Pontiac, MI (May 22, 2010)-  The Michigan Bucks opened their 2010 home season with a 1-0 loss to the Dayton Dutch Lions on Saturday night at Ultimate Soccer Arenas. The inaugural match of the two teams was intense and physical from the opening whistle.   The first year expansion Lions are a Premier Development League (PDL) pro team, featuring a half dozen Dutch national team veterans.  The two teams battled and played to a scoreless first half tie, despite an entertaining and brutal forty five minutes of soccer. Although the score line didn’t tell the entire story, the fast paced tempo of the first half led to several scoring chances on both sides. The Bucks went into halftime with a 7-4 lead in shots, but Bucks goalkeeper Mitch Hildebrandt (Livonia, MI/ Oakland) made the save of the half to keep the score even. 

The second half started much like the first half, until the Lions finally broke through in the 50^th minute. Bret Jones ripped a shot from the top of the box off a long throw in that Hildebrandt was screened from seeing until it was too late. The strike put Dayton in front, but only fired up the home side.   Bucks forwards Kenny Uzoigwe and Rubin Bega ( Harper Woods, MI/ MSU) continued to push the envelope for the next twenty minutes and created several great chances to tie the match. Former Dutch national standout Oscar Moens made three spectacular saves in goal for Dayton in the second stanza that kept the Bucks off the score sheet.   After stopping Colin Givens’ point blank shot, he turned aside a laser from Mauro Fuzetti and a close range attempt from Stefan St. Louis.   Michigan continued to pound the Dayton goal and ended the game with ten corner kicks to Dayton’s two.

It looked like the Bucks were going to get the well deserved equalizer when St. Louis (Trinidad/ Oakland) was pulled down in the penalty box by goal keeper Moens. It would be the only mistake the veteran goal keeper would make on the evening. Buck’s first year attacking midfielder Scott Caldwell stepped up to take the spot kick to bring the Bucks back to a level score.   Caldwell slammed his PK off the left goal post, leaving the Bucks scrambling for the tying goal.   With five minutes left in regulation and several minutes sure to come in extra time, the Bucks continued to press the Lions to finish the equalizer.   That never happened and the Lions left Pontiac with a record of 2-0-1  (7 points) while the Bucks dropped to 1-1-0 (3 Points). The Bucks continue their season on Tuesday night in Kalamazoo against the Outrage before returning home to take on the Cincinnati Kings at the Canton Cup on Saturday at 3:00.