Mistakes Cost Stars in Loss to AFC Ann Arbor

“Football is a game of mistakes.  Whoever makes the fewest wins.” – Johan Cruyff

The Michigan Stars (MSFC) were reminded of the quote by the great Dutch footballer the hard way Friday evening as the Stars fell to AFC Ann Arbor (AFCAA) 5-0 in a match riddled with miscues on their home turf.

“At the end of the day, every time we made a mistake they made us pay the price,” said Michigan Stars Coach Morris Lupenec.  “We made five mistakes and they scored on all of them.  A good team will do that to you.”

Ann Arbor’s Kaleb Jackson struck first at 13 minutes into the match.  Capitalizing on a defensive miscommunication by the Stars, Jackson helped himself to a 20-yard breakaway and beat goalkeeper Anthony Mwembia on a shot to the lower left corner.

At 29:00, Kyle Breitmeyer crushed a dipping line-drive over Mwembia after connecting on a cross from Sam Zisette.  The goal advanced the score to 2-0 in AFCAA’s favor and took the teams into the locker rooms at half.

Ann Arbor’s goals and relentless pressure kept the Stars on their heels throughout the match; registering just one shot on goal in the first half and four in total.

“In addition to our mistakes, our overall effort was not great,” said Lupenec.  “Not all eleven guys were working hard as a unit together.  I’m confident that we will solve this by Sunday.”

AFCAA’s third goal was scored at 52:00 by Jimmy Fiskus.  Fiskus connected on corner kick originating from Yuri Guglielmi and headed over from Benjamin Thornton.  Alec Lasinski scored just moments after subbing in at 63:00 and James Vaughan hit a brilliant free kick at 71:00 to round out the scoring.

“Ann Arbor is a good team and are in first place for a reason,” said Lupenec.  “They are definitely the team to beat in our league.”

The Stars (1-2-2) travel to Lansing United (4-0-0) on Sunday, June 5 for a 2:00 pm kickoff.