May 26, 2005 Thunder Bay Chill (PDL) vs Toronto Lynx (USL) friendly (from Thunder Bay Source)
from the Thunder Bay Source
tbSPORTS
Chill fall 3-2 in shootout to Toronto Lynx
Leith Dunick
Web Posted: 5/27/2005 7:27:42 AM
A win just wasn’t in the cards for the Thunder Bay Chill on Thursday night, but other than a short stretch in the second half, head coach Tony Colistro is pretty pleased with his crew.
Leading 2-0 with under 10 minutes to play, the Chill faltered, allowing a pair of goals to the powerful United Soccer League’s Toronto Lynx in a seven minute span. Thunder Bay eventually lost the game in a shootout, falling 3-2 in the final friendly of the preseason.
Colistro said it was a good test as the team prepares to open its sixth season one week from now.
“It was good. No complaints,” he said. “We were able to expose some of our weaknesses, some things that we have to work on.”
The loss may have been a costly one for the Chill, who lost forward Josiah Seton to an eye injury early in the second half. Seton, who scored the opening goal for Thunder Bay when Toronto goalie Richard Goddard threw the ball off Seton’s face only to see it deflect in the net behind him, went down immediately and did not return.
The 26-year-old, known affectionately as African Dust, reported trouble with his vision in his left eye after the contest.
“I cannot see now. If I close my one eye, the other eye I cannot see good,” said Seton, whose goal came in the 47th minute. “The trainer is going to take me to the hospital (as a precaution).”
Eighteen minutes after Seton’s heroics, Billy Androutsos appeared to put the game away for the Chill, fooling a Lynx defender and making him pay for his mistake by bashing the ball behind Goddard to make it 2-0 with 25 minutes to play in regulation time.
“It was tough. I thought I was going to try to keep myself onside and (the defender) came in and I just kind of used my strength over him and kind of shoved him aside and the keeper came full speed. I gave him like a shimmy and just pushed it past him and put it into the open net. It’s a good feeling,” said Androutsos, who grew up in Toronto and attended many Lynx training camps over the years.
With the game seemingly in hand, the Chill began to falter as the 80th minute approached. New goaltender Brian Bowes found himself way out of position and only a missed shot at a wide open net from point blank range by a Toronto forward kept the Lynx off the scoreboard.
Adding a third forward on the field, the Lynx pressure continued to mount. Player-assistant coach Lyndon Hooper finally solved Bowes in the 82nd minute, completing a nifty passing play with a low shot that made it 2-1.
Bowes, hailed one of the best goalies in the league by his teammates, was to blame for the tying goal, which came with under a minute to go on the (non-existent) clock at Chapples Field. Toronto continued to pressure the Chill defenders and instead of clearing the ball from harm’s way, Bowes challenged the Lynx only to see it backfire when Robin Hart snuck the equalizer behind him.
One of the most vocal and critical voices on the field, Bowes knew he was at fault, and apologized to his teammates as he came off the field as the final whistle blew. Colistro wasn’t too concerned, convinced his last line of defense won’t make the same mistake twice.
“Brian has a lot of freedom back there. He’s very confident. We want him to be confident. It’s all about decisions, right? I thought that he should have just played that ball out of bounds and not take any chances with it,” said Colistro. “He’s a pro, he doesn’t need to be told.”
The two soccer clubs forwent overtime, choosing instead to go straight to penalty kicks as darkness set in over the poorly lit pitch. Neither goalie was particularly effective, with goals scored on the first nine shots. But when Parm Dillon’s low screamer went wide left on the 10th and final shot the Lynx had their win.
Androutsos said despite the last-second lapse he was pleased with the way the Chill performed against such a tough opponent.
“We’re a lower level than them, but we know we can compete with teams like that. It was two defensive lapses as a team. It wasn’t anything individual. It’s frustrating more than anything. But, it’s better to do this (now) than do it in a PDL regular season game,” he said.
The Chill open the 2005 regular season on June 3 when the Sioux Falls Spitfire pay a visit to Thunder Bay. Game time is 7:30 p.m. at Chapples Park.
.
.