100th US OPEN CUP: Dayton Advances

Beavercreek High School; Beavercreek, Ohio

The River City Rovers of Louisville, Kentucky of the Premier Development League (PDL) traveled to Beavercreek, Ohio to take on the USL Pro side Dayton Dutch Lions in the First Round of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup.

Starting Lineups:

River City Rovers

GK: T. Hafling,

D: P. May, A.Stankovic, L. Ramirez, R. Tarver,

M: L. Mfeka, C. Tychowski, D. Abdehov, P. Kiembi, R. Ballard,

F: A. Gonya

Dayton Dutch Lions

GK: Matt Williams

D: Taylor Lord, Gregory Preciado, Brock Granger, Shane Smith

MF: Shintaro Harada, Eric Kissinger, Irakli Khutsidze

F: Tjeerd Westdijk, Joey Madigan, Gibson Bardsley

1ST HALF

Dayton looked the better side early on but it wasn’t without effort as the young PDL side played competitively and aggressively. It didn’t take long though for the more experienced side to go up.

In the 8th minute Dayton’s Irakli Khutsidze put away a bouncing loose ball in the back of the net on an acrobatic volley.

From there the overmatched Rovers did their best by winning balls in the middle part of the pitch but were unable to retain it. By the time the clock ticked to the 27th minute, the Lion’s Joey Madigan put another away making it 2:0.

From there, the Rovers should have probably counted themselves lucky not to concede at least one more.

2ND HALF

Both clubs came out more or less the same save for the Rover’s Kiembi (who I thought was having an excellent game) came off for Shaquille Hamilton.

Dayton picked up where they left off and were able to pass their way well around a tiring Rovers group. A few minutes into the half Holland born Tjeerd Westdijk placed a nice ball in the net making it 3:0, home side.

From there the Lions pulled back a bit and were never troubled by their opposition, though it must be said that River City were able to get off a number of decent shots late on.

FINAL THOUGHTS

It was a great evening in Beavercreek, Ohio (Dayton). Both teams took the match seriously and played hard. The atmosphere was great.

This is the second time I have traveled out to Dayton to watch a game. Last time was a league match where the Lions took on the Charleston Battery. It was a scrappy, jumpy match that looked very much the early season one it was. Here, Dayton looked more comfortable. Part of that has to do with playing a PDL side but the other part is just getting in shape and knowing one another.

Next up for Dayton are the Dearborn Stars, a USASA side who upset the Michigan Bucks of the PDL. That game takes place May 21, 2013 at Beavercreek (a Tuesday).

Dayton looked good and will likely be playing a MLS club in the 3rd round of the tournament.

Head out and give it a watch. If you do go be sure to say hi to Phil, the man behind the camera for the USLNation / UNATION live stream. He was one of the many folks there putting the great event together.