St. Louis Lions drop U.S. Open Cup Match 4-1 in Minnesota

Colin Pennington
colin.pennington@brightonusa.com

St. Louis, Mo. (June 11, 2008) – The St. Louis Lions lost their first ever U.S. Open Cup match 4-1 to the Minnesota Thunder (USL-1) on Tuesday night in Blaine, Minn.

The first half played very even with both sides getting equal chances but Minnesota struck first when Melvin Tarley scored in the 45th minute to give the Thunder a 1-0 halftime lead.

“That goal was really a heartbreaker,” said Lions head coach Tony Glavin. “It’s a totally different match if we go into halftime at 0-0.”

The second half began in the same fashion as the first ended with both sides trading chances. However, it didn’t take long for Minnesota to strike again with a goal in the 57th minute from Ricardo Sanchez to make it 2-0.

Minnesota ’s second goal seemed to awaken the Lions and they began getting more chances deep in the Minnesota end when finally they got on the board in the 79th minute with a Tommy Heinemann goal setup by Kyle Patterson to pull St. Louis to within one.

St. Louis looked to be pressing again just minutes later when Minnesota intercepted a St. Louis pass form the back line and earned a three on one break that led to Tarley’s second goal of the match for Minnesota assisted by Dayton O’Brien, pushing their lead to 3-1.

The Thunder would add a fourth goal in the 89th minute from Aaron Paye resulting in a 4-1 final.

“I really felt the guys played hard and were in the game for 80 minutes,” said Glavin. “Unfortunately there are 90 minutes in a match and we just couldn’t keep the momentum going after our goal.”

Both sides have had trouble finishing on the offensive end in 2008 and it was just a matter of time before one or both clubs fixed that problem.

“Neither of us had been able to put a lot of balls in the net this year and they were able to make the better improvements for this match,” said Glavin.

“The bottom line is that we played a professional side and got outplayed,” explained Glavin. “Playing in the Cup was a great experience for our guys and I’m proud of the effort I got from each of them.”

The Lions will return to PDL divisional play on Saturday when they take their 4-0-1 record on the road to Des Moines for a 6:30 p.m. match against the Menace at Valley Stadium. The match with be the second of three between the two clubs in 2008 with St. Louis defeating Des Moines on the road 2-1 in the season opener back on May 10.

For more information about the St. Louis Lions visit www.stllions.com.