MN Thunder Tie Rhinos in Wild One

The Minnesota Thunder, who have struggled all season to find goals, now have scored 6 in their last 3 games on the road. The Thunder never gave up and battled hard as they drew the game with the Rochester Rhinos, coming from behind in the 90th minute with a goal by Jeremiah Bass. The game ended as a 3-3 draw.

Minnesota scored first in the 6th minute with a goal by Lawrence Olum. Olum received a pass from Rod Dyachenko, who was in the box. Olum slotted into the left side of goal to draw first blood.

Rochester responded with a goal of its own in the 15th minute by Warren Ukah who took a shot that Nic Platter stopped but lost on the drop save. Ukah pounced on his own rebound for the goal.

Rochester scored again in the 37th minute with a shot that deflected off Andrew Peterson and flew over Platter’s head and into goal.

Minnesota answered again just before half in this back and forth game that often saw end-to-end action. Rich Costanzo had enough time to rip a beautifully hit 30-yard screamer that found the upper left corner of the goal. The ball was still rising when it hit the back corner of the net.

However, Rochester wasn’t done. Just 4 minutes into the second half, Nano Short scored for the Rhinos with a header that was a second ball after the first was played over to Short after a corner kick.

Even though both teams had chances again, it wasn’t until 3 minuets into a 5 minute injury time that Minnesota’s Jeremiah Bass took the game into his own hands and scored in a scramble after a corner that was taken by Ricardo Sanchez. It was a play that saw Thunder keeper Nic Platter in the mix as an extra player to help even the score. The ball came loose and the Thunder’s Melvin Tarley swiped at the ball which defected off several players, including Bass, and into goal.

“The team’s moral is great after tonight’s game,” said Thunder Head Coach Donny Gramenz. “The team is showing a lot of character by earning another point on the road.  We just played our third game in six days and we did not ‘escape’ with a tie.  Our first two goals, from Olum and Costanzo, were bombs and our third goal from Sanchez’s corner kick to Bass.  If anyone ‘escaped’ with a tie is was Rochester.  We are looking forward to our match against Cleveland.”

The Thunder head home for a few days before traveling to Cleveland to play the City Stars on Saturday evening at 6:00 pm, a game that can be watched on USL Live.com.