Road weary Bluegrass Bandits fall to West Michigan Edge, Mid Michigan Bucks

(Lexington, Ky.)- The Bluegrass Bandits soccer team may not know how to react when they return home to the friendly confines of Joseph K. Ford Stadium at Lexington Catholic High School. The squad has played four straight road games, and still has two more this weekend before a home date with Indiana on Saturday, June 24.

With a 4-2 loss at West Michigan (2-4) last Friday and an overwhelming 7-1 setback at U.S. Open Cup competitor Mid Michigan (5-1) on Saturday, the Bandits dropped to 1-5 this season. Still, Bandits’ Coach Rob Miller is not ready to throw in the towel.

Miller said, "We should’ve won against West Michigan. I think it was just a case of jetlag for our team. We rode on a bus for nine hours and then had to get ready to play a soccer match. It was about 15 minutes in before we got into the flow of the game. We dominated the second half and were very close to scoring several times."

The Lexington squad will try to avert its sixth consecutive defeat at Alabama this weekend. The Bandits will play the Saints on Saturday, June 17, beginning at 7:30 p.m. and then again on Sunday, June 18, at 2 p.m. Lexington’s last victory was a 3-0 shutout of the Saints back on May 20^th.

Against the Edge last Friday in Grand Rapids, the Bandits stayed close in the first half, thanks in large part to the return of midfielder Keita Placide (Cumberland College). In his first game back since the second game of the season, Placide tallied a first-half goal against West Michigan, on assists from Scott Deopere (Wisconsin-Oshkosh) and former Lexington Catholic player Buddy Schneider (Marshall University).

Like Placide, Lexington’s Moises Drumond (Ontario, Canada) got his first goal of the season in the first half, and the Bandits trailed, 3-2, at the half.

The Lexington squad had several great scoring chances in the second stanza, hitting a couple of posts, but never getting on the scoreboard. Because the Bandits were pushing up to get added offense, the defense was vulnerable, and West Michigan was able to score once more for the final 4-2 margin.

The Bandits had their backs up against a wall on Saturday night in Saginaw, Michigan, playing the four-time PDL division champion and current U.S. Open Cup competitor Mid Michigan. Earlier in the week, the Bucks jumped ahead of Kalamazoo for the division lead with a 4-1 win over the Kingdom. Additionally, Mid Michigan is preparing to play Major League Soccer’s New England Revolution this Wednesday in the U.S. Open Cup tournament.

In front of a raucous crowd of 1,100 fans, the Bucks (5-1) posted five goals in the first half and led the Bandits, 5-1, at the break. Lexington’s only score came courtesy of Scott Deopere (Wisconsin-Oshkosh), who tallied his second goal of the season. Mid Michigan added two second-half goals for the final 7-1 victory.

Bandits’ Coach Miller said, "Mid Michigan is a very talented team, and they might just beat the Revolution. Right now, the inconsistency and the travel have been very frustrating for us. We’ve been up and down all season, and we’ve got a lot of holes defensively. We haven’t got many problems scoring goals. We’re not getting shut out that much. We just need more organization in the back."

The Bandits have played every divisional team, except Dayton, at least once, and will be getting ready to go through most of the squads a second time. Coach Miller believes that may help Lexington get out of its tailspin. He added, "We’ll certainly have a better idea about what to expect when we play these teams again. We’ll definitely be changing some strategies."