Flint City Bucks ‘wascher’ away Detroit United for another clean sheet
DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
Twitter: @LocalSportsFans
FLINT — During most of his soccer career, Javier Steinwascher has spent most of his field time in the midfield setting up teammates or up top finding the back of the net.
Sunday, his skillset found a new home.
Returning the Flint City Bucks after a two-week hiatus, Steinwascher filled in nicely on the back line and aided another sterling defensive effort. On the offensive side, he still contributed an assist in Flint City’s 3-0 shutout over visiting Detroit United at Atwood Stadium.
“It was great to be back out there playing,” admitted Steinwascher, who finished up four years at Division II University of Indianapolis last fall.
“They needed me to play in the back and I’m just glad to have the chance to play. If that means in the back, I’m okay with that,” continued Steinwascher. “I just want to play for as many teams as possible and this is something I’m not ready to let go yet. So stepping in on defense wasn’t really a problem. We don’t really have the chance to train (together) but I think our defense played good together today and has been really good the whole (season).”
Steinwascher teamed up with Elliott Bentley (Oakland University alumni), Owen Turner, Tyler Stephens and James Decosemo to form this week’s lockdown backline. Flint City has yielded just two goals all season while scoring 22 times in five games.
“No goals against again. (The defense) was really good,” smiled Bucks first-year coach Andrew Wagstaff. “We had to move some guys around this week. Dom Hart wasn’t here and he’s been one of our best players, the same as Spencer Nolff. They have been great defensively all season and unfortunately they couldn’t make it today. So we had to shuffle some things around. We managed to get ahold of Javier earlier in the week. He said he was available and I told him he was going to play in the back and he was brilliant. In the first half he was steady as a center back and in the second half we pushed Owen Turner to center back and moved Javier to the outside and he took it to another level as a right back. He was our catalyst and helped get things going in the second half with his decision making. He was able to set up the first goal.”
The Bucks held a 7-2 shots edge in the first half. In the second half, Flint City finally got untracked and tucked away three goals to put the game away.
“I thought the first half was a throwaway. We didn’t play all that great,” said Wagstaff. “We’ll learn from it. It wasn’t very good and we moved on. I thought we played a lot better in the second half. I thought Detroit United played well for the first 60 minutes, but I think we wore them down in the second half. We really picked it up offensively. In the first half they played with a diamond in the midfield and we played with three. We made some switches in our midfield and it was a wash. In the second half we made some more switches and it seemed to work better for us. We began creating a lot more (scoring) chances.”
Flint City (5-0-0) held a commanding 21-4 shots edge, including 8-1 with shots on frame, and even held a 3-1 edge on cornerkicks. Still the Bucks found themselves locked in a 0-0 draw at the half.
The first half also saw two United players sent off after being issued red cards in the 37th minute, which caused an eight-minute delay. After the dust settled, both coaches agreed to still play 11-v-11.
The Bucks dominated the second half by holding a 14-2 shots edge over the final 45 minutes. The dominance paid off for the Bucks, as Tyler Channel scored in the 65th minute — the Saginaw Valley State grad has now scored in four of his team’s five exhibition games — and that proved to be the eventual game winner in this match.
On a 3-on-2 rush, Channell picked up a perfectly-slotted pass from Steinwascher and laced a right-footer into the net at 64:06.
Amadou Cisse netted a pair of insurance tallies in the second half.
The first came at 69:58 following Amuk Tambe’s steal and pass to Cisse, who converted from 15 yards out.
Cisse capped the scoring less than 10 minutes later when he netted an unassisted tally at the 78:50 mark.
Elliott Tarney (Oakland alum) notched his second straight shutout by making one first-half save. It marked Flint City’s third shutout in five exhibition matches, while no team has been able to score more than one goal on the Bucks.
Tarney has played the last three games in goal and lowered his goals-against-average to 0.33, while the Bucks lowered their overall team GAA to 0.40 with the clean sheet.
Although these exhibition matches do not count towards any type of league standings, Wagstaff said his team will not back down in its final game next weekend.
“We always want to come out and try to win. It doesn’t really matter that these are friendlies,” noted Wagstaff. “Our goal is to come out next weekend and try to play a good brand of football and try to win again.”
BUCKS NOTEBOOK … FAST FACTS
— Several current college players on the Bucks’ roster got called back to their respective college campuses two weeks ago. Almost the entire roster for the final four games, including Sunday’s match with Detroit United, is players that have exhausted their college eligibility. Several of those players are currently coaching college, high school or club soccer in the state. During the first two exhibition games, the Bucks still fielded several current college players.
— The defending US Soccer-League 2 North American champion Bucks have only yielded only single digits in shots on frame in all five exhibition matches., and have outshot each opponent.
— Although the Bucks were unable to defended their North American crown this year due to the regular season and postseason tournament being shelved, they are still one of the most successful programs in USL-League 2 (formerly Premier Developmental League) history. The franchise won North American titles in 2006, 2014, 2016 and 2019 while finishing as the runner-up in both 2000 and 2007.
— Flint City Bucks will conclude its 2020 exhibition schedule by hosting the Rebels FC on Sunday, Sept. 27, at 12 p.m. The game will be telecasted live on CW46 out of Flint. The Rebels hail from the United Premier Soccer League.
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Apparently, Tyler Channell still has his touch. His scoring touch that is.
Channell, a 2011 Troy Athens graduate and 2016 Saginaw Valley State University grad, was back to his old ways Sunday afternoon at Flint’s Atwood Stadium.
Channell scored what proved to be the game-winner in the Flint City Bucks 2-1 triumph over Inter Detroit FC in an exhibition match hosted by Kettering University.
“I was hanging out, out wide and trying to see the play developing. I kind of picked up the ball in a good spot, made some good eye contact with Elliott (Bentley), got the ball and just put the ball into the net,” said Channel of the game-winner. “Those are the plays you look forward to (as a forward) and I was able to put it into the back of the net when I had the chance.”
With his team holding a slim 1-0 advantage, Channell broke free in the penalty box and rifled home a shot from eight yards out in front of the net at the 74:04 mark. Bentley drew the assist on the play with a perfectly-slotted through ball in tight traffic and helped stake the Bucks to a 2-0 advantage.
“I am not all surprised,” said Bucks head coach Andrew Wagstaff of Channell’s scoring prowess. “”He’s a very good player and I have a lot of history with Tyler, dating back to his days of club soccer (Bloomfield Force) and when he played for me at SVSU. He had an incredible senior year At Saginaw Valley and was All-American. He had 19 goals and 20 assists that season and was top five in the nation in points. So I am not surprised that he still has that ability to score big goals. I’ve watched Tyler do that in his career many times.”
Flint City Bucks only dressed 15 players for the game, unexpectingly losing several college players for various reasons just before the holiday weekend. The Bucks adapted quite well in recording their third straight win of the short campaign.
“We lost some guys, but I understand that they have commitments to college and their safety is of utmost importance,” said Wagstaff. “We just found out late last week that we were losing some guys for this match and we had to make many changes and bring in a couple of new players. But we have a lot of very good players still that have played at such a high level. They adjusted well and had another strong game.”
Inter Detroit FC’s Danilo Milacic cut into the two-goal deficit with a close-range, unassisted goal in the 84th minute. But the Bucks defense held on for the win and lowered the team’s goals-against-average after three matches to a sterling 0.67.
Flint City, which has outscored its opponents 12-2 this exhibition season, improved to 3-0-0 during its six-game schedule. The Bucks have yielded only two goals in three matches spanning over 270 minutes — and once again allowed single digits when it comes to shots directly on frame.
Flint City held a 10-7 overall shots edge over Inter Detroit, including 7-5 with shots on frame, and only gave up the late goal. Both of the goals Flint City has allowed this season have come in the final 10 minutes of the last two games.
“Our defense was very good again,” added Wagstff. “We had four very talented players back there. Spencer Nolff is coming off a very good season at OU, and the same for Elliott Bentley. They are both alums and finished top their eligibility at OU. We have Dom Hart from Northwood and he has been very good for us. We also brought in Owen Turner to help us and he showed us that he can fill in that spot (in the backfield).”
After a scoreless first half, Flint City broke the stalemate in the 71st minute. Mitchell O’Neill’s cornerkick to the top of the box was corralled by Callum Ashmore (Schoolcraft), who blasted the ball into the net from 20 yards straight out from the goal at 70:50.
“That was all the players on that one,” said Wagstaff. “They designed that and we were able to finish on that corner.”
Bucks goalkeeper Elliott Tarney, four years after graduating from Oakland, picked up the win between the pipes, stopping four of five shots. He punched a shot over the crossbar with 20 minutes to play Sunday to aid the victory.
FAST FACTS
— Several current college players on the Bucks’ roster got called back to their respective college campuses just before the weekend. Therefore, the Bucks lost five current Oakland University players and two incoming freshman at OU. The NCAA had originally moved the NCAA Division I, II and III seasons to the spring, but colleges across the country are starting to call players back to train in a tight bubble under campus restrictions.
— The defending US Soccer-League 2 North American champions have only yielded only 21 shots on frame in three matches.
— Although the Bucks were unable to defended their North American crown this year due to the regular season and postseason tournament being shelved, they are still one of the most successful programs in USL-League 2 (formerly Premier Developmental League) history. The franchise won North American titles in 2006, 2014, 2016 and 2019 while finishing as the runner-up in both 2000 and 2007.
— Flint City Bucks will next host Livonia City FC on Sunday, Sept. 13, at 12 p.m. The game will be telecasted live on CW46 out of Flint.
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