THUNDER BAY -- Sullivan Silva says he and the soccer ball are friends again.
His hot streak couldn’t have come at a better time for the Thunder Bay Chill, who on Wednesday escaped with a 3-3 tie against the expansion Kokomo Mantis to clinch their ninth Premier Development League playoff berth in 10 seasons by the skin of their teeth.
The Chill, who needed two points in their final two games this week, got just that, tying St. Louis on Tuesday night at Fort William Stadium with a furious three-goal, second-half comeback that ultimately saved their season.
Silva, the PDL player of the week, scored twice for the Thunder Bay to bring his total to 11 on the season, but the Mantis rallied with a pair of late goals, including one as injury time arrived at the 90-minute mark to give the Chill a scare.
Thunder Bay finishes the regular season at 7-2-5, tied with Chicago at 26 points, but advance by virtue of a 1-0-2 record against the Fire U23s.
It wasn’t pretty said the Brazilian sniper Silva, a one-time PDL most valuable player.
“We got the job done. After the game yesterday the team was a little bit tired. But we have 10 days to practice to try to manage the end of the games, something we have been struggling with lately.”
Still, the slate is wiped clean and championships can’t be won sitting on the sidelines. Just getting into the playoffs gives them a chance to win their first PDL title in eight years.
“It’s huge,” Silva said. “The reputation of this team is we should always be in the playoffs. We did it today again. Now we start getting ready for the playoffs and we can get the title that everyone is looking for.”
Like Silva, Chill coach Gio Petraglia is happy they got into the postseason again, his second straight trip to the PDL playoffs.
He’s just not thrilled how they got there, taking a 3-1 lead into the half only to see it disappear by game’s end.
“We achieved the goal that we had at the beginning of the season, but there is something we need to fix otherwise we cannot go too far in the playoffs,” said Petraglia, who did rest many of his starters in the second half, with an eye on next week’s Central Conference championship opener, likely to be contested in either Pontiac, Mich. or Des Moines, Iowa.
That decision will be made by league officials on the weekend after the regular season concludes.
“We had to do some subs to be safe for injuries and yellow cards, but still we need to manage the game better. For some reasons, for two years actually, we can’t play a game for 90 minutes,” Petraglia said.
Silva opened the scoring in the 19th minute, heading home a quick pass up the middle from Daniel Oliveira.
The Mantis, coached by former Chill star Marcelo Santos, got the equalizer in the 25th on a Arjan Mustafa penalty kick, after he was hijacked in the box by Thunder Bay’s Leyrielton Moraes. But the Chill recovered quickly, Anthony Putrus blasting a free kick untouched past Kokomo goalie Kyle Ihn from 27 yards out in the 36th.
Silva added his second of the night two minutes after the halftime break, delicately lifting it over Ihn’s head for a 3-1 lead.
The Mantis (4-6-3) weren't done, however.
Mustafa connected for his second of the night in the 84th to close the gap to one and then Matheus Camargo netted the equalizer as regulation time ran out.
