To no one’s surprise, Kyle Breitmeyer came ready to play in last Saturday’s season opener friendly at Huron High School. The third-year member of The Mighty Oak opened up the scoring in the 11th minute before securing his bracy with a second half goal to put Ann Arbor up to 2-0. The match however ended in a 2-2 draw as SVSU notched 2 late goals after most of the starters were subbed off.
As expected in preseason, Coach Rudland was pleased with some of the performance but sees each early friendly as a stepping stone to prepare for league play which begins May 5th on the road at Milwaukee.
“I felt like we dictated play well in the first 60 minutes. Our possession oriented attack was very good at times and we did a good job of finding penetrating passes. With that said, we lacked creating dangerous ideas & execution in the final 1/3. For how much possession we had in the first 60 we should have created more opportunities to score," added Rudland.
With Force FC traveling to town for Sunday’s 4th Annual Saline Showcase, the last preseason friendly, Coach Rudland will stay the course and take the next step in the team building process saying, “We want to take the next step physically. The hope is that we can get our main guys to 70-75 minutes. We have been working to build up the fitness levels from match to match with the hopes of preparing the men to for for 90 minutes next weekend in Milwaukee. Also, We want to progress our defending schemes to pick good pressing moments & recover the back quickly. And we are hoping to make progress in the cohesion of our attack.”
This marks the first meeting between the two sides, and with both clubs competing in the Michigan Milk Cup, there is the possibility they meet again later in the summer. But Sunday’s contest will be the first chance for many to see what Force FC are about.
“Honestly we don’t know much about their personnel or who they will be suiting up for the match. At this point in the team building process we are more concerned with ourselves & the way we want to play, the manner in which we want to build our players up physically & tactical. So we are very much just looking inward in preparation for Sunday on what we need to improve in,” said Rudland in response to what fans can expect from the opponent.
THE OPPONENT
Force FC is a men’s amateur team based in Bloomfield Hills that began competing in the early to mid 2000s but began operating the youth side of things in 1995.
Head Coach, Ryan Tadajewski was a player himself for the club starting back in 2007. Now, alongside assistant coaches Matt Mandarino and Jon Evans, the club will continue it’s pursuit to be the most competitive amateur side in Michigan.
Just as The Mighty Oak did, Force FC opened up their season last Saturday as they took on Livonia City FC, another Michigan Milk Cup participant.
Lead by Colin Helmrich and Mike Leone, Tadajewski expects to use a similar line up after earning a 2-1 result in their season opening friendly, along with a few new faces.
In terms of style of play, he added, “Fans can expect a fast style of play from Force FC. It will be a hard fought game from the first minute all the way to the 90th! We hope to make this an entertaining game where this can hopefully continue as a constant friendly for years to come.”
MATCH DAY EXPERIENCE
With the match being held in Saline, the Main Street Hooligans along with other fans will plan on gathering at Stony Lake Brewing Co. beginning at 3PM.
The rest of the day will be centered around the Saline soccer community. At halftime, select Saline High School players along with Saline FC players will be recognized for their achievements in the game. All Saline FC players who wear their jersey will also receive free admission to Sunday’s match.
TEAM SHEET
“We are very much just looking inward in preparation for Sunday on what we need to improve in,” said Rudland.
Jersey No - Player
1 - Joe Smith
2 - -Kenny Vasquez
3 - Trialist (Ludvick Asigo)
4 - Liam Travers
6 - Jordan Montoya
8 - Marlon Frietas
TICKET INFO
Online Tickets- Adults $8 / Youth $5 (Ages 4-12) *Available until Noon on Sunday
At the Gate- Adults $10 / Youth $6 *Kids 1,2 and 3 are FREE
Memberships (Season Tickets)
9 - Kyle Breitmeyer
10 - Drew Ducker
11 - Danny Dragoi
12 - Leonardo Abonizio
13 - Trialist (Pat Rose)
14 - Matthieu "Frenchie" Braem
15 - Breno Stapcinskas
16 - Andre Morris
17 - Sergio Campbell
18 - Trialist (Marco Bernardini)
20 - Marc Ybarra
22 - Leigh Rumbold
66 - Hunter Morse
