'Confident' Lansing Ignite turns the corner in 2-0 win over Orlando City B

You'll always find multiple turning points in any sports season.

But for Lansing Ignite, Saturday may have been an important moment as they make a push to finish in the top four in the standings and make the USL League One playoffs.

After four games on the road, two home games this week may have set the Ignite on a path toward greater goals and postseason trophies. 

In front of a record crowd of 4,818 on Saturday night, Lansing defeated Orlando City B, 2-0, at Cooley Law School Stadium to move up to third place.

"I'm just delighted for the players and for the city. It was great to see so many people here, great attendance and great environment" said Ignite coach Nate Miller. "It was a perfect night for football in Lansing and the players played really well. I think (the second half) was our best half of the season." 

Coupled with the 1-0 win over Toronto FC II on Wednesday, playing on the home pitch has proven to be a boon for the Ignite, who now trail league leaders South Georgia Tormenta FC by five points.

Lansing also picked up two clean sheets in this week's home matches.

"We couldn't hope for more," said center back Kevin Coiffic, who scored the second goal. "We've been working very hard. The chances, we've been putting them away. Defense, clean sheet, it was a great week.

"We feel good playing at home. We're confident." 

Nick Moon opened the scoring with his fourth goal of the season in the 51st minute. Alex Bruce received a pass in the box, showed his hold-up play abilities and laid off for Xavier Gomez, who slid a pass to Tumi Moshobane at the top of the 6-yard box. Moshobane couldn't control it, but the ball fell right to Moon, who chipped it in over a couple of players for a 1-0 lead. 

"It was probably one of the easier goals I've had in my career," Moon said. "I just saw it pop up on the 6-yard box, had a couple guys in front of me and I just chipped it in. It was weird.

"Two wins anywhere is huge for us. We really needed it. (It was nice to) come back home for our fans and everyone that's been supporting us through the stretch we were in for a bit. To put on a show and get the win was huge."

Lansing made it 2-0 on what was arguably the Ignite's goal of the season so far. On a dead ball, midfielder Kyle Carr's free kick was aimed for Coiffic at the far post, and he volleyed it on on the first touch to seal the three points. 

"It's great every time, especially since scoring a goal doesn't happen a lot," said the Frenchman, who netted his second of the season.

"He's just so clever at that," Miller said. "Kevin has that superstar quality about him. He can do really special things. Kyle's so good on dead balls. When he came in, he really changed the game for us. He was phenomenal." 

It was the second straight game that saw a Lansing substitute immediately provide an assist, as Bruce did on Wednesday. 

Lansing's objective defensively was to slow down Orlando's two main offensive threats, Thiago De Souza and Sergio Constabile Elia. The Ignite did that by not conceding fouls in their own half and, in Miller's words, "attack, attack attack." 

Lansing owned the lion's share of the possession (54 percent), shots (17-8), shots on target (6-3), shots inside the 18-yard box (14-5) and forced Orlando into 25 clearances to Lansing's 3. 

"We wanted to make sure our team performance suffocated them," Miller said. "Our way of defending them was to attack, get in their box, and we did that." 

The Ignite's next two matches are on the road, June 29 at North Texas AC and July 6 at Chattanooga. They'll be back home for two matches after that, July 9 vs. Forward Madison FC and July 13 vs. Tuscon."

"We've got a lot of big games to come," Miller said. "We just don't want to be in third place. We want it all and the players are doing a good job."

Contact digital sports reporter Phil Friend at 517-377-1220 or pfriend@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Phil_Friend.