The Thunder recorded an overdue spanking last night over the Seattle Sounders in front of 2,604 at James Griffin Stadium in Saint Paul. After a season of 1-0 and 2-1 overtime wins, the 3-0 scoreline against Seattle was a relief to the faithful, the Thunder finally getting a comprehensive victory.
Dustin Brannan, and Jeff Matteo scored on either side of half-time and Godfrey Tenoff scored his first goal for the Thunder to send the Griffin Stadium faithful home with free Ben and Jerry’s.
The game opened the opposite way that the last four have begun with the Thunder allowing Seattle to dictate play and not really managing to string together more than a couple of passes. Despite their dominance, Seattle managed only several corners, never really threatening Joe Warren’s goal.
The Thunder managed a couple of breaks as in the 17th minute, Brian Roberts sent a glorious ball through to Melvin Tarley, but his shot was blocked off of him by Seattle’s Danny Jackson for a goal kick.
Jackson and Tarley would later be involved again as tempers flared when Tarley fouled Jackson at the edge of the Seattle penalty area. Jackson was lucky to remain on the pitch as he’d earlier been booked for a foul on David Castellanos.
In the 29th minute, the Thunder started to come into the match as after Matteo’s slip, the impressive Roberts recovered the ball and sent Tarley off again, the Lakeville native’s shot cannoning off the crossbar.
Matteo would threaten again from an astute free kick in the 33rd minute, forcing a backpedaling and unprepared Preston Burpo to punch the ball over the net. On the ensuing corner, Marco Ferruzzi’s far post cross was met by the head of Dustin Brannan. The Thunder defender rose above a crowd of players and finally managed to keep his header on frame, firing the ball past Burpo to put the Thunder one goal up.
Things began to get chippy as a Roger Levesque cheap shot on Jay Alberts was brought to the attention of the referee by the fourth official and Levesque was booked. A few minutes later, Marco Velez and Melvin Tarley clashed on a head ball and both players came off, Velez bleeding from a cut on his nose.
Velez would come back, however, and set up Jonathan Bolanos for Seattle’s best chance of the half, chesting the ball down for the midfielder to blast high as the half ended.
The Thunder picked up where they’d left off in the second half, as Jeff Matteo went on a mazy run past three or four Seattle defenders before chipping the onrushing Burpo to double the Thunder advantage.
After scoring, Matteo moved to remove his shirt in celebration, and the entire Seattle squad surrounded the referee demanding that the Stormville, NY native receive a yellow card. The protests lasted a good few minutes and in the end Burpo and Sean Henderson were both booked for their troubles.
Seattle’s frustration began to show as a pair of cheapshots at midfield went unnoticed again, the referee’s assistants again helping out, Ryan Edwards being booked. The Thunder continued to dictate play as Ferruzzi, Matteo and Juarez controlled the center of the park. Even when Ferruzzi was replaced by Godfrey Tenoff in the 71st minute, the Thunder remained in control.
Seattle’s best chance for a consolation goal evaporated when Brian Roberts managed to catch Welton on a breakaway and deflect the former Galaxy forward’s shot off target.
At the other end, though, it was the Thunder who would be celebrating. After Aaron Paye challenged Burpo for what looked like an easy take for the keeper, wily veteran Amos Magee kept the ball alive, dropping off to Jay Alberts who crossed for Godfrey Tenoff to score his first goal for the club and answer the fan’s chants of “We want ice cream!”
The win ends the Thunder’s run of three consecutive 1-0 league losses, and leaves the Thunder in 3rd place, tied with Portland one point behind division leading Vancouver. The Thunder next face Virginia Beach at the James Griffin Stadium on July 10th.
