Tuesday, June 12, 2012
WHEATON, Ill. -- The Michigan Bucks (5-0-1, 16 points) picked up a much-needed road win on Tuesday night as they completed their season sweep of the first-year Chicago Inferno with a 4-0 victory. The first-place Bucks once again had a balanced scoring attack and solid defense to record their third shutout in five days. Sean Teepen ran his record in goal for the visitors to 3-0-1 on the season (four goals against, two shutouts) and had a relatively easy night having made only two saves.
The Inferno (3-5-1, 10 points) came out the aggressor on Tuesday and took the action to the Bucks for the first 20 minutes. While the young team got caught up in the attack, veteran striker Stefan St. Louis took a pass from Bim Ogunyemi against the run of play and put the Bucks up 1-0 in the game's 25th minute. While both teams continued to battle for the balance of the first half, the Bucks' leading scorer Tom Catalano put the team ahead 2-0 right before the halftime whistle.
Bucks coach Gary Parsons made several early second half substitutions to get some fresh legs in the game and it was substitute Zach Steinberger who took a pass from Catalano in the 50th minute to make it 3-0 and put the game out of reach. The goal was the Butler midfielder's third of the season coming off the bench. Defensive leader Seb Harris scored his first goal of the season when he broke through down the left side of the field and finished a nice goal in the 66th minute to finish the game's scoring at 4-0.
Parsons was happy to escape the week with a five point lead in first place in the Great Lakes Division with second place FC London coming to Ultimate Soccer Arenas on Friday night. London picked up only one point in a two game road trip this week and will be eager for a win in Pontiac.
"In the last seven days we have played the fourth round of the U.S. Open Cup which we lost on a PK in overtime, a road shutout in Toronto on Thursday, a home shutout of the Fire on Saturday and a road shutout in Chicago tonight. You can't ask for much for than that out of any club," Parsons said. "Our defense has been outstanding all season and our balanced scoring makes us very difficult to defend. We got everything Toronto had to give us on Thursday and we saw the same from Chicago tonight. Everyone wants a piece of us so we have to come prepared every night or we will fall victim on any given night. Coming up, we have a Friday/ Tuesday/ Thursday stretch -- all at home -- to try and really put some distance between us and the rest of the pack. I think all the boys are focused on how huge Friday night's match with London will be."
Tickets for Friday night's showdown between the first- and second-place teams in the Great Lakes Division are $10 for Adults and $7 for Students (5-and-under are free) and are available at the door of Ultimate Soccer Arenas. Presale tickets are available on line for only $6 in advance by visiting the Bucks web site at www.buckssoccer.com and clicking on the TICKETS link. To celebrate this weekend's youth soccer tryouts throughout the state, any soccer player wearing his or her club's jersey to Friday night's match will get in for only $4 at the gate on Saturday.