Talk about waiting until the last possible moment.
The host Thunder Bay Chill, dominant all game long, but stymied by Springfield Demize keeper Kyle Hoard for 86 minutes, finally managed to punch through offensively in the 87th when Sergio Villalva’s non-threatening found its way to the back of the net, securing a 1-0 triumph.
It was a well-earned Chapples Park victory, said Villalva, whose game-winning effort was his first score in a Chill uniform.
“I brought it down. I picked my head up and was just looking for Brandon (Swartzendruber) to cross. I tried to slip it in, I picked my head up and it was just a ricochet in and I just started celebration.”
The celebration, which saw him race to the near sideline and whip his white Chill jersey over his head, cost the 21-year-old a yellow card for his excessive antics, but he said he’d trade that any day for a win.
It was a victory that seemed likely after the first half, when the Chill outshot their opponent by a staggering 13-1 margin.
But a combination of Hoard and Chill (4-1-0) passes that were a tad too long or a little too high ensured the game remained a scoreless tie.
The nerves started kicking in as time began ticking down, and no matter what offensive scheme the Chill brought forth, they just couldn’t find the open man.
Coach Tony Colistro said it’s the nature of the game.
“That happens sometimes. It kind of reminded me of our first game against Winnipeg. We had a lot of opportunities, and sometimes they just don’t go in the net,” he said. “I think we put in six strikers today and our holding midfield scores the goal. That’s just the way it goes sometimes and at the end of the day, we got the three points.”
Colistro isn’t troubled about the lack of offense.
“It would be trouble if we didn’t create the opportunities. So the opportunities are there. Sometimes they’ll go in. Sometimes they’ll go in in bundles. But again, as long as we do our part in the back, we keep (it going),” he said, reminding reporters that his goaltender, Thunder Bay’s Steve Paterson, has now recorded three straight shutouts.
“All we need is one and we’ve got 90 minutes to do it. Whether we do it in the first five or the last five, as long as the job gets down (it’s good).”
The chances came fast and furious in the opening half.
Nolan Intermoia took a backdoor feed from Pedro Pereira in the 32nd minute, but Hoard just got his hands on it. Speedster Masakatsu Taga fired wide two minutes late. Hoard thwarted Swartzendruber on the doorstep in the 37th, and Anthony Putrus had a great chance in the 39th, only to have the ball swatted away.
It was more of the same in the second half for the Chill, who faced a Demize team that more and more as the game went on looked like it was playing for the single point offered up by a draw, dropping five men back at all occasions.
The frustration soon set in, Villalva said.
“They were holding us back pretty well,” he said. “They just compacted and they knew us pretty well. It seemed like they couldn’t get anything forward, they just closed us down in the back. We tried the long ball, that’s all we tried to do, but they were closing us down well.”
Springfield managed only one shot on Paterson the entire night.
Cold shots: Putrus was handed a yellow card for crashing into Hoard late in the first … The Chill are third in the Premier Development League’s Heartland Division with 12 points and several games in hand on both Des Moines and Colorado.
