The Sioux Falls Thunder (0-4-0) fought a hard battle against Joy Saint Louis Park (2-2-0) in an away game Saturday night, outplaying and outshooting the host, but in the end they fell by two goals.
The first half was fairly uneventful, with the exception of an unexceptional Joy goal. The goal, attributed to Joy midfielder Spencer Enright, was a shot blocked by a Thunder defender. Unfortunately, the resulting ricochet bounced past Thunder keeper Jack Howard, who couldn't change directions from his own attempt to block the shot. The ball settled into the corner of the net to put the Thunder down by a goal.
Despite a myriad of Thunder chances, the next goal would come from the Joy side nearly an hour later. In the 73rd minute Joy forward Owen Salzwedel got a breakaway toward the Thunder goal. Despite a poor touch, the chaos between a sliding Jack Howard and the jostling defender popped the ball up directly in front of Salzwedel, who headed it into the open goal.
The Thunder would get their best chance of the night just two minutes later. A foul on Eric Beltran inside the box gave the Thunder a shot from the penalty spot. Marcus Horwood stepped up and buried the first one, which was promptly called back by the referee for a Thunder player jumping in the box too early. The restart was blocked by Joy keeper Ayuub Ahmed. Joy burned the rest of the clock despite the Thunder pressure, and the final score difference stayed at two through the final whistle.
The Thunder will stay on the road for two more games. The next game will be against LC Aris FC in La Crosse, WI on Saturday, June 3rd at 7pm. Given the history of Aris, the possibility of a livestream is unknown.
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