After having played three games in which they had scoreless first half‘s, it appears as if the Patriots are quickly becoming a second half team. Unfortunately for the Patriots, the Thunder, unlike their past two opponents, also came alive in the second half. The El Paso Patriots and Minnesota Thunder tied 2-2 after 110 minutes of play. Leading the way for the Patriots were Luis Macias, who scored both goals, and Mark Rowland, who had two assist.
The first half started off with both teams playing some sloppy, yet physical soccer. Even though the Thunder had played a game 24 hours earlier, it did not matter because the Patriots were unable to get themselves organized on offense. In what is becoming a weekly custom, the El Paso Patriots received the first card of the game at the 10th minute when Paul Cabrera received a yellow card. The Patriots received an early opportunity to score when Gustavo Leal went up the side of the field and almost caught Minnesota goalkeeper John Swallen off guard.
After the Pat’s first offensive opportunity, both teams traded opportunities with neither one coming close. The patriot’s defense started off playing really well. In the 22nd minute, the Patriots’ Carlos Farias received a yellow card for excessive arguing with the referee. Four minutes later, Gustavo Leal also received a yellow card for what the referee felt was a hard tackle. In the 29th minute, the Patriots then had another good opportunity to score when both Leal and Mark Rowland went forward with a one man advantage. Minnesota defenders caught up in time to prevent anything from happening. In the 31st minute Thunder player Paul Schneider received a yellow card. So the second half ended the same way the Patriots’ previous two game had done so, a scoreless draw.
Before the start of the second half began, both teams made substitutions. The Patriots put in Luis Macias and Salvador Mercado into the game in place of Gustavo Leal and Justin Pratt, respectively. Minnesota replaced Paul Scheneider with eventual goal scorer, Johnny Menyongar. One minute into the second half, the Thunder struck. Mike Gentile beat his defender to head Amos Magee's pass into the net from just off the far post. However the Thunder’s celebration was short lived because in the 53rd minute, the Patriots struck back. Mark Rowland used his speed to take off down the right sideline on a breakaway. Quickly closing in on the goal, he kicked the ball across the front of the goal. Luis Macias was there to blast it into the back of the net. Eighteen minutes later, Rowland once again used his speed and drew Minnesota goalkeeper John Swallen off his line. Rowland then got a perfect pass across to Macias for the easy goal. With a 2-1 lead, the Patriots looked to be on pace to repeat last week’s victory 3-1 over San Diego.
However the winless Thunder had other plans. Johnny Menyongar got Minnesota back into the game in the 73rd minute. With the ball at his feet, his shot from the center of the box deflected off a Patriots defender which went to the right top corner of the goal and sailed out of reach for Patriot goalkeeper Jesse Llamas. With a 2-2 tie and 17 minutes remaining in the game, both teams frantically tried to score the game winner. The Patriots had the most opportunities, but were unsuccessful. The first and second overtime periods came and went with neither team being able to put the ball in the back of the net. Finally, much to the dismay of the loud 3,361 fans in attendance the game ended in a 2-2 tie. The tie drops the Patriots 2-1-2 (win, lost, tied) in A-League play while it raised Minnesota’s record to 0-4-1. Next up for the Patriots is their second road trip of the season with a pair of games in the Pacific Northwest against Portland and Vancouver.
EL PASO PATRIOTS 2
Luis Macias 53rd (Mark Rowland, assist)
Luis Macias 71st (Mark Rowland, assist)
MINNESOTA THUNDER 2
Mike Gentile 46th (Amos Magee, assist)
John Menyongar 73rd
El Paso Patriots
Jesse Llamas GK
Severo Hernandez D
Justin Pratt D (Luis Macias, halftime)
Guillermo McFarlane D
Jose Lomeli M
Esmundo Rodriguez M
Michael Griego M
Pablo Cabrera M
Carlos Farias M
Mark Rowland F
Gustavo Leal F (Salvador Mercado, halftime)
Minnesota Thunder
John Swallen GK
Don Gramenz D (Mark Schulte, 9th 2nd Half)
Eric Otto D
Chris Gores D
Morgan Zeba D
Mike Gentile M
Aaron Leventhal M
Nate Winkel M
Amos Magee M
Paul Schneider F (Johnny Menyongar , halftime)
Gerard Lagos F
Cards
EPP Pablo Cabrera 10th
EPP Carlos Farias 22th
EPP Gustavo Leal 26th
MT Paul Schneider 31st
MT Amos Magee 102nd
Attendance - 3,361
