Rochester Thunder Lose Again – Coach Cassidy Remains Optimistic

The Rochester Thunder lost twice this weekend with each match ending with a  score of  2-1. On Sunday the team lost to the St. Louis Lions at the Tony Glavin soccer complex, but coach Neil Cassidy was left feeling optimistic. “I am proud of the lads this past weekend,” said Cassidy. “They did what the coaching staff asked of them!”

Cassidy said he felt the first game on Saturday should have been a draw. “We had a good weekend and were very competitive in both games,” he said.

On Saturday the Des Moines Menace won the game with a 54th minute penalty kick that was taken by Jason Griffiths of the Menace. Cassidy said he didn’t feel it was a penalty and if it was a foul it was outside the box.

In the second game against the St. Louis Lions, the Rochester Thunder had two cleared off the line, one in the first half and one in the second. Cassidy said the first half was entirely different from the second half.

“We came out a bit flat in the first half and were put under a lot of pressure in the first few moments of the game that resulted in their first goal,” stated Cassidy. “We made some changes at half time and we were dominant in the second half. I think a tie would have been a fair result over the entire game.”

The team had to endure numerous problems throughout the weekend.  According to the Rochester Thunder’s Twitter page, the team bus hit a deer on the way home from St. Louis on Sunday night. However, that was a minor issue compared to what Cassidy had to deal with on Friday before the weekend trip. “We had some roster problems on Friday, in that four of our players that had been training with us were not cleared by USL,” shared Cassidy. “That left us with 13 players for the weekend. We managed to draft two players at the last minute to bolster our numbers, but still had 15 players for two games in less than 24 hours, with both of the games being their home openers.”

“After only having three training sessions I am happy with the way we played this weekend, we were very competitive in both games and showed that we can compete with some of the better teams in the PDL.”

Cassidy said even though was proud of his team’s first two games there was plenty of room for improvement. “Tactically we need to tighten up defensively and make the most of our opportunities in the attacking third,” Cassidy reported.

The Rochester Thunder PDL coach concluded by saying he’s very excited about bringing PDL soccer to Rochester, Minnesota, the English native’s new home. “I am looking forward to our first home game,” said Cassidy. “We will have a refreshed squad that will be ready and eager to play.”

The Rochester Thunder’s home opener is this coming Friday, May 15, against the Real Colorado Foxes with kick off at 7:00 p.m. Single-game tickets will cost $7 for adults (ages 13 – 65)and $4 for kids (ages 4-12) and seniors (ages 65+). Children under 4 will be admitted for free.

Go HERE for more info.

Weather: Cloudy
Summary:
STL: Wark (Dyson) 6
STL: Brocks (Beattie) 36
ROC: Peterson 47

Cautions
ROC: Lukas 9, Dias 71
STL: Saylor 17, Dyson 64, Brown 74

Referees: George Major, Mike Meyerhoff, Brandon Marshall, Jeremiah Kampen