Lansing United spoils season opener for Cincinnati Dutch Lions with a 1-0 victory on Sunday

By David Kubota
NKyTribune reporter

The Cincinnati Dutch Lions FC lost their season opener by a 1-0 score to Lansing United on Sunday.

With temperatures pushing 90 degrees, the Lions faced off against Lansing United on a sunny afternoon at Northern Kentucky University’s soccer complex.

After slow start by both teams, the Lions had the first attacking chance with a corner in the 7th minute, but Lansing goalkeeper Anthony Mwembia was able to stop the threat. Lansing tallied the first shot shortly into the 10th minute on a Lewis Jones volley.

Adam Wilson took the Lions’ first shot of the season in the 29th minute, but only ended up in a goal kick.

Six minutes later, a cross from Keyarash Namjoupanah did not find its target and led to a counter by Lansing. A slide by Mark Lindström disrupted play to begin with, but Kostandin Moni ended up with the ball. Moni’s strike deflected off the back of a Lions defender to find its way in the back of the net in the 35th minute.

Lansing owned a 1-0 lead at halftime with more shot attempts, and the Lions were not able to use their corner advantage to put anything on target.

To start the second half, the Lions brought on Ryan Melink and Max Wilschrey. Initial substitutions played a role they came out firing right away, forcing Mwembia to parry a ball over the endline in the 49th minute and the Lansing defense to stop a Jimmy Filerman shot in the 51st minute.

Three minutes later, Adam Wilson finds Wilschrey with a through ball which Wilschrey sent inches wide of the back post, the best chance for the Lions to that point.

Mwembia’s biggest moment of the match came in the 70th minute as Wilschrey got behind the Lansing defense. But Mwembia was able to get a hand to the shot to preserve the Lansing one-goal advantage.

A few tactical changes for the Lions made the last 10 minutes rather frantic. Noah Lawrence was able to keep the match at 1-0 with his own save in the 88th minute, stopping a Lansing breakaway opportunity. Unfortunately for the Lions, no equalizer materialized and the whistle finished the conetst after four minutes of stoppage time.

The Cincinnati Dutch Lions are back in action on Friday, when the West Virginia Chaos visit NKU. The Lions will look to avenge two 1-0 losses to the Chaos last season.

David Kubota is a Scripps Howard Foundation intern at the NKyTribune this summer. He is a student at the University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Media.