Real Gill and Northern Colorado Hailstorm are Still Finding Themselves

WINDSOR – Real Gill gets the ball in middle of the box on a jailbreak counter attack. He takes a few touches to control it. Remembering the instructions from the coaches to express himself and try stuff, he creates space and looks to set up Ethan Hoard. He finds him for a calm finish to find the winner.

On Saturday night, NoCo hosted Richmond Kickers at 4Rivers Equipment Stadium. The home side had the better start but did not score till the 31st minute. After a good sequence around the box, Gill found Bruno Rendón, who redirected it into the bottom corner. It was the defender’s tenth goal of the year. Four minutes later, Nil Vinyals equalized.

Hailstorm reasserted themselves in the second half with direct play. In the 54th, Hailstorm stepped up to win the ball off a Richmond goal kick. Gill got on the ball in the box. Some shifty footwork later he found rookie Ethan Hoard, who scored. It was the 9th goal for the first year striker. Noah Powder put the match away in stoppage time to make it 3-1. Irvin Parra missed this game against Richmond for a personal matter.

Real Gill, Bruno, and Sideshow Ethan playing well:

“Anytime we get three points, it’s always good. From the beginning (of the season), I was a bit off. But now I feel more comfortable,” Gil said with the subtlest smirk on his face.

This game saw him get his first two assists of the year. He scored his first goal for the club coming back from international duty with Trinidad and Tobago, alongside NoCo teammate Powder.

“Real’s been excellent. He went on the international break. He came back. He got the equalizer against (Central Valley) Fuego. Since then, he’s been really good. Different kind of skillset. He’s a traditional winger. When you want to break a low block down, you need creativity. That’s Real. We spoke about his all around play. Now it’s ‘Can you add some goals?'”

Hailstorm have found ways to balance the goalscoring as well. Last year, it was all Trevor Amann. They nearly have double digit goal scorers. Rendón has been a leader and a two way player. Just like Amann in 2022, Hoard is finding his way whilst being coached by a former striker.

“Bruno’s with us under contract for another year. Bruno can play MLS. We’ve turned down at least three offers, good offers, from USL Championship clubs. There’s been two MLS NEXT clubs. I want him to bypass USL Championship. I think he should be going into an MLS squad next year 100%. I’d love to see him down at the Rapids,” Zayed told Burgundy Wave with conviction.

Getting things right come what May:

With that, they’ve won nine of 12 games in all competitions. They’ve lost just two games since mid-April. It was a slow start to the year for Éamon Zayed. The team had some turnover. Losing Arthur Rogers and Amann, their two best players from 2023, certainly did not help. NoCo also started the year with eight road games in USL play. The results weren’t there. The players were frustrated; Zayed less so.

Just like in previous years, they’re settled in at Windsor and taking care of business at home. There’s still work to do. They’ve been fantastic in the cup despite no claimed difference in how they treat cup and league matches. It’s time to put it all together. They’ve done that to finish a regular a season before, playoffs less so.

“We’re playing the same opponents in our league in the cup. It’s just like another league game. I don’t do anything different. The guys don’t do anything different. Their attitudes aren’t anything different. If you add up the points in the Jägermeister Cup and the league, we’d be fourth or third.”

This team’s still trying to win their first championship. They’re a win away from having home field advantage in the semifinals and final of the cup. If they can keep their form going overall, they’ll be in the conversation come the playoffs.

It’s a log jam at the top of USL League One. There’s not much space between teams at this level. Time for Zayed to make the players get stuck in and for Gill to express himself in the final third.

Photo Credit: Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC

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