The Cleveland City Stars overcame an early 1-0 deficit to defeat the Michigan Bucks 2-1, and move on to the Second Round. The game was played in the Bucks’ new indoor soccer stadium in Pontiac, Mich. but Cleveland eliminated the home team in the opening round for only the second time in eight tournament appearances.
In the 4th minute of play, a defensive mishap led to a Bucks goal. On a back pass to goalkeeper Hunter Gilstrap, the ball took a funny bounce over Gilstrap’s foot, allowing Ty Shiplane to swoop in for the easy score.
Midway through the first half, Cleveland was able to equalize, as Floyd Franks scored off a pass from Neil Hlavaty. A few minutes later, the pair switched roles, as it was Hlavaty benefiting from a Franks cross to head home what would prove to be the game-winning goal.
One might assume that this would mark the first time that a US Open Cup match was ever played indoors. Actually, this was the second indoor match in the tournament’s history. In the Fourth Round of the 2004 Open Cup, the Minnesota Thunder hosted the Los Angeles Galaxy at the Metrodome in front of 5,505 fans. Minnesota won that match 1-0.
With the win, Cleveland has advanced to the Second Round in each of their first two seasons in franchise history. The Minnesota Thunder of the USL First Division await them in the next round.
SCORING SUMMARY
4th Minute #7 Shipalane (Unassisted) / Michigan
23rd Minute #23 Floyd Franks (Neil Hlavaty) / Cleveland
34th Minute #5 Neil Hlavaty (Floyd Franks) / Cleveland
Shots: Saves: Fouls: Offsides: Corners:
Cleveland 6 1 13 5 4
Michigan 8 2 17 3 5
CLEVELAND CITY STARS
#1 Hunter Gilstrap
#4 Jeremy Tolleson
#5 Neil Hlavaty
#8 Godfrey Tenoff
#10 Derek Potteiger
#11 Sallieu Bundu
#13 Mark Schulte
#14 Anthony Stovall
#18 Luke Williams (#25 Ryan Miller – 76th Minute)
#21 Adam Ruud (#7 Ian Leibbrandt – 72nd Minute)
#23 Floyd Franks
Subs not used: #00 Eric Reed, #9 Adriano Sella, #15 Josh Westermann, #16 Dana McGregor, #24 Randolph Jerome
MICHIGAN BUCKS
#25 Steve Clark
#3 Mike Holody
#22 Ian Daniel
#5 Fabien Lewis
#15 Dave Hertel (#9 Mauro Fuzetti – 82nd Minute)
#17 Piotr Nowak (#6 Stefan St. Louis – 86th Minute)
#14 Alex Morisset (#18 Doug DeMartin – 54th Minute)
#13 Zac Scaffidi
#7 Ty Shipalane
#11 Bes Bega (#8 Nate Jafta – 54th Minute)
#10 Kenny Uzoigwe