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Chill lay boots to the Menace
By Reuben Villagracia
Saturday, June 19, 2010

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Rafa Heck waited nearly three years to suit up for the Thunder Bay Chill. He‘s certainly making it known he‘s having a good time when the spotlight shone his way.
The Brazilian midfielder‘s pretty 40-yard strike sparked a flurry of four goals in a 20-minute span in the first half Friday night, while Brandon Swartzendruber added a hat trick as the Chill cruised to a 7-2 win over division-rival Des Moines Menace at Chapples Park.
“We had the mindset to go hard for most of the game,” Heck said. “Our scoring at the beginning of the game helped us a lot.”
Zetroy Robertson, Nolan Intermoia and Jimmie Mayaleh also scored for Thunder Bay. The victory leaves the Chill (5-1-0) three points from the outright lead in the Heartland Division when the second of the two-game soccer set goes today (7:30 p.m.).
“It‘s our chance to make a statement to the league and a statement for our club,” said Swartzendruber.
Heck, 27, had an eye on the landing with the Premier Development League club in 2007 when Judson College teammate Gustavo Oliveira attempted to bring him north.
“I was supposed to come into Thunder Bay but I couldn‘t come,” said Heck. “This year everything worked out and we are together.”
Chill head coach Tony Colistro said Heck‘s rough playing style meshes well with the other forwards – the hard-charging Swartzendruber and smooth-moving Oliveira.
“We‘ve seen that strike of his in practice, for sure, and he definitely capitalized,” he said on Heck‘s first goal of the season. “We just need him to be more consistent like that. He‘s a hard worker. He‘s not a flashy player. He‘s just a grinder.”
Both teams traded chances in the opening minutes. Robertson sent Swartzendruber in, but the forward‘s tip attempt was blocked by Menace keeper Jason Williams.
In the 13th minute, Des Moines leading scorer Clark Bradford missed the net on another long distance attempt that Chill keeper Stephen Patterson had a good read on.
Heck surprised the defence two minutes later with his hard-looping strike from the middle that soared over Williams‘ head. It seemed to wake up the troops.
Paterson took possession and skipped it over to Heck, who found Swartzendruber alone for the deflection and the 2-0 lead in the 18th minute. Eight minutes later, Robertson banged home a loose ball after a sharp shot from Oliveira that trickled past Williams.
Intermoia ended the onslaught in the 34th minute, circling around a defender at the side of the net for the uncontested goal.
“We weren‘t going to sit back and defend against these guys,” Swartzendruber said.
“When you do that those are the games you try not to lose instead of playing to win.”
Kalan Ryden and Yuki Kariya replied for the Menace (4-2-4) in the second half, but the highlight was Oliveira‘s twisting pass along the side that connected with Swartzendruber in close to complete the hat trick.
“I didn‘t expect this kind of result,” Colistro admitted. “I knew we were capable of it. We talked about our attack and we wanted to start with our big guns and these are the big-game players and they produced today.
“This is a big result, but you‘ve still got to respect Des Moines,” he added.
“They‘re tired and have had quite a few games this past week. I‘m not taking anything for granted. (Today) is going to be a different game and it‘s going to be a tough game.”
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