Sunday, July 15, 2012
PONTIAC, Mich. -- The Michigan Bucks finished off a nearly perfect PDL regular season with a 4-0 win at Ultimate Soccer Arenas against the River City Rovers on Sunday afternoon to be crowned PDL Regular Season Champions for the third time in the team's illustrious 17-year history (2000/2008). The Bucks avenged their only loss of the season from Friday night when the Rovers defeated them 2-1 to fire up the 10-time Great Lakes Division champions.
The Bucks knew coming into the game that a win would take the PDL title and ensure that the team hosted the Conference Final Four next Saturday and Sunday. The Bucks will take on the Heartland Division's No.2 seed Real Colorado Foxes at 6 p.m., followed by the Heartland's No.1 seed Thunder Bay Chill facing FC London at 8 p.m. The winners of Saturday night's match will meet to determine whice side will represent the Central Conference in the PDL Final Four in a semifinal match up on July 28. Thunder Bay defeated the Bucks in overtime in 2010 and duplicated the effort last season when they scored a late goal to win back-to-back Conference Championships.
The Bucks started slower than normal on Sunday, feeling out the Rovers for the first 10 minutes. The offense clicked into gear in the 14th minute when Tom Catalano sent a free kick into the box that was originally saved by goalkeeper Matt Soyka, but his punch came back to Catalano, who clipped the ball to defender Kevin Cope, who headed home his second goal on the weekend to put the home side up 1-0.
The Bucks would continue to attack the Rovers and outshoot the visitors 11-6 in the first half. Bucks goalkeeper Adam Grinwis wasn't very busy on the night but did make the play of the game in the 35th minute. After making a diving stop, Grinwis jumped to his feet and sent an 80-yard kick downfield to a streaking Catalano, who was finishing his own 100-yard dash from end to end. Catalano found himself going one-on-one with Soyka for the Grinwis punt, and outjumped the goalkeeper near the penalty spot. Soyka then brought down the forward before he could control the loose ball and finish, leaving the referee little choice but to show Soyka a red card and send Bucks captain Stew Givens to the penalty spot. Rovers back-up goalkeeper Taylor Hafling was called into duty to take over in goal for the balance of the night and Givens greeted him with a blast that caromed off the post and into the net for a 2-0 lead, which would be the way the first half would end.
Playing up a man for the second half, the Bucks knocked the ball around and patiently waited for their opportunities to put the game away. In the 63rd minute midfielder Peter May was given a straight red card after a violent tackle on Catalano at the halfway line. The next goal would be the best of the game when Anthony Grant played a ball to midfielder Zach Steinberger, who neatly beat three defenders in the penalty area before chipping the ball into the top corner for a 3-0 lead. The Bucks would outshoot River City 18-0 in the second half with the two-man advantage and would close out the scoring in the 88th minute when Matt Bahner redirected a Nate Boyden pass from close range for his second goal of the year.
Grinwis would finish the game and the regular season with a record of 8-0-1, five shutouts and a PDL-best 0.44 goals against for allowing only four goals the entire season. Catalano would finish tied for the lead as the PDL's assist leader with 12 helpers to go with his five goals. Bucks head coach Gary Parsons was pleased with the play of both of his leaders, as well as the rest of the team.
"I was very happy with how personal they all took the defeat the other night," said Parsons. "Sometimes a team of this caliber might just write it off as a bad night and no big deal. But this team was generally disappointed to lose the undefeated season. I was proud of the effort tonight and the intensity from start to finish. This is what we needed from the team to build on for next week. We went into this game with a playoff mentality because we really wanted to stay home and host the playoffs next weekend."
Bucks Chairman/CEO Dan Duggan was grateful for the tremendous crowd support and is looking for the fans to duplicate the effort next weekend.
"The team did their job by making sure we are home next weekend. Now we need the fans to step up and continue to support the team like they have all season long," Duggan said. "We could really use a crowd on Saturday like the sellout crowd we had that helped us defeat the Chicago Fire from Major League Soccer. That was big, but this is bigger. We have three more games to win to get us back to the PDL Championship game and that was always goal number one since last August."
The Bucks will take on Real Colorado in the first game of a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 6 p.m. Specially priced ticket packages are on sale now, with fans able to get tickets for all three games for one low price. Individual tickets are $10 Adults and $7 Youth for each day (includes two games on Saturday or one game on Sunday) at the gate on game day. Specially priced pre-sale individual weekend passes are only $10 for all three games. Family-four-pack tickets are only $32 for all three games by purchasing in advance at the Bucks web site at www.buckssoccer.com and clicking on the TICKETS link. The Family Four Pack allows four people of any age into all three games. Children 5 and under are always free to all Bucks games. Individual game tickets for either Saturday or Sunday can also be purchased at the discounted rate of $6 per day. All presale tickets must be purchased by midnight Friday night, when remaining tickets will go to the normal $10/$7 prices.
Groups of 20 or more wanting to attend either day can purchase tickets together for only $5 per ticket by calling Sherwin Connell at the Bucks office at 917-325-9345.