Oct. 21, 2009

Box Score

ROCHESTER, Mich. - Sophomore Winston Henderson scored the game-winner in the 50th minute and sophomore Josh Bennett assisted on all three goals on the afternoon as the Oakland University men's soccer team (8-4-2, 4-0 Summit League) defeated the University of Detroit-Mercy (3-10-1, 1-4 Horizon League) 3-1 Wednesday at the OU Soccer Field.

"I think we got a good goal early in the first half, but I don't think we played particularly well and I got on the guys at halftime," said head coach Eric Pogue. "I told them that wasn't going to be good enough and that Detroit was going to battle us back in the second half. We took out a couple of our starters that I thought weren't working hard and put in some reserves who gave us the energy we needed."

Freshman Shane Lyons got Oakland on the board early in the first half when he accepted a feed from Bennett and fired a rocket from 30 yards out to give Oakland the 1-0 advantage, a lead they would carry with them into halftime.

In the 50th minute, Henderson scored his first goal of the season off a corner kick from Bennett to bring the score to a 2-0 Oakland lead. The Titans would get on the board just six minutes later, however, when they became a recipient of an own goal, bringing the score to 2-1.

But freshman Danny Sowell would give the Golden Grizzlies an insurance goal in the 65th minute when he accepted a feed from Bennett at midfield and beat the goalkeeper one-on-one to bring the match to what would be its 3-1 final score.

Both teams were evenly matched in corner kicks and fouls, with seven and 16, respectively, while the Titans edged out Oakland in shots 17-14. Sophomore goalkeeper Mitch Hildebrandt made six saves for OU.

The Golden Grizzlies will close out the regular season with three games on the road, starting on Tuesday, Oct. 27 when they will face Butler at 4 p.m. The match can be followed on Gametracker at www.ougrizzlies.com.

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