| Mid Michigan Bucks Press Release July 27, 2002
Contact: Amy McLachlan (989) 781-6888 info@mmbucks.com
MID MICHIGAN UPSETS DES MOINES IN PLAYOFFS
Previously Undefeated Menace Falls, 3-1
The Des Moines Menace entered the Central Conference Finals as only the third team in Premier Development League (PDL) history to finish the regular season undefeated, but could not handle the potent attack of the Mid Michigan Bucks (12-5-2) on Friday night in Des Moines. The Bucks advanced the Conference Final with a 3-1 victory on the strength of two goals from Pat Noonan and outstanding play from goalkeeper Eric Pogue. "Almost everyone of our players played their best game of the season tonight," said Bucks general manager, Jim Duggan. "The guys showed a commitment to defending which, in turn, led to a lot of scoring chances - and we finished well. We beat a great team by working hard for each other."
Noonan opened the scoring at the 22nd minute with a bullet to the upper right corner past Menace keeper Michael Gabb. Only several outstanding saves by Pogue kept the score at 1-0 going into halftime. Mid Michigan came out hard in the second half, gaining a three-goal lead on a Noonan header (at the 66th minute) from a Stephan David corner kick and a strike from Ryan Mack (Noonan assisting) with 20 minutes remaining. Both teams continued to attack, with Des Moines (16-1-2) finally getting on the board courtesy of St. Nicholas Benjamin with 14 minutes remaining. Pogue finished with 11 saves and was named co-Man of the Match with Noonan. The Bucks face the Boulder Rapids (CO) Reserves in the Conference Final tonight (Saturday) in Iowa. Boulder defeated the Great Lakes Division Champions, the Chicago Fire Reserves, 3-1 in their semifinal match-up yesterday. The Central Conference Champions will face the Western Conference Champions next weekend at a site TBD.
Goals: BUCKS - Noonan (Snape), 22nd minute; BUCKS - Noonan (David), 66th min.; BUCKS - Mack (Noonan), 69th min.; MENACE - Benjamin, 76th min.
Bucks' Line-up: Pogue, Presser, Swann, Heinemann, David, Rice (Djeukeng 82nd), Mack (Omekanda 88th min.), Khumalo (Turpin 85th), Scicluna, Snape (Kletzien 86th), Noonan.
Menace Line-up:
Gabb, Krupnik, Brazeau (Dombrowski 79th), Modherson, Valenti, Neto, Boltnar, Grau (Benjamin 60th), Ananda, Gibson (Nickel 55th), Riddle (Mark 53rd).
| |
