EAST LANSING, Mich. – On a rainy Friday night at Archer Stadium, Lansing United’s second-ever PDL match was full of slips, trips, and Hoops domination.

Lansing United tallied a goal in each half to record their first ever PDL victory 2-0 over the Derby City Rovers.

“It’s great to get the three points and the first half performance was really dominate,” said Head Coach Nate Miller. “We sputtered a little bit in the second half but did a good job finishing the game off at the end. There are a lot of positives to take away from this performance.”

The damp weather caused a slow start to the match, as both sides struggled stringing together passes.

T.J. Ifaturoti and captain DeJuan Jones continued a high pressure on the Derby City backline, which caused an early sense of urgency for the visiting Derby City Rovers from Louisville, Kentucky.

Defender Ebenezer Ackon pressed high on crosses to become an aerial threat with several powerful headers in the box in 17^th and 20^th minute.

The stalemate match saw its first goal of the game in the 27^th minute when Ifaturoti chiped a beautiful ball to meet the head of DeJuan Jones who put the ball in the back of the net for a 1-0 Hoops lead. The opening goal was Jones’ third goal of the young season. Jones continues his early season goal onslaught and becomes the third United player to ever score three goals in his team’s first two league matches.

At the brink of halftime, Lewis Jones threaded a perfectly weighted ball through to Bay Kurtz who went one-on-one with Derby City goalkeeper Will Meyer, only to have his shot saved with a brilliant reaction from Meyer.

Lansing United at the half dominated not only total possession with 67% at halftime but had team season-high 8 shots and 6 corners in a single half. Lansing United was well deserving and confident heading into halftime 1-0. In the short history on Lansing United, the Hoops have held 19 leads at the half, in which 17 of those matches have been won by the boys in blue.

Lansing United picked up right where they left off, and in the 47^th minute, John Freitag had a powerful strike deflected to meet the right foot of DeJuan Jones, which was struck high above the bar.

Zach Tom came onto the pitch in the 66^th minute for Lewis Jones fresh off his brace against Livonia City during the mid-week. His third minute on the pitch, Tom was shown a yellow card for a slide tackle challenge.

It took until the 82^nd minute for a second half goal at Archer Stadium. DeJuan Jones made a fantastic run into the box and snuck a deflected shot right underneath the arms of Meyer. The ball rolled towards the goal line, and Lansing United’s Bay Kurtz got the tap-in for his first PDL goal of the season.

Derby City’s best chances of the game followed the Lansing United goal, where two Derby City shots were brilliantly saved by Joe White as he would go on to pick up his ever PDL clean sheet.

The boys in blue will play their first ever PDL away match this Sunday, May 20^th against the Cincinnati Dutch Lions.

“It is their PDL opener, so I think it’s a big opportunity for us to take a lot of points and maintain a large lead in front of them after the 1^st weekend,” Miller said. “It’s going to be a tough game without any doubt due to the fact that we do not know much about them.”