Thunder Defeat Nebraska 402 3-2

6/9/09 – Thunder Advance to Second Round of Lamar Hunt US Open Cup by Topping 402 3-2

BLAINE, Minn. (Tuesday, June 9, 2009) – Thunder move forward to the second round of the US Open Cup with a 3-2 win over 402.
402 took an early lead on the Thunder in the 12th minute of play.  It was their first attempt at the net and former Thunder players Johnny Torres and Andre Gotsmanov capitalized.  Torres came down the right side of the field and sent a cut back cross over to Gostmanov where he shot far post past Nic Platter for the opening goal.

The Thunder nearly evened the score in the 19th minute.  Brian Cvilikas took a long pass.  He tracked down a throughball, but before he could put a shot on goal, 402 keeper Ross Kaufman came out to stop the play.

In the 22nd minute, Lawrence Olum nearly put one away.  Rod Dyachenko had the ball deep in 402 territory. His shot was deflected back to Olum who saw the opportunity and drilled a shot toward the goal but the ball sailed high.

Cvilikas evened up the game for Minnesota in the 31st minute assisted by Rod Dyachenko.  Dyachenko had the ball on the right side and sent a screamer across the goal mouth where Cvilikas put in a one-timer in the back of the net.  This is Cvilikas’ first goal of the season.

Leonel Saint-Preux put in the go-ahead goal for the Thunder in the 40th minute.  Dyachenko sent the ball over to Saint-Preux where he saw his opening and he chipped the ball over Kaufman 20 yards out to the far post.

Cvilikas heated up in the 47th minute by scoring his second goal.  Saint-Preux came down the field with an ever-enclosing 402 defense and he caught a glimpse of Cvilikas with nothing but room around him.  Saint-Preux dumped it off to Cvilikas who in turn sent a finesse shot under Kaufman and put the Thunder up two goals on 402.

The amateur team from Nebraska narrowed the gap in the 57th minute with a snipe from Tony Schmitz.  Johnny Torres was looking to set up a play when he passed the ball but Schmitz had something else in mind.  He had it 25 yards out when he saw a window of opportunity, and he smashed the ball towards Platter.  The Thunder goalkeeper made an attempt with a full stretched dive but could not reach it as he watched the second ball get by him.

In the 83rd minute of play, 402 lost a man to an ejection card.  Tony Schmitz was sent off due to an unnecessarily hard foul against Saint-Preux but this was just the start of the fiasco.  Gotsmanov disagreed with the call and made sure that the official knew it but that stunt earned him a caution card.

“It was a good win,” said Minnesota defender Jon Greenfield.  “It is good momentum for us and hopefully we can take it into Sunday’s game.”

The Thunder will carry the energy from this win back to USL league play on Sunday, June 14 when they host the Carolina RailHawks.  The last two these two teams played was in Cary and the RailHawks walked away with wins from both meetings.  The Thunder lost the games 2-1 and 1-0 respectively but Minnesota has the home field advantage on Sunday.

The next US Open Cup game is again at home next Tuesday June 16th  at the National Sports Center, time will be 7:05. The Thunder will take on the Chicago Fire PDL team who beat the Milwaukee Barvarians FC 3-1 tonight.