Four players for the Sioux Falls Thunder (1-7-2) scored to overwhelm the Joy St. Louis Park (3-7-0) defense in a humid home game on Wednesday night, June 28th. University of Jamestown player, Jack Crombie, netted himself a hat trick, the first one in Thunder's history. Teammates Eric Beltran, Trace Dobson, and Marcus Horwood also took one each to secure a comfortable 6-1 win.
The Thunder opened the scoring in the 22nd minute when Marcus Horwood, the resident penalty kick expert, took one from the spot without breaking a sweat. Joy would respond ten minutes later after a defensive error gave Denilson Ramos a clear path to the Thunder goal. Ramos defeated Thunder keeper Jack Howard in the 1-v-1 to tie the game.
That was the last goal for Joy, and it sparked brilliance in the Thunder players in the second half. Six minutes into the second half, the Thunder set up for a corner kick. Midfielder Brennan Haggerty lofted the ball inside, and when it was deflected back to the outside, he found the head of Crombie with the cross, who directed it into the far side up the net.
It only took seven more minutes for the Thunder to score again. Haggerty sent a ball from midfield over the defense to Beltran, who dropped it off to Crombie for his second goal of the night. Like clockwork, a few minutes later Haggerty would again sail a ball into the six-yard box after a first-defended cross, this time finding Dobson. With well-practiced skill, Dobson guided it with a powerful headed past Joy keeper Edward Holmes.
Crombie clinched his hat trick less than five minutes after the restart. A throw-in put the Joy defense on the back foot, and Crombie beat two defenders to undoubtedly earn his third goal of the night. And Eric Beltran would finish the game with Sioux Fall's sixth goal right before the final whistle. A clever assist from Joshua Seyer from another throw-in let Beltran finally cash in after all his effort creating threats up front, a satisfying ending to the game.
The Thunder have a week off before facing Med City in their last away game on Wednesday, July 5th. They'll return to Bob Young Field for their last regular season game on Saturday, July 8th.
**Thanks to super-fan Nick Stratmeyer for being the keeper of Thunder statistics since the beginning in 2017.
***Photos by Travis Gallipo Photography
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