Thursday, July 4, 2013. DAYTON, OH … Despite the rain, the flag waved proudly this 4th of July as Dayton (7-2-5), exploded on to their home field and immediately went to work against Rochester (3-8-6). A quick ball sent up from the back in the 1st minute to Dayton’s Gibson Bardsley resulted in a shot on goal that just missed wide of the far post. Rochester began to find their feet in the 26th minute with a shot from Gabe Latigue that just curved left of the goal. But, in the 38th minute, the Rhinos didn’t miss and a light cross to the head of Blake Brettschneider put the Rhinos on the board first. The equalizer came in the 44th minute for the Lions with Eli Garner receiving a pass from Bardsley and making a run, Garner wasted no time and put it in the back of the net. The half ended in a tie 1-1.
The second half started with the Lions coming out strong again. In the 45th minute a ball up from Matt Weit to the head of Tjeerd Westdijke, who flicked the ball over the Rochester defender and gave Garner a great opportunity, but the shot went directly to Rhinos keeper Kristian Nicht. The Rhinos answered back with Brettschneider getting open again near the Lions goal and he wasted no time sending one across the goal. However Dayton’s defense stepped up to prevent any balls from finding the back of the net. In the 64 minute a drive by Shane Smith lead to a beautiful series for Dayton with a pass to Garner on the left, a cross back to Bardsley on the right and then back center for a goal by Westdijk. Lions 2, Rhinos 1. In the 80th minute, Dayton gets the extra cushion they need when Joey Madigan makes a run and crosses to Bardsley for an easy goal. A direct kick on the 25 yard line in the 90th minute gave Rochester their best chance of the half, when the ball flew left of the wall. Keeper Matt Williams made a diving save to push the ball out behind the end line. The game ended, Dayton Dutch Lions 3, Rochester Rhinos 1.
Facing top teams in the League in the coming weeks, this win meant a lot to Dayton, who for the first time have a shot at a spot in the playoffs. Coach Patrick Bal had this to say about the game. “Thanks to this win, we have moved up to 4th place in the standings, which is a first in our team’s history. We now have a ten game undefeated streak. It wasn’t our best game, but we played hard and I am happy with the result.”
Line up: Williams, Granger, Presciado, Wiet (Groothuis), Smith, DeLass, Harada, Khutsidze, Bardsley (Hertsenberg), Westdijk (Broekhuizen), Garner (Kissinger)
Dayton faces the Richmond Kickers (7-0-5) at home at Miami Valley Hospital Stadium on Saturday, July 6th at 7:30 pm. They then travel to Columbus to meet the Crew Reserve team (2-4-1) at the Crew Stadium on Wednesday, July 10th.