Detroit City FC defeated the Dayton Dynamo, 4-2, Sunday afternoon to earn its first National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) win of the 2016 season.
All of City’s goals came within a 12-minute span in the first half. Danny Deakin (University of South Carolina) broke out in a major way with a goal – his first for City – and three assists, earning him M1 Imaging Center Man of the Match honors. Alec Lasinski (Loyola University Chicago) scored two goals in three minutes. Ali Al-Gashamy (Gardner-Webb) also picked up his first goal for Le Rouge.
In the 21st minute, Dayton was called for a handball just outside of its own 18-yard box. Deakin stepped up and buried the kick, curling it inside the right goalpost and opening up City’s scoring account.
Another Deakin free kick in the 27th minute set up a rebound for Lasinski, who made no mistake tapping it in. Three minutes later, Lasinski headed in a beautiful cross from Deakin to give DCFC a three-goal lead.
And Deakin wasn’t done yet. He found Al-Gashamy in the 34th minute on a deep ball down the left sideline. From there, the speedy forward from Kristiansand, Norway brought it down with his chest, navigated around a defender and slid one right between the goalkeeper’s legs to make it 4-0 in favor of City.
The second half was a different story for City, who had a hard time adjusting when the Dynamo finally settled in to the match.
Seb Harris (Oakland) was called for a foul in City’s box in the 54th minute after he took down Dayton’s Kristian Montoya. Montoya buried the penalty kick for Dayton to cut City’s lead to 4-1. Then, with three quarters of regulation time expired, Tristan Lyle rose above the City defense and directed Dayton’s second goal in with his head.
Despite Dayton’s pressure in the final minutes of the match, Le Rouge held on to secure the victory.
Head coach Ben Pirmann, with his mind on the big picture, said he expects better from his team in the second half of matches going forward.
“If you told me a week ago that (we) could be (at) four points in the league, and advance to the second round of the U.S. Open Cup I’d take it,” Pirmann said. “But after Wednesday night – playing really well and really focused as a team – to play like we have the last two nights is pretty disappointing.”
Next up for Le Rouge is a trip down to Louisville for the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup second round match against Louisville City FC on Wednesday. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tickets can be purchased here.
Detroit will return home for its first-ever match at Keyworth Stadium on Friday, May 20 against AFC Ann Arbor at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for the big day can be purchased here.
