Detroit City FC kicked off its National Premier League Soccer (NPSL) season with a 2-2 draw against Michigan Stars FC on Friday night in Pontiac.
Andre Morris (Michigan) started the fun early, earning the M1 Imaging Man of the Match by heading one in off an Ali Al-Gashamy (Gardner-Webb) corner in the 5th minute. Following suit, Tyler Stephens (Saginaw Valley State) headed in a Cyrus Saydee (Michigan State) corner service in the 33rd minute to give Le Rouge a 2-0 lead that the team carried into halftime.
The Stars broke through in the 50th minute when Joe Coombs continued the theme of header goals off corners. Then, ten minutes later, Coombs struck again, heading home a long throw-in to level the score, 2-2.
The first half was mostly all City. Only on a few occasions did the Stars get forward and nothing dangerous developed when they did.
In the second half, the Stars flipped the script. Employing a new strategy, they began lobbing balls into the box to try and take advantage of DCFC’s relative lack of size on the back line.
For about the final 10 minutes, including five-plus minutes of stoppage time, Le Rouge looked the more threatening side. The one exception being a late Stars’ free kick from about 30 yards out, which Evan Louro (Michigan) made a fine diving save on to preserve a point. Ultimately, both teams were unable to break the tie, and both went home with just the one point in their pocket.
In his debut match with DCFC, Omar Sinclair (Saginaw Valley State) was the defensive anchor. He did an admirable job keeping up with Eric McWoods, who was MSFC’s most threatening player throughout the night.
Next up, Detroit City FC hits the road in search of three points when it meets the Dayton Dynamo at 2 p.m. on Sunday afternoon at Welcome Stadium.
