Sullivan Silva has flair.
On Friday night, forced to the turf at Fort William Stadium because of heavy rains that drenched Chapples Field, the Brazilian striker scored a pair of goals to lead the Thunder Bay Chill to a 5-0, season-opening win over visiting WSA Winnipeg.
After the first goal he ran to the left corner, waved his arms in the air and beckoned his teammates to join him in celebration.
After his second of the night, a bullet shot ripped past shell-shocked Winnipeg keeper Dylan O’Connor, Silva took off for the right corner and proceeded to do a little dance to mark his return to the Premier Development League.
“It was my first goal, come on,” said Silva, a Brazilian native who spent time with Austin of the United Soccer League and most recently played for Capital City in the Canadian Soccer League.
“I’ve got to celebrate and I had to make sure that everybody celebrated with me.”
The Chill, who started their 13th season a little bit later than the rest of the teams in the Heartland Division, wanted to get off to a quick start against Winnipeg, a team that entered Friday’s contest with a 1-0-3 record, including a pair of scoreless ties against the Real Colorado Foxes.
“That’s what (coach) Tony (Colistro) told us before the game. Just score early so we can kill the game. We were very fortunate we could score five goals in the first half and later just come down and move the ball,” Silva said.
The five goals were a record for one half for the Chill, who have on several occasions notched four goals in 45 minutes.
Getting that first win out of the way was key, said fellow striker Juan Velez, a Spanish import who grew up in Badajoz, a stone’s throw from the Portuguese border.
Velez, who scored Thunder Bay’s fourth goal and added three assists, has clicked immediately with Silva, something that just happened, he said through a translator.
“We played two exhibition games together already and we know each other. The chemistry is pretty good there,” he said.
It wasn’t quite as easy as it looked, Velez added, though for 20 minutes in the opening half the Chill (1-0-0) were all but unstoppable. In addition to the strikes by Velez and Silva, midfielder Matt Luac and Sebastian Jansson scored.
But the starters took their foot off the gas in the second half, content to play this one out, the win already in hand.
“The second half was a little bit harder. We just kicked the ball. The first half was a little challenging to get the goals. In the second half we just kind of laid low,” Velez said.
Colistro liked what he saw.
“It was a good start for us, a good first half for us for sure,” he said. “I thought we came out in the second half and we just contained them and played a bit of possession, so we had it under control.”
Winning the opener and seeing his two forwards click like they did took a huge weight off Colistro’s shoulders.
“We knew they had talent, but sometimes when you play in a different league, you don’t know how they’re going to adjust. We were seeing it over at the training sessions, but this first half we really saw them connect and they can definitely be a threat.”
Winnpeg (1-1-3) and Thunder Bay will complete their weekend set on Saturday night (7:30 p.m., Fort William Stadium).
Chill chatter: Friday’s game was delayed an hour to accommodate a high school soccer contest ... Goalie Stephen Paterson made six saves for the Chill to earn the shutout ... Attendance was 583 .. Tyson Farago replace O'Connor in the 58th minute in the Winnipeg net ... The most goals the Chill have scored in a single game is seven, which occurred on June 18, 2010 against Des Moines.
