped Thunder Bay pull even in points with Bavarian United, and into top spot in the USL 2’s Deep North Division, with a 2.11 points per match average.
“Obviously it feels good,” Attardo said. “That’s my job. They look up to me to put it in the net and I’m just happy that they’re finding me on the through balls and they’re trusting me to get the job done. Hopefully we can keep it going.”
It wasn’t the prettiest of wins, said Chill coach Tony Colistro, who said he’s spoken to his team about their play inside the box. It’s the fifth time this season they’ve surrendered a penalty kick to the opposition, something the veteran coach would like to see them clean up moving forward.
“We talked about being more disciplined in the 18-yard box and we’ve just got to do better,” Colistro said.
Thankfully Moya is a rock between the posts, he added.
“Josh has been outstanding for us all season. That’s why he’s there, to make those key saves when it gets back behind our back line. He’s been doing that for us, especially the last two games on the road. He was outstanding, kept us in games and he did it again tonight for us.”
Diego Reveco had Thunder Bay’s other goal, the tally coming in the 22nd minute when he broke free down the right side, cut across the middle and slammed it past Minneapolis keeper Daniel Sessler.
It was the fourth straight win for the Chill (6-2-1), who on Sunday will play their final regular-season home game against last-place Rochester, a team with just two wins in 10 games. Game time is 1 p.m.
