Saint Lucian footballer Donavan Gusto Phillip said he joined the Flint City Bucks so he could experience the playoffs, but once there, he has been playing like a veteran, with three goals in the opening weekend. The Bucks got past their first two games in the United Soccer League Tier 2 Playoffs, presented by VensureHR, beating Steel City FC and Fort Wayne FC.
Phillip followed up his prolific regular season with a quick start to the playoffs. The Bucks’ talisman kept them in the game with two goals in a tough first half against Steel City. Wes Carnevale scored a go-ahead goal in the 65th minute to help the Bucks win their first-round match against Steel City, 4-3. Flint City advanced to play Fort Wayne FC at Atwood Stadium.
That second-round game went to extra time, with the contest scoreless after regulation. During the first half, Phillip was taken down and lay on the ground for several minutes before rejoining the contest. Eventually, he was Johnny on the spot, barreling in to clean up the rebound after a saved 118th-minute penalty, providing the game-winner in a nail-biter. Dominic Ayella added another goal in stoppage time to help the Flint City Bucks defeat Fort Wayne FC, 2-0. It is the third year in a row that Flint City has ended Fort Wayne’s season.
“It feels great. Everyone has backed us from day one. It feels amazing. I love this community. I’ll die for Flint,” said Phillip. “I feel like we’re going to continue. Hopefully, continue supporting us until the day we get knocked out or the day we lift the championship.
“I trust Ayella to take the penalty kick over me. I gave it to him. So I knew if anything, I was going to rebound like it’s the last day of the week. We knew we would have to push everything to the last minute to beat this team, and I believe that we did that. We were the better team on the day.”
Besides his torrid goal-scoring pace, Phillip was a massive presence on the pitch. All seven of his shots were on target on Friday. He won 10 of 14 aerial duels between both matches.
Flint City’s Bucks move on to the Round of 8 in the USL League Two playoffs. This Friday, they face Minneapolis City SC for the Central Conference Finals. That game will be played in Seattle.
