Sept. 13, 2009

Box Score

DeKALB, Ill. - Sophomore Mitch Hildebrandt made eight saves and junior Makesi Lewis led the Golden Grizzlies with two shots, but it wasn't enough as the Oakland University men's soccer team (2-2-1) fell to host No. 22 Northern Illinois (2-2-1) 1-0 in the final minutes Sunday afternoon at the NIU adidas/Magnuson Inn and Suites Invitational on the campus of Northern Illinois University.

"We took a mental break in the last ten minutes and NIU took advantage of our lapse," said head coach Eric Pogue. "We didn't play our best soccer today, but we still had opportunities to come out of the game with a result. We just didn't finish our chances."

The first half proved to be a 0-0 battle, as neither team was able to get a shot in the back of the net. Oakland's best chance at a goal came from freshman Shane Lyons at 25:24, but NIU goalkeeper Jordan Godsey was able to gain control of the ball. Hildebrandt made six saves to keep NIU off the scoreboard.

In the second half, Lewis and senior Stefan St. Louis made back-to-back attempts to get Oakland on the board at 59:42 and 60:24, respectively, but Lewis' shot was saved by Godsey and St. Louis's flew wide of the net.

It would be the Huskies who would score the game's lone goal with just minutes remaining at 84:44. Juan Hoyos split between two Oakland defenders to feed the ball to Luis De La Cerda, who beat Hildebrandt one-on-one to bring to the game's 1-0 final score.

Oakland was outshot on goal, getting off two shots compared to NIU's nine, but the Golden Grizzlies committed fewer fouls with six compared to Northern Illinois' 10.

"We are all disappointed with the results of this weekend, but we have to regroup for two quality opponents next week in Wisconsin and Wisconsin-Milwaukee," said Pogue.

The Golden Grizzlies look to bounce back when they travel to compete at the 36th Panther Invitational on Friday and Sunday, Sept. 18 and 20, at Englemann Field on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Oakland will face off against Wisconsin on Friday at 6 p.m. and Milwaukee on Sunday, starting at 3:30 p.m. Both games will be available on Gametracker at www.ougrizzlies.com.

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