Box Score Rochester, Mich. (Oct. 5, 2003) ???C Oakland???s women???s soccer team held nothing back in their victory over Cincinnati on Sunday at the OU Soccer Field as the Golden Grizzlies roared over the Bearcats by a score of 5-1. Heading OU???s offense was sophomore Kristi Swaving (Albuquerque, New Mexico) who netted her second career hat-trick. The win puts Oakland on a five game winning streak and puts their season record at 7-3-1. Oakland has faced Cincinnati in each of the last two years ???C and came up empty handed on both occasions. However, their third meeting in history would not have the same result as the Golden Grizzlies easily handled the Bearcats - scoring five goals and allowing just four shots on net. Opening up the scoring was freshman Marianne Samdal (Tiller, Norway) who scored within the first five minutes of play. The goal came as a result of a free kick taken at the half which was headed by a Cincinnati defender and onto a running Samdal. Samdal then slid the ball past Cincinnati keeper, Sherry Slye, and into the bottom left-hand corner of the net. Samdal would strike again at 17:42 when Oakland caused chaos for Cincinnati in their 18-yard box. Junior Shelly Piccirillo (Niagara Falls, Ont) beat Cincinnati???s defense and had a 1 v. 1 opportunity with Sherry. However, Sherry prevented Piccirillo???s first attempt from going into the net and got the save but a persistent Piccirillo got the ball lose and managed to fire another shot, only this time to be blocked by the defense. Oakland kept the scramble inside the box and sophomore Silje Peltopera (Karasjok, Norway) made a quick pass to Samdal on the left side of the six who managed to put the ball in the net and give Oakland the 2-0 lead. The Golden Grizzlies would strike again before the end of the first half with the first of Swaving???s three goals. Piccirillo assisted on the goal when she stripped the ball from two Cincinnati defenders by the left corner flag. With some fancy footwork, Piccirillo beat the defense and sent in a cross where Swaving headed the ball past an outstretched Slye. At the half, Cincinnati had only managed to have one look at the goal, which went wide, as Oakland???s defense kept the Bearcats from applying pressure. Just less than ten minutes into the second, Cincinnati would go on the board with a goal from Kristina Wilson. Wilson scored off a corner kick taken by Tasha Wagner that hit the far left post. Wilson then directed the ball into the net to put the game at 3-1. However, Oakland would respond less than a minute later when Swaving notched her second goal of the game. Peltopera fed a ball to Swaving on the right flank where Swaving outran her defender and beat Cincinnati keeper Tracy Hale on the left side. Oakland goalkeeper Sarah Buckland (Burlington, Ont.) proved why she was last year???s Mid-Con Tournament MVP and first-team All-Conference when she denied Lisa Stephens of a penalty kick in the 57th minute. Stephens fired off a shot but Buckland outstretched and got a hand on the ball to re-direct it on the crossbar and keep Cincinnati from coming within two. The momentum carried the Golden Grizzlies to score their fifth goal of the game just two minutes later. Junior Kelly Rieck (Shelby Twp., Mich.) passed the ball to Samdal on the left hand side who then made an early cross to a charging Swaving. Swaving handled the ball and took it on the bounce to pass Hale and hit the mesh to finish the game at 5-1. Other opportunities were plenty abound for Oakland however the steel framing of the net seemed to stand in the Golden Grizzlies??? way and in the Bearcats favor. Throughout the game, Oakland hit the cross bar twice and the post once to deny anymore goals. Head coach Nick O'Shea was pleased with his team's performance throughout the match. "It's good to beat Cincinnati - we haven't been able to do that the past couple of years" commented O'Shea after the match. "It's also good for the team to score goals against a good side. The team's feeling good right now and everyone's working hard and making some good runs which are turning into some great goals. At this point in the season everything's going great and I hope we can keep it going." Oakland will continue play this coming Friday, October 10th when the team travels to Valparaiso to take on the Crusaders in conference action. Valparaiso is 1-0 in conference action and 2-8 overall.