DETROIT – Detroit City put in a dominant 90-minute performance to extend their best-ever USL W League start to four wins in a row against Cleveland Force SC as they saw out a comfortable 1-0 win. With the win, Le Rouge sees themselves top of the USL W League Great Lakes Division with 12 points in four matches as they leap AFC Ann Arbor.
Head Coach David Dwaihy made four changes to his side, which secured a 5-0 win over the Michiana Lions in Le Rouges’ last match. Acadia Murphy, Sarah Troccoli, Danielle Stephens, and Hannah Crum made way for Maia Soulis, Tatiana Mason, Lilley Bosley, and Aubree Ciampa.
Le Rouge established themselves early, dominating possession, and kept virtually all of the play in the first 10 minutes in Cleveland’s half. Setting the tempo of the match early on as Le Rouge looked to control this game the whole 90.
In the 14th minute, Detroit got their first sight of net, Ciampa found the feet of Mason after some clever feet at the top of the 18-yard box but the resulting effort from Mason flashed just wide of the Cleveland post.
DCFC continued to dominate the exchanges as they relentlessly put pressure on the Cleveland net but were unable to open up the scoring in any of their eight attempts in the first 30 minutes.
Le Rouge would find their best chance of the half down the left flank in the 38th minute. A ball into the box from Ella Offer found Sophia Romine at the back post but she was unable to direct her headed attempt on target.
“At halftime, we were talking in the locker room how the way we were attacking wasn’t going to lead to much,” Dwaihy said in postgame. “They were so compact and we were feeding into that going down the middle so much.”
The first chance of the second half for Le Rouge would fall early to Lily Jeakle in the 47th minute. Following a turnover the Cleveland backline off the back of some high pressing from Jeakle would fire a shot on target which lacked the venom necessary to beat the Cleveland goalkeeper.
Jeakle would find herself with another big chance to open the scoring in the 50th minute, receiving a driven pass from Drew Martin in Cleveland’s 18-yard box, brilliantly taking her touch in stride before pulling the effort just wide of the near post.
Le Rouge’s struggles of breaking down the Cleveland low block would nearly be solved by Ciampa in the 59th minute with an effort from 25 yards out, but the shot fired off the crossbar as Le Rouge was left continuing to hunt for an opener.
“We were really successful moving the ball around the whole game,” Woman of the Match Ella Offer said in postgame. “We just couldn’t find the back of the net, but we continued pressuring the back line because we knew we would find a goal.”
In the 66th minute, it would be Romine who would break the deadlock for Le Rouge with a wonder strike from 30 yards out that nestled itself in the top right corner. The effort would mark the 21st shot of the match for DCFC to Cleveland’s fifth.
DCFC continued to look for a second goal, creating a handful of chances in the final 20 minutes as they continuously swarmed Cleveland’s 18-yard box. But Le Rouge would be unable to extend the lead to two as they went on to comfortably close out the 1-0 win having left Cleveland’s attack completely neutralized across the whole 90 minutes.
Le Rouge will return to action with their first away match of the season on Tuesday when they face Kalamazoo FC. Kickoff is set for 7:00 p.m. at Mayors Riverfront Park.
Four games within a fourteen-day period for DCFC is going to be a struggle, but great depth is going to be huge for Detroit in this run.
“We have a lot of players that could easily slot in,” Dwaihy said. “This is the time of year where we are going to have to rotate a bit between availability and resting players. Hopefully, we can exercise that advantage in the next couple of weeks”
Detroit City returns to Keyworth on Saturday to face off against AFC Ann Arbor. Kickoff is set for 4:00 p.m. and tickets can be purchased at www.detcityfc.com/tickets.
Detroit City FC Starting XI: Gabrielle Schriver, Ella Offer, Avery Peters, Maia Soulis, Drew Martin (75’), Emily Pagett (63’), Lilley Bosley (79’), Tatiana Mason (63’). Sophia Romine, Aubree Ciampa (79’). Lily Jeakle (75’).
Detroit City Used Subs: Kate Childers (63’), Ella Kane (63’), Hannah Crum (75’), Allie Tefend (75’), Kayla Addison (79’), Megan Miles (79’)
Detroit City Goalscorers: Sophia Romine 66’
For more information about Detroit City FC, visit detcityfc.com and follow @DetroitCityFC on X and Facebook and @detroitcityfootballclub on Instagram.
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Primary Media Contact: Jarrett Maki
(Sports Information Director, Jarrett.Maki@detcityfc.com)
