Chill give post-season hopes huge boost with win over Chicago

THUNDER BAY -- Gio Petraglia says Sergio Campano Franco is one of his game changers.

The second-year forward lived up to the hype on Wednesday night, scoring a pair of second-half goals to all-but-clinch a Premier Development League playoff berth for the Thunder Bay Chill with a 3-1 win over the visiting Chicago Fire U23s at Fort William Stadium.

The first came two minutes into the second half, rallying the Chill after they surrendered the tying goal with seven minutes left in the opening 45.

“We need this kind of performance,” Petraglia said afterward.

“We came out a little bit differently tactically in the second half because we knew we had to change something. We had the same 11, but we changed some of our systems and it paid off right away.”

The changes came in the transition game, which Petraglia said was weak in the opening half.

Its effect was immediate.

Pedro Adan delivered the ball to Campano Franco, who burst past a charging Chicago defender and buried the ball for the 2-1 lead.

Eight minutes later he did it again, a similar play, although the goal looked a lot tougher than it was, the Chill forward firing a beautiful cross into the Chicago net as he was falling away from the play.

“The first goal came off a chipped ball that went over the top of the defender. I was lucky enough that the defender was coming in so hard and I decided to take a shot from there,” said Campano Franco, with Adan acting as a translator for his Spanish-speaking teammate, who now leads the Chill with seven goals. 

“The second one was almost the same play, where the defender stopped, but this time I shot it first and luckily it went in.”

The win leapfrogged the Chill (7-2-3)into first place in the Heartland Division, two points up on rival Des Moines, who have a pair of games in hand.

But more importantly it gave Thunder Bay a seven-point cushion on fourth-place Chicago (5-4-2), meaning one win by the Chill in their final two games – at home next weekend against Winnipeg – would earn them their eighth playoff berth in nine seasons.

Still, it’s not time to let up, said striker Sullivan Silva, who opened the scoring in the 16th minute, taking a feed from Brandon Swartzendruber and punching it into the open net behind goalie Adrian Remenuik.

“We still have two more games. We want to be in first in our division, so we just have to keep working hard. Of course winning this game was a relief, but we still have to keep working hard,” said Silva, who nearly scored a second first-half goal on a bicycle kick that just missed the mark.

Thunder Bay goalie Daniel Alvarado was also sharp, making several key stops in the opening half, including a dandy off Keaton Albert.

But he couldn’t stop Brody Kraussel in the 38th. Kraussel made the most of a second chance to tie the game 1-1 heading into the break, deflating the season-high 1,032 on hand for the contest.

The Fire U-23’s are five points out of a playoff berth, but two of their three remaining games are against Des Moines.