Donavan “Gusto” Phillip joined the Flint City Bucks this season hoping to get one step closer to realizing his dream of playing professional soccer. He ended up inspiring young fans who are just starting to chase their own dreams.
“When we go downtown Flint, it’s like you’re a celebrity,” Phillip said. “Everyone knows you’re a Bucks player. I probably signed more autographs this summer than I ever thought I would in my life. It’s those little things that make you smile knowing that you’re doing what you love, but that there are also kids watching and looking up to you and telling you you’re their favorite player, just like we look up to Messi or Ronaldo in the same way. It means a lot and just makes you want to continue grinding knowing that you’re getting closer to your dream.”
Phillip gave fans plenty to cheer about this season. He had 12 goals and nine assists in the regular season, winning the USL League Two Golden Boot award. His 12 goals surpassed the team’s previous Flint-era record set by Jelldrik Dallman in 2022. Phillip surpassed the record in dramatic fashion, scoring a hat trick in the final regular season game against Lansing City to set the new bar in the team’s Flint era. On August 19, he was named the USL League Two Player of the Year.
“He’s a next level athlete from a performance perspective, and he’s working really hard at refining his game, so he’s not just naturally gifted, but he’s also put in the work,” said Paul Doroh, the Flint City coach who also coached Phillip during his freshman season at Oakland University. “Between him and Dominic (Ayella), we had a couple of threats up top that, if the game was really tight, you always felt like you could pull it out because one of those guys would spring loose. And Gusto certainly did on numerous occasions for game winners and equalizers and threatening around the net and he just created a lot of chances, whether they were his own or for his teammates.”
Phillip continued his strong scoring pace in the playoffs, with five goals in four matches. He scored two in a 4-3 comeback win over Steel City in the opening game. He scored again in a 2-0 win over rival Fort Wayne, and had the game-winner in a win over Minneapolis FC. He gave the Bucks a 1-0 early lead against Ballard FC in the national semifinals, but Ballard scored two unanswered goals in the second half to end Flint’s season.
Despite ending with a loss, the season was another successful one. Flint added Great Lakes Division and Central Conference titles to their lengthy history in addition to their appearance in the national semifinals. It was precisely that history and reputation that led to Phillip wanting to join the team over the summer.
“Last year (while playing for Kalamazoo FC), I saw the community in Flint and the way the team took care of the players and basically the support they have,” Phillip said. “And I was like, no matter what next year, I gotta play there. The experience, it was great. You know, the support staff and all that, they take really great care of you. They’re very professional because that’s what they’re trying to do, they’re trying to give you the experience of what it will be like to play for a professional club and they do that really well. We had a really good year and I wouldn’t trade my experience for anything.”
Phillip became the first Bucks player since Dzena Catic to win the Golden Boot. Catic won his in 2014, en route to a national title, before the franchise moved to Flint. Phillip’s production was key this season, but his presence in the locker room and as a teammate were also vital components of the team.
“He’s a fun guy to be around for sure,” Doroh said. “The city of Flint and the surrounding area has been fantastic with the Bucks in general. And goal scorers thrive off of that attention. They’re kind of flamboyant by nature and they kinda love the limelight. I think he felt that fan support and it just fueled him. He rose to the occasion multiple times in games. Being in front of a home crowd just gives everybody a little bit of a lift. And those goal scorers feel it, I think even a bit more.”
Phillip, a native of St. Lucia, is currently preparing for his next college season. After a successful freshman season at Oakland in which he scored five goals in 19 games in 2023, he transferred to North Carolina State for his sophomore season in 2024. For the Wolfpack, he was second on the team with six goals and also had four assists.
He has already been drafted by the Colorado Rapids in the Major League Soccer SuperDraft, and he’s hoping that a successful college season will propel him to the professional ranks next year.
“A big thing for me is being ready to go into whatever environment I’m going into,” Phillip said. “The same way, like out of high school, I didn’t want to go to a major D1 (Division I college) right away. I wanted to take my time and test the water first, then go to that next step. So now, after this fall, I feel like that is going to be a good time for me to see how the pro circuit is and hopefully make my name over there too.”
Doroh noted that Phillip’s work ethic and improvements were apparent over the summer with the Bucks.
“He’s always gonna be dangerous,” Doroh said. “And we worked with him to refine his movements around goal, and talked about some ways that we wanted to make him more effective. And he embraced that and grew a lot during the season.”
USL League Two seasons are short sprints in the summers, but Phillip noted that the professional way the Bucks are run makes adjusting easy for players.
“You go in with a short span of time with a whole bunch of new players but you know you’re going to play on a high level, like right away,” Phillip said. “I feel like it’s perfect, (modeling) how the pro environment is. You just have to turn around real quick, learn how like 20, 25 guys play and you go out on the field and call them brothers and fight for each other.”
Doroh said molding that ever-changing roster of players into high-performing, cohesive units is always a challenge, but one that the franchise has become particularly good at embracing and solving each summer.
“You get a mixed bag of players,” Doroh said. “They all come from universities all over the country. They come from different parts of the world. They’ve got a little bit different understanding of the game or style differences. And getting those guys to unite around a common cause is kind of the number one goal. And some teams embrace that a bit earlier and some take a little bit longer. We always find it in the end. And I think you saw down the stretch of the back half of the season and then certainly into the playoffs, they were all playing for each other. So it was fun to see, and it was fun to be a part of, and I’m really proud of what the team accomplished and, you know, Gusto with the number of goals that he scored, but everybody’s performances are something to be proud of, for sure.”
Phillip didn’t arrive in Flint with much knowledge of the city other than some negative things from news reports, but immediately felt at home here and is appreciative for the fans and for the team personnel who have helped him on his path to achieve his professional dream.
“The community, the support we get, is amazing,” Phillip said. “Living downtown was a great experience. A lot of people tell you things about Flint, but then I got here and saw how welcoming it was. Any game we play, we know we’re gonna have the support of the people from Flint. Going into a game where we know people are going to come and show out for us and be cheering for us is really good. You don’t know about Flint unless you’ve been in Flint.”
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