BUCKS ROLL THE INTERNATIONALS WITH 6-0 SHUTOUT

The Michigan Soccer Net

BUCKS ROLL THE INTERNATIONALS WITH 6-0 SHUTOUT
Uzoigwe, Omekanda get the team going early

Pontiac, MI (June 5, 2010) - The Michigan Bucks responded to Thursday’s last second loss in Chicago with an inspiring 6-0 drubbing of the Cleveland Internationals at Ultimate Soccer Arenas in Pontiac Saturday night. The win moved the Bucks record to 4-2 (12 points) on the season and into a second place tie with Dayton (3-0-3) and a point behind Great Lakes Division leader Chicago (4-1-1) in the United Soccer League’s (USL) Premier Development League (PDL). The Bucks high powered offense blasted 27 shots at the Cleveland goal on the night, and if not for some outstanding saves could have been much worse. Leading scorer Kenny Uzoigwe scored his third and fourth goals of the season, both off of nice assists from Simon Omekanda (Rochester Hills, MI). The first goal came in the 16th minute when Omekanda made a nice run through the Internationals defense before sliding the ball to a streaking Uzoigwe, who calmly placed the ball past Internationals goal keeper Anthony Ponikvar (Akron). In the twenty fifth minute, Spencer Thompson (Shelby Twp, MI/ MichiganState) scored what will be a candidate for PDL goal of the month when he took a throw in from Stew Givens (Troy, MI/ OaklandUniversity), had a look at goal and ripped a 25 yard rocket into the top corner of the net for a 2-0 lead. Twelve minutes later, Omekanda would cruise down the right flank and send a cross into the back post, where 6’4” Uzoigwe went up and headed home the third goal of the game to take the Bucks into halftime with a 3-0 lead.

The second half result wasn’t much different for the Bucks, who made wholesale changes to the starting eleven. Stefan St.Louis (Trinidad/ Oakland) was the spark plug early and made several dominating runs into the box, but sailed the ball over the goal on three separate occasions. When his shooting let him down, the crafty international decided to finish his next attacking run by laying off a neat pass to fellow Oakland Grizzlie Tom Catalano (Shelby Twp, MI). Catalano scored his second goal of the season in the 52nd minute. St. Louis’ hard work would pay off when Mauro Fuzetti (Houston, TX/ Michigan) played Stefan on goal where he finished his second goal of the season from close range. Defensively, the Bucks worked well with the combination of center backs Kevin Cope (Canton, MI/ MichiganState) and U20 National Team defender Zarek Valentin (Lancaster, PA/ Akron). In addition to being one of the top collegiate defenders in the country, Valentin wanted to show coach Gary Parsons that he has untapped offensive skills as well. As he was about to be subbed out of the game, Valentin took the opportunity and a Fuzetti pass and dribbled fifty yards through several Cleveland defenders before he poked his shot past college teammate Ponikvar to close out the scoring. Mitch Hildebrandt (Livonia, MI/ Oakland) registered his fourth win and second shutout for the Bucks by making five saves on the night.

Parsons was pleased with the result but was cautious to allow the team any room for celebration. “We knew there was some pent up anger in the boys after the debacle in Chicago on Thursday. Our coaching staff was anxious to see how they would respond. I liked what I saw with their intensity and urgency, but technically we have to improve. We didn’t need more scoring tonight, but anytime you take 27 shots on goal, you need to finish more than we did. We have a stretch in the schedule the next couple of weeks where we only play one league game per week, so that will give us plenty of time to focus on what needs to be improved. Our next game against London is going to tell us a lot about how bad this team really wants to compete to win the Great Lakes title this season,” said Parsons.

The Bucks game against FC London is scheduled for 7:30 Saturday at Ultimate Soccer Arenas, but the time and location of this game is subject to change. Final details will be released on Monday. To follow the Bucks in the PDL standings, please visit the league web site at uslsoccer.com

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