Saturday, July 21, 2012
PONTIAC, Mich. -- The Michigan Bucks' fans didn’t see a ton of scoring at Ultimate Soccer Arenas on Saturday night, but they did have two entertaining 1-0 Central Conference Championships semifinals for their money. The host Bucks defeated Real Colorado in the night’s opening match and fellow Great Lakes Division member FC London upset the Thunder Bay Chill to set up Sunday’s Conference Championship Final at 6 p.m. FC London finished the season in second place behind the Bucks this year, with the Bucks defeating the Canadian side on two different occasions in the regular season in a pair of tightly-contested matches (1-0, 2-1).
On Saturday, the Bucks came out with their usual attacking flair and did everything they could do in the first half-hour of play, except score. Forward Stefan St. Louis was a handful up top all evening and had several chances from close range in the game’s opening stanza but either shot wide of the target or was stopped by Real Colorado keeper Miguel Rosales, who was outstanding in net for the Foxes.
The Bucks would finally break the scoreless draw in the 31st minute with what would prove to be the game-winner, when 2011 PDL Defender of the Year Stew Givens took an overlapping ball down the right flank and sent a deep cross to the back post where he found teenage sensation Nermin Crnkic unmarked. Man of the Match Crnkic left his feet and met the cross in mid-air for a spectacular side volley goal that left Rosales no chance. The Bucks would finish the first half out-shooting the Foxes 14-5 and had a decisive 6-0 advantage in corner kicks.
The second half was much of the same as the crowd anticipated the second goal to give Michigan some breathing room, but it never came. Tom Catalano provided several great opportunities for St. Louis, as well as himself, but couldn’t find the elusive goal. Meanwhile, the Bucks defense continued to do what got them to this point all season long. The stingiest team in the league (only 10 goals allowed in 17 PDL matches) won every header in the back and kept Real Colorado at bay for most of the game. Adam Grinwis recorded his sixth PDL shutout and lowered his league-leading goals against to 0.40 on the season while being forced into only seven saves on the night. While most were saves any goalkeeper would be expected to make, Grinwis was forced to make one of his signature diving saves in the 71st minute to preserve the shutout.
Bucks coach Gary Parsons was pleased with the result and happy to move onto the Elite Eight for the third consecutive season under his reign.
“We certainly made this game a lot harder on ourselves then it had to be," Parsons said. "We should have scored a second and third goal and made this much easier on our players and for the coaches to make decisions. At the end of the day, we have said since the beginning of the season that a championship team needs to learn how to win 1-0 games. This was the fifth 1-0 win we have had this year and looking back, every one of them was huge.”
The Bucks move on to face division foe FC London, who won their first playoff game in franchise history in defeating the Thunder Bay Chill by the same score. London has made the playoffs in all four of its PDL seasons but had never taken victory until Saturday’s match, which was a hard fought battle between the two teams from Canada that went into halftime scoreless. The evenly-played game saw Thunder Bay outshoot London 8-5 in the first half and hold a slight 2-0 lead in corner kicks.
Things heated up in the second half and FC London got the game-winner when leading scorer Jordan Ayris stepped in front of Chill goalkeeper Stephen Paterson and headed home a cross from Gary Ogilvie to put the Great Lakes team in the Final for another match with the Bucks. Thunder Bay’s best opportunity came when PDL leading scorer Sullivan Silva was put through and missed wide right from a very difficult angle later in the second half.
Tickets for Sunday night’s Conference Final are still available for the discounted price of only $6 by purchasing on line. Tickets at the gate are $10 Adults and $7 Youth (16 and under). Children 5 and under are free. Kickoff is at 6 p.m. at Ultimate Soccer Arenas in Pontiac. For more information, please visit the Bucks web site at www.bucksoccer.com.