Oct. 16, 2010

Box Score | Postmatch Interview

ROCHESTER, Mich. - Sophomore Andrew Derayeh hit the post with a shot in the second half, but the Oakland men's soccer team (4-7-1, 1-1-1) could not find the back of the net in a 0-0 draw against UMKC (7-3-1, 2-0-1) in Summit League play on Saturday at the OU Soccer Field. The Golden Grizzlies outshot the Kangaroos 13-7 in the match.

"We are a little disappointed not to get three points," said Oakland head coach Eric Pogue. "Once they went down to 10 men we felt like we had the opportunity to get the win. I think we did do a good job defensively though and really limited their opportunities."

Oakland created several scoring chances to open the second half, starting with a header from junior Konner McNamara that was well-saved by UMKC goalkeeper, Ken Cooper. Dereayeh's shot followed in the 56th minute and banged off the post for the best chance of either team in the match. OU spurned another opportunity in the 59th minute when junior Winston Henderson was played in behind the defense, bust saw his curling effort go just wide of the right post.

The game changed in the 70th minute when UMKC's Brian Quintana was sent off with a direct red card following a tackle. The `Roos took a defensive shape and managed to kill off the remaining 41:47 with neither team creating many viable scoring chances. The match featured 43 combined fouls and four cards.

Despite OU's 4-1 shot advantage in overtime, the best scoring chance of the extra sessions fell to the UMKC forward Donovan Castro. However, his shot was saved by junior Mitch Hildebrandt.

The Golden Grizzlies were also strong in the first half and Senior Makesi Lewis put the opponents' goal under pressure with the first shot of the match. Lewis made a skillful turn near the top of the 18-yard area and fired a shot that forced a save from Cooper. Oakland junior Vuk Popovic tested Cooper with a hard, driven shot after he was set up by Jon Evans on a free kick. OU also had a good look minutes before the end of the first half, when junior Josh Bennett played a through-ball to sophomore Johnny Dreshaj inside the six-yard area, but Dreshaj's first touch went away from goal and out of bounds.

Despite taking only seven shots, UMKC did have a good scoring opportunity in the first half when Jeffrey Stezovsky got in behind the OU defense and fired a shot that forced a good save from a well-positioned Hildebrandt. The Oakland goalkeeper had a pair of saves to record his fifth shutout of the year. Cooper made four saves for his sixth clean sheet of the season. Oakland had a 4-2 edge in shots on goal.

The Golden Grizzlies will be back in action on Wednesday with a match against Milwaukee at 4 p.m. at the OU Soccer Field. Admission to the match is free to the general public. For fans unable to attend the match, live stats will be available on OUGrizzlies.com.

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