The Dayton Dutch Lions FC (5-1-1) is at the top of the Great Lakes Division at the mid-point of the soccer season. It is the best start in club history and much has been accomplished. At the same time, the second half of the season has many challenges and much work still needs to be done.
On Saturday, 6/17, the Lions will visit Lansing United at the East Lansing Soccer Complex with kickoff at 7:00 pm. This will be the second match where the top spot up is up for grabs with United. A week ago, the Lions led the division by one point with a game in hand. With Lansing's come from behind 3-1 win, they jumped over Dayton and were in first place for 4 days.
Then Dayton traveled to the Michigan Bucks this past Wednesday and came away with its second straight road win versus the defending division champs.
Here are the current standings:
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Team GP W L T PTS GF GA +/- Dayton Dutch Lions 7 5 1 1 16 15 7 8 Lansing United 7 4 0 3 15 11 5 6 West Virginia Chaos 7 2 1 4 10 14 12 2 Cincinnati Dutch Lions 5 1 2 2 5 8 5 3 Michigan Bucks 6 1 3 2 5 8 9 -1 Derby City Rovers 7 0 6 1 1 3 21 -18
Coach Griest shared his thoughts on Match Day #8, "In our division, you have to perform close to your best every game to get a result. We will need to bring the same tenacity we showed mid-week to be competitive versus Lansing. They are one of only a few teams who are still undefeated this season and they are playing with a lot of confidence. As they showed us last Saturday, they will play for the full 90 minutes and not let up until the final whistle."
"I love the way we rebounded against the Bucks after the loss. The match was hard fought and we held the lead for 75 minutes. It showed the character of our players to go on the road and get a win. Each player contributed as it was a total team effort. I look for us to give a similar performance against Lansing. We need to get another quality result on the road."
Dayton will be home again on Saturday, June 23rd when they play host to the Cincinnati Dutch Lions. Kickoff is 7:00pm. Tickets are $10 adults and $6 youth, military and veterans at the gate (5 and under free). Specially priced discounted tickets are available for groups of 12 or more by calling the ticket office at 937 530 2123.
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