Dayton, OH, June 22 2014 - The Dayton Dutch Lions FC (3-9-2) played Orlando City SC (11-0-3) at home at DOC Stadium on a hot, humid Sunday afternoon.
The Dayton Dutch Lions FC came out playing tough. The speed of play was fast with both teams putting together passing series and creating chances. Orlando though would use its speed, quickness and size to penetrate the Dayton defense more and Dayton’s keeper Matt Williams was kept on his toes. In the nineteenth minute Dayton’s Joe Broekhuizen powered through three Orlando defenders to take a shot, but it just went wide and high left. Orlando’s Adama Mbengue along with Kevin Molino and Darwin Ceren continued to cause trouble in front of the Dayton goal, but the Lions defense worked hard to keep them at bay. In the twenty fifth minute Dayton’s Aaron Schoenfeld crossed from the right to Eric Kissinger who shot hard but it flew high. In the thirtieth minute a series of passes led to a chip up to Orlando’s Corey Herzog who shot hard, but Lions keeper Williams was there with quick hands for a great save. Dayton’s keeper Williams added to his saves in the thirty third minute as he slid out just in front of an Orlando striker to kick the ball away. In the thirty eighth minute passing from the Dayton defense through the middle found Broukhuizen who placed a perfect through ball to Dayton’s Eli Garner who shot hard, but the ball was deflected by the Orlando defense. Orlando came right back however and a pass out left found MBengue who shot hard but again Dayton’s Williams was there. The Dayton defense continued to impress as they made save after save and closed in tight on Orlando’s attack shutting them down. Both teams were feeling the heat as the half came to a scoreless end.
The second half began with energy from both teams. The pace was fast and both teams felt the pressure. A through ball in the forty eighth minute from Schoenfeld to Eli Garner sent a hard shot into Orlando’s Miguel Gallardo-Aparicio. Orlando came back in the fifty first minute with a shot by MBengue, but Dayton’s keeper Williams was there for the save. However, a few minutes later in the fifty third minute, Orlando would find the back of the net when Dayton’s Sebastien Thuriere suffered an injury leaving room in the middle for Adama MBengue to receive a ball and put a shot in the right corner of Dayton’s goal. In the sixty second minute Dayton would get a chance when Schoenfeld would pass back to Broekhuizen who would shoot but the ball went just wide right. A minute later Dayton’s Garner would have a chance that would deflect off Orlando’s keeper, Schoenfeld would be there to shoot, but would send the ball high. The game was then postponed by thunder and resumed approximately fifty minutes later.
The Lions came off the rain delay with a corner that found the head of Schoenfeld but the ball would roll wide of the goal. Dayton’s Broekhuizen would have his chance in the seventy first minute but Orlando’s keeper Gallardo would make the diving save. Dayton would be the team with more possession and opportunity in the last thirty minutes of the second half, but, in stoppage time Orlando’s Kevin Molino would finish this game with a goal giving his team two and the the Orlando City SC would take home the win against the Dayton Dutch Lions FC 0-2.
Dayton Dutch Lion’s Coach Sid van Druenen had this to say about the game. “Despite the fact that we lost the game, I thought that we had good moments. Let’s not forget that this is the first team in the league and it was zero, zero at the half. In the second half we dominated. I think the difference is the finishing. I think they were more clinical and they create and are more confident. I think the reason we are where we are is because we don’t play with that same confidence. We create chances, we take shots on goal and we have moments of higher numbers in offense. We just have to finish those opportunities. I think it is positive that we played the best team in the league and we kept them at the same level. So, there are good things, but we need to turn this around fast. We need to turn our possession into chances and turn our chances into goals. We will just continue to work on that.”
The Dayton Dutch Lions FC (3-10-2) travel to Highmark Stadium to play the Pittsburgh Riverhounds (1-7-5) on Saturday, June 28th at 7pm. Dayton returns home to DOC Stadium for a second game against Pittsburgh on Tuesday, July 1st at 7pm. They travel again to Queens Sports Complex to play the Charlotte Eagles at 8pm on Saturday, July 5th.For season and individual game tickets, visit the Dutch Lions website.
Photo Credit: Jeremi Blurton
Dayton Dutch Lions FC-Orlando City SC 0-2
53’ MBengue 0-1
92’ Molino 0-2
Dayton Dutch Lions FC: Williams, Friedman (Vickers), Granger, Wiet, Dos Santos (Angoy-Cruyff), Kissinger, Thuriere (Harada), Walker (Clemens), Schoenfeld, Garner, Broekhuizen (Felix)
Orlando City SC: Gallardo, Rusin, Boden, Valentino, Clark (Turner), Pulis, MBengue (Chin), Ceren, Span, Hertzog (Da Luz), Molino