Dec. 1, 2009

Final Stats * Season in Review Gallery

By Samantha Franz
Athletic Communications

With 15 new faces, two seniors and a new head coach in former assistant Eric Pogue, the fate of the 2009 Oakland University men's soccer team was shrouded in mystery. But the Golden Grizzlies quickly shed any doubts when they clinched the regular season championship with an undefeated 5-0-1 record in league play and an overall mark of 9-5-3.

"I am sure many people would say that we exceeded expectations in 2009 looking at what we lost from 2008: one legendary head coach, nine starters and 15 total players," said Pogue. "But I know one thing for sure: those 30 guys in the locker room believed in themselves 150 percent and they feel like they let an opportunity to slip away from playing in the NCAA Tournament. We want to be gauging ourselves on NCAA tournament appearances and we came up short this year. That will provide great motivation and fire our off-season training. We want to meet and exceed expectations of ourselves next year."

Although the Golden Grizzlies fell short of winning The Summit League Tournament and advancing to the NCAA College Cup, Oakland found themselves among the nation's best in several categories, including a 0.879 save percentage (fourth), 0.733 goals against average (16th), a 0.41 shutout percentage (35th) and a 0.618 win-loss-tied percentage (51st).

OU began the season by being ranked second in The Summit League preseason poll, with Stefan St. Louis and Machel James returning as the only two seniors. But as the Golden Grizzlies quickly realized, leadership became a team effort.

"Leadership in this team this year was a strange phenomenon," said Pogue. "I don't think we had any prototypical `leaders' in what you might define as a leader. We had more a `lead by committee' approach with such a young team. Everybody took a part in the success of the team on and off the field---from the coaching staff, to the seniors, to the rest of the players---everyone took ownership in the success of the team."

Oakland kicked off the season with two straight wins over UAB and SIU-Edwardsville, before tying No. 18 Dayton on Sept. 6 at the Ultimate Soccer Arena, a three-game stretch that Pogue considers to be a defining moment for the 2009 campaign.

"We played three strong opponents in a short period of time, with two roundtrip flights in four days and a ton of energy and emotion expended," said Pogue. "To come away from that opening week at 2-0-1 and not concede a goal gave our team a lot of confidence and belief that we were a good team and that if everyone bought into our philosophy of hard work and defensive-minded, balanced attack soccer, we would be a tough team to beat. With such a young squad, many of which were playing significant minutes for the first time in their college careers, it was imperative that we started off well and gained confidence and momentum."

The Golden Grizzlies went on to go undefeated in league play, posting a 5-0-1 record. This marked the second time in three seasons that Oakland hadn't dropped a match in league play, earning the No. 1 seed in The Summit League Tournament on their home field.

Oakland was justly rewarded for their regular efforts by having nine players earning postseason accolades. Sophomore goalkeeper Mitch Hildebrandt was named The Summit League Defensive Player of the Year after posting a league-best seven shutouts, including two against nationally ranked opponents, and being ranked fourth in the nation in save percentage (0.879).

Earning first-team all-league honors were Hildebrandt, freshman Johnny Dreshaj, James, and St. Louis. On the second team, honors went to junior Makesi Lewis, sophomore Vuk Popovic, and freshman Leshorn Woods-Henry. Joining Dreshaj and Woods-Henry on the All-Newcomer team were freshmen Shane Lyons and James Leutzinger.

Offensively, Dreshaj and St. Louis scored three and four goals, respectively, with all of Dreshaj's being game-winners. On the defensive end, James and Hildebrandt both led a defensive effort that only allowed 11 goals this season, the lowest in the league, and only two against Summit League opponents.

Lewis scored three goals and registered eight points, Popovic assisted the league's best defense, and Woods-Henry scored one goal, the game-winner against IUPUI on Oct. 17. Rounding out the Oakland honorees were Lyons, who scored four goals on the season and Leutzinger, who started in 15 matches as a defender.

"Individuals awards and recognition are nice rewards for a great season, but they truly are a reflection of the success of the team," said Pogue. "If we didn't have a good season as a team, no one would be singled out for individual awards. I'm not a huge believer in individual awards for this reason, but I know it means a lot to the players to be rewarded for their hard work and dedication."

Pogue was named Coach of the Year for guiding Oakland to an undefeated league record for the second time in three seasons and helped OU achieve a 15-1-2 mark in league play over three straight seasons. But Pogue gives a lot of credit to his coaching staff, claiming that he is only one piece of the puzzle for Oakland's 2009 success.

"Our coaching staff did a tremendous job this year of bringing along and leading such a young group of men," said Pogue. "Jason Perry did a great job being a big brother figure to the players and acting as a coach captain of the team. Steve Seargeant, as always, did a great job of developing and mentoring our backline, giving `tough love' to the team and helping me get through the ups and downs of my first year as head coach.

"John Phillips was such a welcome addition to the staff; his 150 percent commitment to a volunteer coaching position speaks volumes about his character and the team benefited greatly from his knowledge and organization. And John Ciecko did an absolutely amazing job keeping the team physically fit, healthy and accountable. Although he is listed as our team athletic trainer, he was a huge part of our coaching staff and the success of the team."

From there, Oakland took the field in the semifinal round of the league tournament in a rematch of the 2008 championship game against UMKC. After falling behind 1-0 in the 39th minute, sophomore Jonathon Evans scored his first career goal in the 55th minute to knot the match up 1-1. But it would be the Kangaroos that would score the game-winning goal with less than five minutes remaining, thus ending OU's postseason run. Evans and James were named to the All-Tournament team for their efforts in the semifinal match.

"Losing in the conference semifinals at home vs. UMKC was a tough lesson for a young team to learn, but an invaluable one," said Pogue. "UMKC is a very good team with a couple very special players and a solid nucleus of veterans that have been to the mountain top and understood what it takes to get there. There is such a thin line between victory and defeat and we were on the wrong side of that line this time. The experience of feeling that we felt after that game will be great motivation moving forward and hopefully allow us to be on the other side of that line in 2010."

To get to the other side of that line, the Golden Grizzlies will be hard at work in preparation for 2010, starting with workout sessions after the New Year. With only two seniors lost to graduation and a talented list of returners, Oakland will look to once again return to the national stage at the NCAA tournament.

"Our sole goal this off-season will be on individual player development, both athletically and technically. From August through December, the focus is on the team, and from January through April, the focus is on the player."

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