Oct. 20, 2010

Box Score | Photo Gallery | Coach's Postmatch Interview

ROCHESTER, Mich. - Junior goalkeeper Mitch Hildebrandt made four saves for Oakland University, but the Golden Grizzlies (4-8-1) were unable to take advantage of several scoring opportunities and fell to Milwaukee (5-6-2), 2-0, on Wednesday in non-conference men's soccer action at the OU Soccer Field. Oakland matched UWM in shots with 14 apiece, but had more quality scoring chances.

"We missed a number of opportunities to get the lead in the first half," said OU coach Eric Pogue. "Then we made a mistake at the back and they took advantage of it."

After the Panthers struck the crossbar early on in the game, the Grizzlies came back with two superb scoring chances. Freshman Miche'le Lipari struck a ball high (4:25) from just eight-yards out and senior Makesi Lewis shot a ball wide right (9:09) from just two-yards out, almost on the goal line, that somehow did not go in as the game remained scoreless.

In the 21st minute, freshman Andrew Barrett blasted a long-range shot that the UWM keeper John Shakon made a save on. Then after an offside by the Golden Grizzlies, the Panthers countered and made their second scoring chance count as Jordan Record took a pass from Andrew Wiedabach and sent it past OU keeper Hildebrandt as the Grizzlies trailed 1-0 in the 23rd minute.

Barrett would send a dangerous strike from long range in the 24th minute, this one dipping down towards the goal, but the Panthers' Shakon made a nice save to keep UWM on top 1-0. OU would control most of the play over the final 21 minutes of the first half, but were unable to get a goal as the half ended with Milwaukee leading 1-0.

The Golden Grizzlies came out strong to start the second half as Lewis had a shot that was saved by Shakon in the 46th minute and sophomore Johnny Dreshaj's attempt to tie the match was saved in the 51st minute. The Panthers would then defend and wait for an opportunity.

That would come in a counter attack in the 77th minute as Andrew Wiedabach scored his fourth goal of the season after a nice feed from Robert Jarosz that allowed him a one-on-one opportunity as the Golden Grizzlies went down by a score of 2-0.

The final quality scoring chance of the game came in the 86th minute as OU freshman Sean Magee hit the post. The Panthers' Shakon made five saves to record the shutout. Oakland and Milwaukee matched each other with 14 shots, five shots on goal and four corner kicks.

The Golden Grizzlies will host Summit League foe Western Illinois this Saturday, Oct. 23 at 7 p.m. inside the Ultimate Soccer Arenas. Tickets can be purchased on OUgrizzlies.com and the game can be followed via live stats.

-OAKLAND-