Minnesota (5-3-4) defeated Cincinnati (4-0-5) 2-1 at the opener at the Hamilton County Fairgrounds with a goal 3 minutes into the 1st overtime period by 2nd half substitute Kilickan.
The game started under a HOT 90-degree temperature and a battered pitch. With the pitch recently patched with new turf after the old turf had not seeded it made footing very unstable for the players. Cincinnati started with a 4-3-3 up against Minnesota's 3-5-2. Cincinnati worked the ball well with the forwards of Simon Lowey, Marcel Matis and Ryan Lucas. In the 6th minute the lineup paid off with a goal by defender Edozien after he dribbled his in and got the chance to take a shot that went in! Shortly thereafter Cincinnati shifted to a 3-5-2 using wingbacks. With the new formation the Hawks started playing defensively and began racking up numerous fouls. In the 24th minute Menyonger took a shot at goal to have it deflect off a diving save from keeper Ueltschey only for it to fall to Martins. Martins promptly slotted it into the goal tying up the score at 1-1. The rest of the 1st half went mostly to Minnesota's advantage ! with Minnesota finishing with 12 shots to Cincinnati's 3.
The 2nd half started and more of the same was in store for the Hawks. The Hawks did manage to play better but Minnesota kept coming at the Hawks. Minnesota having several shots at goal forcing the Hawks keeper to make a number of excellent saves. The Hawks did manage to have 5 shots in the 2nd half but with none finding the mark.
On to overtime with the score 1-1. The Hawks wanted this game badly. Minnesota could not be stopped. After an errant pass by the Hawks the Thunder took the ball in Martins fed the ball to Kilickan and that was all she wrote when he buried it into the corner of the net.
LINEUPS
Cincinnati Minnesota
GK 12 Ueltschey GK 22 Lowery
D 19 Mercik D 20 Gores
D 14 Pickup D 12 Eyre
D 8 Edozien (13 Nikocaj, 70') D 13 Schulte
D 2 Meyer M 6 Schmidt
M 25 Antongirozami(26Teterick,67')M 10 Menyonger
M 6 Alvarez (16 Roettker, 90') M 16 Trembley
M 15 Rockey M 21 Gramenz((14 Biddle, 75')4 Otto,90')
F 7 Lowey M 17 LLamas(5 Gentile, 64')
F 10 M Matis F 9 Pendergast (2 Kilickan, 45')
F 9 R Lucas F 27 Martins
STATS Cincinnati Minnesota
Shots 8 21
Saves 10 0
Offside 2 2
Corner Kicks 4 6
Fouls 26 17
CAUTIONS and EJECTIONS
Cincinnati - Edozien 21' (Caution)
Cincinnati - Antongirozami 40' (Caution)
Minnesota - Trembley 84' (Caution)
GOALS
Cincinnati - Edozien 6'
Minnesota - Martins 24'
Minnesota - Kilickan 93') Assist - Meyonger
Mike Senger
A-League.com match reporter
