Chill defeats Heat on penalty kicks in PDL Championship game

Thunder Bay coach Tony Colistro said on Thursday that he believes a team can, at times, play better being a man down.

On Saturday, his team set out to prove his point, withstanding a Heat offensive barrage for 48 minutes and winning the Premier Development League Championship 5-2 on penalty kicks at Dustdevil Field before a crowd of 3,451.

The Thunder Bay clamped down defensively in the final 18 minutes of the second half once Scott Milroth was ejected after his second yellow card for a foul on Daniel Galvan.

In the two 15-minute overtimes, the Chill just flooded the backfield and were able to hold the stalemate.

On the penalty kicks, Gustavo Oliveira, Brandon Swartzendruber, Casey Gold and Nolan Intermoia scored.

On the other side, Galvan knocked in the only penalty kick, as Carlos Ordaz and Steve Su were blocked by keeper Stephen Paterson.

Oliveira donned the hero’s cape for his club as it was his 63rd minute equalizer, after coming in as a sub in the 53rd, that helped bring Canada its first PDL championship.

Oliveira was questionalble coming into the game and was pressed into action after the Heat took a 1-0 advantage in the opening minute of the second half.

Juan De Dios Ibarra knocked in a blocked shot and lifted his team to the early lead.

The socre was made possible by heady play by defender Leone Cruz, who sent a long pass across the field to Felix Garcia, who controlled the ball beautifully with his chest.

He then let loose a blast that bounced of Patterson’s cross bar and landed again in Garcia’s path as his second shot wasn’t corraled by Patterson, and Ibarra was there for the score.

The momentum shifted in the Heat’s favor for the next six minutes before the game again settled into the defensive struggle that was the tone of the night.

The equalizer came off a break down the Heat’s right side in which Milroth, from the top of the key, found Oliveira on the corner of the goal area box.

Oliveira than lifted the ball over goalie Ryan Cooper as he charged to close the already tough angle.

The Heat opened the game strong as the Chill needed 20 mintues to settle into its game.

In that span, the Heat pressed offensively, but all of its shots were blocked by the well-placed Chill defense.