West Carrollton, OH (June 22, 2016) The Dayton Dutch Lions FC (3-2-2 11 points) played host to the Pittsburgh Riverhounds U23 (0-5-3 3 points) squad and could only muster a 1-1 draw. Man of the Match, Eric Lynch, provided the game-tying goal in the 38 minute to end the half tied and neither team could find the back of the net in the final 45 minutes of play.
The Lions came out sluggish and struggled with possession and passing for the opening 15 minutes of the match. They were late to balls, not pressuring with any consistency and were not working for each other at all. In the 12th minute, they almost conceded the first goal when the Riverhounds counter-attacked down the right flank and the overlapping outside back got a clean shot on goal but put it high and wide. Several minutes later, they conceded a corner kick and the visitors struck pay dirt. The corner went long, but was headed back to the far post. Pittsburgh's center back, Bennett Jull got to it first and poked it in for an early 1-0 lead.
The goal seemed to wake the host team as they started to play with a bit more energy. Small chances were starting to come in the goal area. In the 26th minute, Dayton won the ball on a turnover at midfield and moved quickly down the right side. The shot was wide of the near post. In the 35th minute, Daan de Blank stole the ball and played wide to Paul Messerly. He was able to get to the endline and fire in a low cross that Kennedy Nwabia just missed getting a touch on. One minute later, John Schwiem played a long cross into Nwabia but his header went over the crossbar.
In the 38th minute, Lynch took a routine pass outside the box and took one touch that brought him to the corner of the penalty area. He quickly turned on the ball and struck a rocket to the far corner. The Riverhounds keeper had no chance of saving it.
The remainder of the half belonged to the home team and they were content with the 1-1 tie at halftime.
"Prior to the match, I mentioned that each team in our division is good and can play well. At the same time, I expected us to get 3 points from this match and anything less would be disappointing. We made mistakes on their corner kick goal and were not anywhere close to playing to our potential. Eric scored a very nice goal to get us back in the match. I thought we would get a goal or two in the second half, but they never came. I am not pleased and cannot wait to get back on the pitch," said Head Coach Sid van Druenen.
The second half produced only a few scoring chances. In the 54th minute, DDL Keeper William Lokowsky made a wonderful diving save to push over a goal bound header from Pittsburgh.
Dayton had back-to-back-to-back chances in the 86th, 88th and 90th minute with shots that came off of crossed, but could not score and the game ended 1-1.