In the 25th minute Thunder goalkeeper Nic Platter's long outlet kick bounced perfectly for speedy Alen Marcina to beat the defenders and slot a nice shot to the far post past the RR keeper Scott Vallow. It turned out to be the only goal of the game.

Unfortunately mere moments later Platter erred by taking down Hamad Diallo in the box, then turning the tables to stuff the same players subsequent Penalty Kick.

Rightback Tighe Dombrowski was Yellow Carded early  for a poor tackle, and was pulled out of position a few too many times by Rochester’s pace making for some nervous defending. A leg muscle injury saw him replaced before halftime by Brian Kallman who did a great job holding down that back corner of the defense.

Leftback Steven DeRoux continued to fight like mad for the third game in a row, bringing the home fans to sing “DeRoux, DeRoux, DeRoux is on fire!”

Infamous midfielder Ricardo Sanchez made his return to Minnesota, and was greeted by his new fans as a conquering hero. His free & corner kicks were a thing of beauty not seen in these parts since the days of Marco Feruzzi.

The centerback pairing of the Kevin’s (not related) Taylor & Friedland fought very hard like we have come to expect from these two, but were still not convincing, especially when DeRoux made one of his bombing runs forward unbalancing the back line.

Jeremiah Bass, Luchi Gonzalez, Andrew Barron and Dayton O’Brien played very solid if unspectacular roles in the first 11.

The last great sign of the night was having substitutes come in that showed no drop off in talent, yet variations in skill, to keep Rochester guessing. Kallman, Paul Moran, Frederico Moojen & Melvin Tarley all gave their best to assist the starters.

From there on out it was dodging Rochester bullets, stalling counter attacks and possessing the ball in the last minutes to get the win in the home opener before a very festive crowd.

To some, last night was when professional soccer arrived in the Twin Cities.



Match reports from other sources:

Minnesota Thunder website

Rochester Rhinos website

Minneapolis Star Tribune

St Paul Pioneer Press

Rochester Democrat & Chronicle