AFC Cleveland Draw 3-3 with Dayton Dynamo to Open Regular Season

INDEPENDENCE, Ohio – The AFC Royals fought hard and came away with a 3-3 tie Saturday night at home against the visiting Dayton Dynamo.  They were without star midfielder Mikey Derezic who was out due to foot injury.  Derezic is suffering from a deep foot bruise on his right foot but hopes to be back by the Royals next home game May 28^th against the Erie Commodores.

Perhaps fatigue played a factor as well as the Royals had played as recently as Wednesday Night at Des Moines Iowa against the Menace in the opening round of the Lamar Hunt Cup.  They Came away with a 3-1 victory in that one to advance to the second round.

The game remained scoreless into the 35^th minute when the Royals finally put one past Dayton Dynamo goalkeeper Ryan Hulings.  The goal was scored by Chris Cvecko and got the crowd fired up.  The Royals had been playing aggressive all half with plenty of solid chances and that persistence paid off!

A little over a minute later the Royals struck again, this time it was Vinny Bell on an excellent break away that brought Hulings to far out of goal and Bell was able to perfectly place one over his head into the back of the net.  It was some real sharp shooting out of Bell.  It was nice to see Bell grab the goal as he had been an aggressive force in the first half.

The Royals would keep the lead 2-0 as they headed into halftime.  This is where fatigue and injury may have played a factor as they came out a little flat in the second half and allowed Dayton to get right back in it.  In a matter of 15 minutes the Dynamo came back to tie the game.

First it was Tristan Lyle connecting on a breakaway goal of his own to get the Dynamo on the board.  A few minutes later it was the star of the second half for Dayton, Tate Robertson scoring to tie the game.  Robertson would finish with two goals and become a real pain for the Royals defense as he was all over the field in the second half.

One note of interest in the two-goal attack to tie the game was that both goals came promptly after the substitutions of Vinny Bell and Ryan Ware from the Royals lineup.  Both Ware and Bell had strong starts to the contest, but once again fatigue played a factor in Head Coach Mike Sesars decision to remove them from the game.

The game remained tied as it entered the final 20 minutes when the two teams would swap goals again.  It was the Royals Chris Cvecko scoring his second goal after a beautiful assist from Admir Suljevic.  The lead would not last long, as again it was Tate Robertson connecting to re tie the game.  Neither team was able to score again, and the game ended in a draw.

The Royals next play in the regular season May 20^th, on the road against The Syracuse FC.

Final Stats

Total Shots – Cleveland Royals 17 Dayton Dynamo 7

On Goal – Cleveland Royals 6 Dayton Dynamo 5

Saves – Cleveland Royals 3 Dayton Dynamo 3

Corners – Cleveland Royals 8 Dayton Dynamo 2

Fouls – Cleveland 2 Dayton Dynamo 4

Offsides – 2 Dayton Dynamo 1

Goals

35^th minute – Chris Cvecko

36^th minute – Vinny Bell

52^nd minute – Tristian Lyle

58^th minute – Tate Robertson

71rst minute – Chris Cvecko

75^th minute – Tate Robertson

 

Starting Lineups

Dayton Dynamo

Goalkeeper

Ryan Hulings

Defensemen

Baye Ali Kebe

Eric Hutton

Peyton Mowery

Austin Kinley

Midefielders & Forwards

Kristian Moore Lowell

Tate Robertson

Christopher Dupont

Jacob Purpero

Bradley Schluter

Tate Robertson

 

 

AFC Cleveland Royals

Goalkeeper

Marijo Musa

Defensemen

Ian Larson

Dellan McGivern

Chris Cvecko

David Jordan

 

Midfielders & Forwards

Admir Suljevic

Bobi Cancar

Tom Beck

Ryan Ware

Dan Koniarczyk