As a pre-professional soccer club, it’s in our DNA to look toward the future: more star athletes, more national titles, and more incredible moments with our Flint and Genesee community.

But for the 2022 season, it’s time to pause and appreciate what has been.

The Flint City Bucks were finally out-magicked Sunday night in the USL League Two national semifinal, falling 1-0 to Western Conference champs Ventura County Fusion, California.  

Myriad close calls vs. 1 wonder goal

Anything can happen in the playoffs, and a lot did.

In the 40th minute, Nathaniel Opoku took a layoff on the edge of the penalty area and scored an impossible left-footed curler that will live infamously in Fusion lore.

CISN.tv broadcasters suggested it was the goal of the tournament. But with more than a half remaining, it would take a lot more to end the Bucks’ postseason.

In the 49th minute, Amadou Cisse and Jelldrik Dallmann connected for an incisive one-two passing sequence that sent Emeka Eneli in alone. Goalkeeper Tetsuya Kadono punched Eneli in the back of the head and collected the ball with no further incident.

Moments later, a Wylie Trujillo distance effort was tipped over the bar.

In the 55th minute, Flint City goalkeeper Isaac Walker kept his side in striking distance, making a beautiful diving save to deny leading Fusion scorer Logan Farrington.

The Bucks spent the final half-hour definitively on the front foot, as Ventura County hunkered down in their own half and clung to their hard-won advantage.

In the 74th minute, Cisse cut back from the left wing and played a tantalizing low ball across the goalmouth that fell just out of reach of both Dallmann and Beto Soto.

Finally, the match was by all rights leveled in the 77th minute, when Sebastian Chalbaud delivered an inch-perfect free kick from 40 yards onto the scoring head of center back Hugo Bacharach. The referee’s assistant saw it differently, flagging for offside.

Flint City never stopped trying to overcome, and in the 84th minute, a Dallmann header demanded another heart-stopping save from the keeper Kadono.

2022 in review: Highlights in the league

While the final match left us longing for just one more at Kettering University’s historic Atwood Stadium, the Bucks can look back on the 2022 season with pride.

Flint City finished the USL2 regular season with an 8-3-3 record and an impressive plus-18 goal difference — just a single result shy of the Great Lakes Division title.

Over three complete USL seasons in Flint, the Bucks have never missed the playoffs. A trio of big wins to close the schedule yielded the club’s 24th postseason trip in 27 seasons, a US Soccer record.  

To an outsider, it may have seemed unlikely. But every good River Rat knew that the 7th-seeded Bucks would compete for the Central Conference championship.

And, owing to an epic victory Friday in Iowa over the No. 1 seed and reigning national champs Des Moines Menace, that conference trophy is coming back to Flint.

The Bucks toppled three division champions on their march through the Central, including recent division rivals South Bend Lions and Chicago FC United.

Flint played host to a postseason weekend for the first time since 2019.

In an epic summer celebration, the Bucks also hosted their first-ever international friendly match against the reserves of Tigres UANL, from Mexico’s top league, Liga MX.

Early in June, the squad won an unrivaled fourth Hank Steinbrecher National Title.  

The community reunited with familiar faces from 2021 including Isaac Walker, Amadou Cisse, Harvey Slade, Ideal Shefqeti, Sebastian Chalbaud and Matthew Fearnley. The Bucks also found new favorites such as Jelldrik Dallman — who scored 12 times — Emeka Eneli, and Hugo Bacharach.

Next up: The Bucks return to action at 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 13, with a friendly vs. Inter Detroit FC at Linden Stadium. Tickets ($5 youth/ $10 adult) are available at gopassage.com.

To keep up with the Flint City Bucks, please visit the team website at www.flintcitybucks.com. Additionally, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.