It's only July, but so far no other Detroit athletes can boast of ending regular season play as No. 1 in its 57-team league.
The Detroit City Football Club clinched that honor Sunday afternoon in Buffalo with a 2-1 victory for a 2013 record of 11-0-1, best in the National Premier Soccer League. They won a Rust Belt Derby trophy for ending the season ahead of Cleveland and Buffalo.
Detroit scored 37 goals since the season kicked off May 12 in Sparta, Mich.
Conference playoffs start Saturday with a home field advantage at Cass Tech, where "Le Rouge" face fourth-ranked Cleveland eight days after the teams tied 1-1. (Here's the ticket site.)
Kevin Taylor, an Ann Arbor high school soccer coach, scored five goals so far this season.
Shelby Township sports blogger, Jeff Corrion, posts these season stats at The D Zone:
- Zach Myers of Saginaw Valley State and former University of Michigan standout Knox Cameron lead the team with six goals each.
- Kevin Taylor, soccer coach at Pioneer High in Ann Arbor since last fall, scored five goals -- including a hat trick in one game. He's a consistent scorer even though he plays defensive midfield.
- These five players have two goals each -- Lachlan Savage of Plymouth, Grant Chong of Brighton, Jeff Adkins of Utica, Austin Oldham of Indianapolis and Fabio Villas Boas Pereira.
Saturday article:
The on-fire Detroit City Football Club remains undefeated after battling Friday night to a 1-1 draw in Cleveland, where Knox Cameron scored his sixth goal of 2013 for Detroit.
Knox Cameron, a 29-year-old DTE Energy manager, kicked Detroit's only goal Friday. [Photo from Detroit City Football Club]
The local team, known as Le Rouge for its uniform color, is now 10-0-1 in the semi-pro National Premier Soccer League.
Its regular season ends Sunday afternoon in Buffalo, followed by the start of Great Lakes Conference playoffs at 5 p.m. next Saturday on Cass Tech High's field with another Detroit-Cleveland clash. (Tickets are available here at $10 for adults, $5 for ages 6-18.)
Detroit's critical scorer Friday at Cleveland State University's field is a 29-year-old DTE Energy account manager who was Big Ten Player of the Year as a UM junior in 2003. Cameron, a 6-foot-3 forward, was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and grew up in the Bronx, a New York borough.
Zach Myers of Saginaw Valley State lines up Detroit's first goal Friday in Cleveland. [Photo from The D Zone]
As buzz intensifies about the scrappy minor league team, which draws up to 1,500 home game fans, the Free Press jumps in with an in-depth feature by sportswriter Carlos Monarrez and 13 photos by Kirthmon F. Dozier. (The Detroit News ran its version, with a video, on June 25.)
Monarrez writes:
Matches are raucous affairs with an air of iconoclastic revelry for the hipster set. Air canons shoot denim jean shorts into the stands and there’s a valet for bicyclists. On the pitch, it’s all business. The team exudes excellence with a focused style of play . . . .
And then there’s the Northern Guard. The fervent group of supporters march from Harry’s Detroit Bar to Cass Tech yelling through megaphones, wearing military helmets and black bandanas.
This stunning sunset was a bonus for Detroit City Football Club fans who drove to Cleveland for Friday night's second-to-last regular season game. [Photo by Charles Murphy via Instagram]
