Aug. 20, 2011
Box Score
VALPARAISO, Ind. - The Oakland University men's soccer team wrapped up exhibition play with a 0-0 draw against Valparaiso on Saturday night at Brown Field. As an exhibition match, the teams elected not to play overtime.
"Overall I'm pleased with the result," said Oakland head coach Eric Pogue. "After two tough games in three days our legs were a little tired, but we still battled and defended well against a good Valparaiso team that was playing with fresh legs."
Oakland goalkeeper Scott Messer recorded a pair of saves in his OU debut and played 67 shutout minutes. Freshman Wes Smith came on and maintained the clean sheet for the final 23 minutes of play. In total, Oakland maintained 180 shutout minutes during exhibition play this season.
The most dangerous chance of the evening came from Valparaiso's Guy Shabtay, who hit the crossbar in the 11th minute. Valparaiso out shot Oakland 6-1 in the first half and finished with a 12-4 shot advantage. Despite the greater number of shots,
"We weathered the storm in the first half," said Pogue. "They played a system we had never seen before and it took us until halftime to get organized. We regrouped from there and played much better in the second half to even the game out. "
For Oakland, Andrew Barrett had the best chance, but saw his shot saved in the 41st minute. Oakland had four different players record a shot in the game.Despite being out shot by a large margin, both teams kept the scoring chances to a minimum, with Valpo earning a slight 2-1 edge in shots on goal.
"We now have a week to rest up and fine tune things leading into our opener away at Depaul," concluded Pogue.
Oakland will officially start the season Saturday at DePaul with a match scheduled to kick off at 2 p.m. from Wish Field.
-OAKLAND-
