By Jinseong Kim
AFC Ann Arbor, both men’s and women’s, travel away from home on Friday, May 13, for the second game of the season. The men’s team visits Lansing to take on a new USL League Two franchise Lansing City Football at Spring Arbor University. Meanwhile, the women’s side, ventures down to Cincinnati to face Kings Hammer FC at Corcoran Field. Both games kick-off at 7pm. Both Lansing City Football and Kings Hammer FC are unfamiliar names to the Mighty Oak, as Friday will be the first encounter between the two.
Starting off the season with a victorious 5-0 win over the state rivals Oakland County FC, The Mighty Oak’s men are eager to extend their great home opener form to the first away match of the season. The last time when the men’s team kicked off the summer campaign with two wins in a row dates back to 2018. The Mighty Oak began the 2018 NPSL season with 11-0 goal difference in first three games against Milwaukee Torrent (4-0), Detroit City FC (1-0), and FC Indiana (6-0). The men’s team looks forward to mirror a positive run that happened four years ago.
The AFCAA women’s team looks to be up for a mission to snag the inaugural victory in USL W League. Despite the unfortunate 4-2 defeat at Flint, the club was able to draw out various positive aspects. Holding an experienced Flint City AFC side to a two-goal deficit with only 14 players being available, and witnessing a banger from Chloe Ricketts were memorable highlights. AFCAA women look forward to bringing this optimism to one of the longest away trips in the division, against one of the top sides in the division.
The Opponent
Lansing City Football is a newly founded USL League Two franchise based in Lansing, Michigan. They first founded a professional futsal team in 2017 and later expanded to traditional 11-side soccer. The encounter between the Mighty Oak is their debut game at USL League Two.
Kings Hammer FC may be more familiar to fans as a former USL League Two Great Lakes Division franchise. This season, the men’s USL League Two side now plays in the Valley Division of the Central Conference, but the Cincinnati side subsequently established the women’s team and announced their entry to the USL W League earlier this year. They commenced their inaugural season last Friday, May 6 with a defeat against the conference favorites Indy Eleven FC (1-3).
About AFC Ann Arbor
Association Football Club Ann Arbor (AFC Ann Arbor) was founded in 2014 and competes in USL2 (men’s) and USLW (women’s) national amateur leagues. We are a community-based club, focused on equity, justice, and anti-racism. We consider all of our stakeholders, including supporters, players, staff, and ownership to be part of the #AFCAAFamily. Come On You Mighty Oak!