Thunder Take 1st Win on the Road This Year – Play Austin Tonight

The Minnesota Thunder took their first road points of the year on Friday evening in a close game that had few scoring opportunities. The road match was covered live on Fox Soccer Channel and the Thunder defeated the Miami FC Blues in front of a national audience by a score of 1-0 in Miami, Florida.

The goal came at the 68 minute mark by Thunder forward Melvin Tarley off a set piece, with the assist coming from Ricardo Sanchez. Free kick specialist Sanchez’ assist pushed him to 6th place overall in point leaders. He now has 14 points with 4 assists and 5 goals. He is tied with 5 other players for 6th place in USL-1 goals scored. Sanchez is also the top goal scorer for the Thunder. The goal was Tarley’s 3rd of the year.

Quavas Kirk and Ricardo Sanchez (left) congratulate Melvin Tarley (right) after scoring in a game earlier this season against the Montreal Impact. Photo by Jeremy Olson

One minute earlier Tarley had received a chipped ball across the box from the right post end line to the top of the goal box which Tarley had hurried and blew over the top of the net with an open goal in front of him.

Then at the 68th minute, Leonel Saint-Preux was streaking down the right touchline and was fouled deep in the Miami half. Sanchez took the free kick with a driven ball towards the right side of the goal box. Tarley had made a run beating his defender and glanced the ball off his head, redirecting it very subtly to beat Miami’s keeper Pat Hannigan.

The Thunder did a good job of killing off the rest of the game and picked up their first road points of the year. The 3 points helped to make ground on Miami FC, who sit only one spot above the Thunder at 25 points. The Thunder now have 18 points as they head into Austin (14 pts).

The team looks to make it a streak with two more away games this week. First the Thunder will play Austin, who sit one spot below them in the standings in 10th place. The game can be seen live for free on USL Live.com tonight at 6:00 CT.

The Sunday night contest is crucial to the Thunder if they are to make up points and remain in the hunt for the playoffs as the season begins to wind down with 10 games left. The top 7 spots in the standings will reach the playoffs. The Thunder currently sit at the 9th spot, 8 points behind the 7th place team Vancouver Whitecaps.

After Sunday, the Thunder will fly directly to Rochester, NY to play the Rhinos in a rare Wednesday evening game. Rochester lost last night to the streaking Portland Timbers, 4-1. The Timber win brings their USL-1 record undefeated streak to 22 games. The Rhinos sit in 5th place in the league with 32 points. That game will also be available on USL Live.com for free.