THUNDER BAY – The Thunder Bay Chill have a checkered history with red cards, some good, some bad.
Toss Saturday’s night’s season-ending finale into the good column.
The Chill played the entire second half down a man after Jag Arena was red-carded in stoppage time late in the first for a vicious tackle on FC Manitoba’s Daniel Lopez.
They went down a goal in the 59th when Michele Paulucci out-maneuvered the Thunder Bay defence and blasted a shot that keeper Alejandro Chavarria only managed to slow down, but not stop.
It was at that point the Chill (6-4-2) found an extra gear.
Seven minutes later, they were back on even ground.
Camden Kowalski caught up to a bouncing ball, and with only Manitoba keeper Evan Barker to beat, softly lifted over his opponent and into the net, the game remarkably now tied 1-1.
But a single point wasn’t enough for a Chill team, whose 3-1 loss to the same team a night prior eliminated them from the United Soccer League 2 post-season hunt.
Inspired by his feats of the past, Thunder Bay coach Gio Petraglia sent former Premier Development League most valuable player Sullivan Silva onto the pitch.
Silva, who earlier this month scored a stoppage time winner in St. Croix, broke free and sent a crossing pass through Barker’s box to a waiting Mattea Rolli.
Rolli, who missed Friday’s game because his wife is about to give birth to a baby girl, headed the ball into the Manitoba net, the deciding goal in a 2-1 that left the Chill tied with Peoria City for second in the Deep North Division.
Peoria City won the tiebreaker, beating and tying the Chill in their two meetings this season.
It was an extra special moment for Rolli, the Thunder Bay captain.
“I’ve been living in Thunder Bay since 2015 and it was my first goal, believe it or not,” Rolli said.
“Unfortunately we didn’t finish how we hoped, but we wanted to finish strong. We were down one man, and it was hard. I’m speechless, honestly.”
Thunder Bay likely wouldn’t have earned the three points if it wasn’t for Chavarria, who came up big with FC Manitoba pressing after Kowalski evened the score.
Chavarria made a point-blank stop on Ethan Cabral in the 73rd, then punched away back-to-back chances by Diego Riveco in the 76th and 78th.
Rolli’s game-winner came moments after he fired a shot into the bar off a Chill corner.
That it was Silva who fed him the pass after entering the game late in the second, was fitting.
“Sullivan is a good friend, he’s a good teammate. I’m so happy we finished in that way, with that assist. He crossed the ball perfectly in the box,” Rolli said.
Petraglia, who will meet with team brass to determine his coaching future with the Chill, said all he asked of his team was to give it their all.
The message was heard and understood.
“That’s what I asked the boys today, to respect the badge,” Petraglia said, tapping the Chill logo above his heart.
The end result was never in doubt, in Petraglia’s mind.
“To be honest, after I saw the red card, I wasn’t very worried because the guys were focus. Of course we could have liked to have finished the game 11 on 11, but in the second half we regrouped and we talked about what to do and it was nice to see at the end Sullivan assisting Mattea,” he said.
“I think it’s the best way to end the season.”
