Wheaton, IL  (May 17, 2013)-   The Michigan Bucks (1-0-0) picked up in 2013 where they left off last season when they opened the campaign with a 5-0 victory over the Chicago Inferno (0-1-0) Friday night at Wheaton College.  The defending Premier Development League (PDL) regular season champions dominated the season opener from the beginning and applied continuous pressure for a full ninety minutes.

Pontiac, MI (May 16, 2013)-   The Michigan Bucks are using Tuesday night’s US Open Cup loss to the Dearborn Stars as a valuable learning experience as they get ready to open their 18^th Premier Development League (PDL) regular season on the road Friday night against the Chicago Inferno.   The Bucks only game so far this season was this week’s Cup game, where they were defeated 2-0 at home against the Stars. The loss  was the Bucks first ever defeat by an amateur team in their ten appearances in the Lamar Hunt Open Cup tournament.  Friday’s opponent, the Inferno open their third PDL season by hosting the Bucks at Wheaton College.

 

Pontiac, MI (May 14, 2013)-   The Michigan Bucks have announced today that former assistant coach Demir Muftari will take over the head coaching position for the Bucks effective tonight, when the Bucks host the Dearborn Stars in the first round match up of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup at Ultimate Soccer Arenas in Pontiac (7:30 PM kickoff).  Muftari succeeds Bucks director of coaching, Gary Parsons who has decided to step down from the role as the two time defending Premier Development League (PDL) Coach of the Year.  The coaching staff has been in overtime mode trying to select a team of 18 from over 60 players who started in Bucks training camp just one week ago.

Pontiac, MI (May 1, 2013)-   US Soccer announced today that the Michigan Bucks have been selected to host their Premier Development League (PDL) record fourteenth Lamar Hunt US Open Cup match on Tuesday, May 14 when they host the Dearborn Stars in the first round of the nation’s oldest sporting competition, celebrating its 100 year.  The Bucks have qualified for the prestigious tournament for a PDL record tenth time and look to follow up their incredible run from 2012 that saw the club make it all the way to the tournament’s sweet sixteen, defeating two more professional clubs along the way.  The first round match will be held at Ultimate Soccer Arenas in Pontiac (7:30 PM kickoff) and will represent the fourth time a US Open Cup game has been played indoors, with all of these matches held at Ultimate Soccer, the largest indoor soccer facility in North America.

Pontiac, MI (January 24, 2013)-   Four former Michigan Bucks players signed with Major League Soccer or heard their name called at last week’s MLS Super Draft and Tuesday’s Supplemental Draft.   Heading the list were former University of Akron first team All Americans Chad Barson and Scott Caldwell, who were both signed to MLS homegrown contracts.   Barson, a native of Lewis Center, Ohio played three seasons for the Bucks after growing up in the Columbus Crew youth academy system.  Caldwell also starred for the Bucks for three seasons after being a part of the New England Revolution youth initiative while growing up in suburban Braintree, Massachusetts.    Both Barson and Caldwell signed contracts and joined their respective MLS clubs earlier this month.

Pontiac, MI (August 4, 2012)-   The United Soccer Leagues announced its 2012 Premier Development League (PDL) regular season individual honors today from the site of the PDL finals in Greensboro, NC.  Although the league’s regular season champions are not playing in the title match tonight, the Bucks continued to be the story of the season by sweeping four of five individual categories for the first time in league history.   The Bucks dominated last year’s awards with three winners and added Rookie of the Year to the team’s defending categories in Goalkeeper of the Year, Defender of the Year and Coach of the Year.

Pontiac, MI (August 1, 2012)-   The United Soccer Leagues published the first two waves of post season awards this week and today announced the finalists for the top five individual awards.   The Michigan Bucks dominated both the conference and all league teams with three players selected and have a finalist in the running for four of the five categories to be awarded at the PDL championship banquet this upcoming weekend.   The Bucks surpassed last year’s record when two players (Mitch Hildebrandt and Stew Givens) were named to the PDL All League team and were followed up by individual awards to Hildebrandt (Goalkeeper of the Year), Givens (Defender of the Year) and head coach Gary Parsons (Coach of the Year).   This season, the PDL regular season champions had three players earn All Central Conference and PDL All League team, giving the club three of the top eleven players in the league of over 2,000 players.    Tom Catalano, Kevin Cope and Adam Grinwis all earned top honors this season, making it a PDL record nine consecutive seasons that the Bucks have had at least one player in the league’s top eleven players.  This season also marks the fourth time the team has had multiple top eleven players in team history.

Pontiac, MI (July 22 2012)-   The Michigan Bucks magical season came to an abrupt halt on Sunday night as FC London upset the top seed of the PDL 2-1 to move on to a place in the final four.  In one of the most entertaining matches of the season, the Conference final could have been the league final with the quality of play from both teams.   The physical battle had all the elements of a classic match up, which saw the visitors jump out to a 2-0 lead and the home team do everything but tie the score and force overtime.   The Bucks seventeenth PDL season was arguably the team’s best in history.   The Bucks finished as the PDL Regular Season Champs with a record of 13-1-2 (41 points) and went the furthest of any amateur team in the US Open Cup with a 3-1 record which included upset wins over the Pittsburgh Riverhounds of USL Pro and Major League Soccer’s Chicago Fire.   With all that behind them, what the team really wanted was a couple more victories to get back to the PDL Championship match on August 4.   FC London put an end to those dreams with the upset that puts them into the final four for the first time in franchise history.

Pontiac, MI (July 19, 2012)-   The Michigan Bucks were crowned 2012 Premier Development League (PDL) Regular Season Champions this week by the United Soccer League (USL) for their 13-1-2 (41 points) record to lead all 73 teams in the eight division PDL and head into the post season as the #1 seed in the sixteen team tournament.   Goal keeper Adam Grinwis took top honors among the league’s goal keepers with a goals against best of .444 per game (yielding less than a half a goal a game average).  Midfielder Tom Catalano finished tied for the top spot in the league in assists with 12 helpers during the sixteen game regular season.