Detroit City FC’s first week of the 2016 season, consisting of three matches on the road in five days, has come to a close. After advancing to the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup second round over the Michigan Bucks last Wednesday, City played to a 2-2 draw against Michigan Stars FC on Friday night and defeated the Dayton Dynamo, 4-2, on Sunday afternoon, giving Le Rouge (1-0-1) four points in the National Premier Soccer League Great Lakes West Division standings.
On Wednesday, City beat the Bucks in penalty kicks after a 0-0 score stood through 120 minutes of play. Goalkeeper Evan Louro (Michigan) saved two penalty kicks to help his team to a 4-3 victory in the shootout, earning City its first-ever advancement in the first round of the national tournament.
Friday night’s fixture against the Stars at Wisner Stadium in Pontiac saw more scoring than Wednesday, with nearly all of the chances for both sides coming from set pieces.
City scored twice in the first half and conceded twice in the second half of the match. Andre Morris (Michigan) scored just five minutes in off a perfect corner-kick service from Ali Al-Gashamy (Gardner-Webb). In the 33rd minute, Cyrus Saydee (Michigan State) found the head of Tyler Stephens (Saginaw Valley State) to give DCFC a 2-0 lead going into halftime.
The second half was taken over by the Stars’ Joe Coombs, whose two headers ten minutes apart leveled the score for good. Starting in his first match for Le Rouge, Omar Sinclair (Saginaw Valley State) anchored the back line.
Despite giving up those two goals, Wednesday night’s hero, Evan Louro, recorded another standout performance, making a crucial diving save five minutes into stoppage time to preserve the draw.
In the Sunday matinee, a flurry of four goals in 12 minutes was enough to earn City the win. Danny Deakin (South Carolina) got it started with his free kick goal in the 22nd minute, and kept it going by assisting on all three of the others.
Alec Lasinski (Loyola University Chicago) scored twice in three minutes. The first was on a tap-in off another free kick, the other on a diving header off a beautiful cross. Four minutes later, Al-Gashamy scored his first goal for Le Rouge when he chested down a long ball from Deakin, lost the last defender and beat the keeper between his legs. It was 4-0 City going into the locker room.
With a comfortable lead, Le Rouge played much of the second half on the back foot. Seb Harris (Oakland) was called for a foul in the box nine minutes into the second half, giving Khristian Montoya a penalty kick that he buried to put Dayton on the board.
“I’d just like to see our guys play way more consistently,” head coach Ben Pirmann said. “You know, you go in 4-0 at halftime. (If) you think the game’s over, well, twenty minutes later it’s a two-goal game and they’re flying.”
In the 75th minute, Dynamo’s Tristan Lyle headed in another one from a corner. His goal made it 4-2 and set up a frantic final 15 minutes. The Detroit defense would concede no more, though, finishing out a three-point effort that brought the club’s total to four.
Next up is another busy week for Detroit City FC. The second round match of the U.S. Open Cup is Wednesday night in Louisville at 7 p.m. against Louisville City FC.
Friday night is the home opener and DCFC’s first match at Keyworth Stadium. The match against AFC Ann Arbor is scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff.
Then, Sunday evening, City will travel to Kalamazoo for the inaugural meeting with Kalamazoo FC at 6:05 p.m.
Tickets for City’s home-opener are still available here.
