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Dayton Dutch Lions soccer club taking shape

Soccer club’s roster likely to have the maximum  of eight allowed  non-American players.

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By Kyle Nagel, Staff Writer Updated 8:11 AM Monday, February 1, 2010

XENIA — A new professional soccer team that will begin play in the area this spring could include up to 15 American players, some of them local, to mix with players from Holland, one of the team’s owners said during a local tryout Saturday, Jan. 30.

Mike Mossel and Erik Tammer traveled from Holland for the tryout at the Athletes in Action sports complex in Xenia. Mossel said the Dayton Dutch Lions FC likely will have the maximum of eight allowed non-American players on a roster of about 23.

The team, according to its Web site has signed five Dutch players so far.

The team will play in the United Soccer League and its Premier Development League division, although Mossel said the owners would like to grow the team to eventually be part of the league’s top First Division.

Dayton will play in the PDL’s Great Lakes Division, which also includes teams from Cincinnati, Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit, Fort Wayne, Kalamazoo, Mich., South Bend, Toronto and London, Ontario.

Some of the non-American players, most of them Dutch, already have been signed, Mossel said, and the ownership group will spend this week finalizing some plans for the league start in the spring. Mossel and Tammer are planning to stay in the area during the season, Mossel said.

The team has set up preliminary operations, including a Twitter account, which has updates in both English and Dutch.

The team also has a Web site at: www.dutchlionsfc.com.

“We’ll have to battle to be the best, and we’re used to that,” said Mossel, a former Xavier University soccer player who works as a consultant in Holland.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7389 or knagel@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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