Thunder Bay heads to PDL finals with win over Capitals

PORTLAND, Ore.
 – Forward Julius Abegar and midfielder Nolan Internoia scored a pair of late unanswered goals to lift the Thunder Bay Chill to a 2-1 win over the Baton Rouge Capitals in the Premier Development League Semifinals at PGE Park Friday.




With the win, Thunder Bay advances to its second PDL championship match in three seasons and will compete in the 2010 PDL Championship finals Saturday at PGE Park live on Fox Soccer Channel; kickoff is set for 4 p.m. The Chill will face the winner of the semifinal match between the Portland Timbers U-23s and Reading United AC.




Defender Chris Williams put Baton Rouge up 1-0 in the 75th minute, finishing a header on corner kick. Williams’ go-ahead tally cracked open the defensive stalemate as all three goals in the contest were scored in a six-minute span.




The Capitals gave the ball away in deep in their defensive end, and it led to Abegar’s equalizer in the 78th minute. The forward picked off a pass as the Capitals tried to play the ball out of the back. On his second touch, Abegar fired home a left-footed shot into the back of the net to tie the match at 1-1.




Forward Gustavo Oliveira, the PDL’s assist leader during the regular season, set up the game-winning goal for the Chill in the 81st minute. He played the ball wide from the top of the arch to Internoia streaking down the left side. Internoia made one move inside the box and hit a low shot from 12 yards out into the far side of the net to put Thunder Bay into the finals.




Baton Rouge goalkeeper Alessandro Salvatore made four saves to keep the Southern Conference champions in the match. The Capitals, who edged the Chill in shots 9-8, will play in the 2010 PDL Championship consolation match Saturday at 1 p.m. at PGE Park.




Lineups:

TBC: GK Paterson, D Robertson, D Villalva, D Neto (Zardetto, 58), D Buthelezi, M Heck, M Abegar, M Intermoia, F Colaizzi (Marinez, 45), F Swartzendruber, F Oliveira (Craig, 84)




BRC: GK Salvatore, D Tait, D Williams, D Hayers (Wright, 86), M Vargas (Armstrong, 72), Gordon, M Settle (Portillo, Jo., 86), M McCubbin, M Anderson, F Chagnard (Portillo, Ju., 89), F Callon




Scoring Summary:

BRC: Williams (Settle), 75


TBC: Abegar, 78


TBC: Intermoia (Oliveira), 81