Saturday, April 20, 2013
BEAVERCREEK, OH.....Opening Day for the Dayton Dutch Lions began on a high note at Miami Valley Hospital Stadium with a 2-1 win over the Pittsburgh Riverhounds. In spite of an early red card awarded to Dutch Lions’ Eli Garner in the 28th minute for punching a Riverhounds’ defender, Gibson Bardsley navigated through three Riverhounds defenders to record the first Dutch Lions goal of the USL season in the 44th minute. But stoppage time saw an answer by Riverhounds’ José Angulo for a first half tie.
Flat energy on the field marked the beginning of the second half with several runs on both teams’ goals. In the 57th minute, Dutch Lions’ goalkeeper Williams punched out a Riverhounds’ attempt to deny the go-ahead goal. The Riverhounds maintained possession for the first part of the second half with intermittent bursts of energy by the Dutch Lions. Duth Lions’ Taylor Lord went down in 88th minute with an elbow to the chest and Coach Bal substituted with Brock Granger. Later, the Riverhounds rocketed the ball straight on with a Williams dive for a stoppage time save preventing the goal. However, a wise Coach Bal substitution in the middle of the second half paid off as Dutch Lions capitalized on a Eric Kissinger corner kick for the headball assist by Joe Broekhuizen to Remco Klaasse’s precision shot to goal for 2-1 win.
Coach Bal was ecstatic after the game, with praise for the Dutch Lions players. “I think we started really well in the first half -- I actually lost my voice because of the enthusiasm. We had a couple of chances to get up early in the game, but after the red card, it changes the game.” Coach Bal continued, “The second half we didn’t play as well, only at moments, but they worked so hard. After three weeks of pre-season, we had more chances and converted better for the win. I am absolutely, extremely happy.”
Line up Dayton Dutch Lions FC
Matt Williams, Taylor Lord, Greg Presciado, Shintaro Harada, Joel DeLass, Kyle Knotek, Irakli Khutsidze, Gibson Bardsley, Eli Garner, Brandon Schwartzendruber
Substitutions: Remco Klaasse, Eric Kissinger, Joe Broekhuizen
Dayton hits the road early for the next two games, beginning with the VSI Tampa Bay on Friday, April 26th, immediately followed by a match up with the Orlando City Lions on Saturday, April 27th. The Dutch Lions return home for a matchup against the Charleston Battery on Friday May 3rd at the Miami Valley Hospital Stadium, located at Beavercreek High School.