USL LEAGUE TWO: Flint City Bucks seal up third straight Great Lakes Division title with shutout of Lansing City Football
- Dan Stickradt
- Jul 13
- 3 min read
NATIONAL SOCCER NEWS: www.nationalsoccernetwork.com
FLINT, Mich. – Having to win three straight league games to wrap up a divisional title.
No problem if you’re the Flint City Bucks.
The Bucks wrapped up their third straight USL League Two Great LAkes Division championship Saturday night at historic Atwood Stadium on the campus of Kettering University, blanking winless Lansing City Football 4-0 to finish the season with three straight league wins.
It marks the franchise’s 17th divisional championship – 16 in the Great Lakes Division and one in the North Central Division back in 1997 in only the team’s second year of existence.
The win gave the Bucks a needed three final points in the final standings to not only finish with 27 points, but leapfrog Midwest United FC’s 25 points and win the divisional championship. Midwest United defeated the Bucks twice this season by identical 2-0 scores but finished 8-3-1 in the division.
This was also the first time since the division expanded to eight teams that each side did not play a home and away series. Each Great Lakes Division played five teams twice and two others only once.
This marks the second straight year that the Bucks and Midwest United FC finished 1-2 in the eight-team division. It was also announced that Flint City Bucks will host the Central Conference tournament next weekend at Atwood Stadium with official dates and times being released Monday morning.
In the game against winless Lansing City Football (0-12-0), the Bucks scored two goals in each half to finish the regular season 4-1-0 in league games. The Bucks outscored the opposition 30-11 in 12 league games.
Donavan Phillip – one of the USL League Two leaders in goals, assists and total points – finished with the hat trick and concludes the regular season with 12 goals and eight assists.
Phillip, a junior-to-be at North Carolina State University, scored what proved to be the game-winner with a goal in the 13th minute. He was not done.
Phillip scored his second goal just before the half in the 45th minute to help the Bucks (11-4-0 in all matches) settle for a 2-0 halftime lead.
In the second half, Cole Werthmuller upped the advantage to 3-0 with a tally in the 85th minute, while Phillip capped the scoring with a late goal in the 89th minute to cap the scoring and finish off the three-goal performance.
Jamie Berry got his second start in league play and netted his second shutout in the Great of LAkes Division. It was the team’s sixth shutout in the league (seventh overall) with help from the back line of William Pondeca, Ellis Jones and Emmaunuel Davis.
The Bucks, who led in points and points-per-match at 2.25, will take their plus-19 scoring differential into the postseason on its three-game streak. Flint City has averaged 2.50 goals-per-game while posting a goals-against-average of 0.92.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Have a story suggestion for the Premier Media Group and the National Soccer Network regarding club/youth soccer, high school varsity, amateur soccer, collegiate soccer or professional soccer involving teams, players or coaches with ties to a particular state or states, contact Web and Content Editor/Director of News Dan Stickradt via email at dstickradt@thepremiermediagrp.com and news@nationalsoccernetwork.com, or call 248-525-2349.
PREMIER MEDIA GROUP / NATIONAL SOCCER NETWORK /
NATIONAL SOCCER NETWORK ON FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61561215500230
— All Rights Reserved, Premier Media Group / National Soccer Network
Comments