What Happened: Indoors at Ultimate Soccer Arenas in Pontiac, Mich., Detroit City FC fell 3-0 to the Michigan Bucks in the opening round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.
The Bucks took an early lead in the sixth minute when a deflected cross from the left side sailed over a pair of City defenders, and met the foot of the Bucks’ midfielder David Goldsmith. Goldsmith’s volley went past the outstretched arms of DCFC goalkeeper Alex Bouillennec (Saginaw Valley), putting the Bucks on scoreboard for the first timeWednesday night.
The Bucks doubled their lead just three minutes later. Bucks forward Peri Marosevic slotted a mishandled pass outside DCFC’s 18-yard box across the box and into the bottom right corner, past the diving goalkeeper.
One of Le Rouge’s closest chances to cut the deficit came in the 19th minute, when Will Mellors-Blair (Michigan) poked a pass forward to the on-running James Murphy (Michigan) who dribbled around the goalkeeper, but hammered the shot off the post.
The Bucks’ third and final goal arrived in in the 30th minute as the ball skipped out of the penalty area, where Brad Ruhaak rocketed a shot to the upper-left corner, giving the Bucks a 3-0 lead, which carried through the rest of the game.
Under pressure: The Bucks’ starting roster listed just five defenders, but it seemed like 11. Each and every one applied pressure all over the field, especially in the first half, giving Le Rouge little room to work with in the back. The Bucks found large pockets of space to possess the ball, but anytime they gave it up, they immediately turned on a defensive-minded switch.
Physical play: In the final minutes, Alex Isaevski (Saginaw Valley) took a hit to the lower back. The defender persevered, but was limping and holding his side for the remainder of the game. The hard foul warranted a yellow card, the second of the night for the Bucks. As a whole, the game ended with 27 fouls, a tough physical test for DCFC.
What’s next: Le Rouge return to Cass Tech for the first game of the National Premier Soccer League regular season against Rust Belt Derby rival AFC Cleveland, with kickoff set for 7:30 p.m. Get your tickets for DCFC’s game Friday against AFC Cleveland as well as tickets for the rest of the 2015 home schedule at https://www.detcityfc.com/tickets.
