By Harold C. Ford
The Flint City Bucks will host Fort Wayne FC in the United States League Two (USL2) Central Conference semi-final match tonight at Atwood Stadium.
The Bucks have had a memorable 2024 showing thus far, powering into the first round of USL2 playoffs with a 10-0 win over Michiana FC from South Bend, Ind. on July 13, 2024, to end their regular season with a record of 10 wins, three draws, and one loss.
Flint then hosted a quarterfinal match against the Cleveland Force at 7:30 p.m. on July 19. After a scoreless first half, the Bucks took control of the contest with a stalwart defense and a hungry offense that produced numerous scoring opportunities.
Flint’s Palmer Ault scored the match’s only goal in the 76th minute of the second half, assisted by Josemir Gomez. The 1-0 finish clinched the Bucks’ semi-final appearance tonight.
Palmer Ault celebrates with his Flint City Bucks teammates after scoring the only goal of the team’s quarter final match on Friday, July 19, 2024. (Photo courtesy Flint City Bucks)
Flint scores division championship on the road to playoffs
The Bucks’ 10-1-3 regular season record scored them a first place finish in the eight-team Great Lakes Division of the USL2’s Central Conference. (Three points are awarded for a win, one point for a draw, and no points for a loss.)
The seven other Great Lakes Division franchises trailed the Bucks with the following regular season point totals: Midwest United FC, 31 points; Kalamazoo FC, 27; AFC Ann Arbor, 26; Oakland County FC, 14; Lansing City Football, 13; Union FC Macomb, 13; and Michiana FC, 2.
As of July 10, the Bucks were the fifth-ranked club in USL2’s “power rankings” of the league’s 72 teams.
A briefer on the Bucks
The Flint City Bucks team – formerly the Mid-Michigan Bucks and Michigan Bucks – is one of the most successful minor league soccer teams in the United States. During its 29-year history, it has qualified for 11 U.S. Open Cups, won 12 divisional titles, and has secured four national championships.
Founded in 1995, the team began play as the Mid-Michigan Bucks in Saginaw, Mich. After a name-change in 1996 to the Michigan Bucks, the team moved to Plymouth, Mich. in 2004, then to Pontiac, Mich. in 2008. The Michigan Bucks transitioned to the Flint City Bucks and began playing home games at Flint’s Atwood Stadium in May 2019.
There, the team won its fourth national championship on Aug. 3, 2019 by a final score of 1-0 over Reading United FC in front of more than 7,000 fans at Atwood Stadium. The winning goal came in the second 15-minute overtime on a penalty kick by Flint’s Ayuk Tambe.
The 2024 Flint City Bucks pose for a photo during a welcome reception at Huntington Bank in downtown Flint, Mich. on May 13, 2024. (Photo by Kate Stockrahm)
The current team is composed of young men from all over the United States and the world, including Canada, France, Germany, Iraq, Jamaica, Poland and Trinidad and Tobago.
Most team members otherwise play at a U.S.-based colleges when not playing in the USL2’s summer season, and the Bucks have seen multiple players go on to play Major League Soccer (MLS), the highest level of play in the States.
Dan Duggan, the Bucks’ founder, CEO and chairman, and Costa Papista, the team’s president, were named Co-Executives of the Year by the USL2 in 2019 following the club’s fourth national championship.
The team’s current coaching staff includes: Dan Doroh, head coach; Andy Wagstaff, advisor to director of coaching and recruiting; and Rajko Jovanovic, goalkeeping coach.
At the start of the 2024 season, Doroh told East Village Magazine editor Kate Stockrahm, “I get my joy from … working with them [players] on a daily basis and seeing their successes on the field.”
The Bucks’ semi-final game will take place at 5 p.m. on July 21 at Flint’s Atwood Stadium, located at 701 University Ave.
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