Nov. 7, 2012
MACOMB, Ill. -- After winning a ninth regular season title in program history, the Oakland men's soccer team (10-6-1) is the No. 1 seed at The Summit League Championship, which kicks off on Friday at John MacKenzie Alumni Field. The Golden Grizzlies face No. 4 seed Fort Wayne (4-14-1) in the semifinal at Noon ET.
OAKLAND SOCCER NOTES
â-ª The Golden Grizzlies played to a scoreless draw with Eastern Illinois on Saturday to clinch the outright Summit League Championship
â-ª Oakland has won nine regular season Summit League titles, including two under head coach Eric Pogue
â-ª OU has hoisted The Summit League Championship trophy three times, most recently in 2010, and have qualified for the NCAA Tournament five times
â-ª Oakland is led by four seniors, Kyle Bethel, Jeff Cheslik, Johnny Dreshaj and John Timm
â-ª Offensively, OU leads The Summit League in goals scored (37) and assists (38), while defensively the team tops the league in goals-against average (1.14) and shutout percentage (.129)
â-ª The Black and Gold surrendered league-best 20 goals this season and defensively allowed only 89 shots on goal, the fewest of any Summit League squad
â-ª Oakland outscored Summit League opponents 19-5 during the regular season
â-ª OU ranks 10th in the nation in total assists and 12th in total points. The Golden Grizzlies boast the 11th best scoring offense in the NCAA and rate 15th nationally in total goals scored
â-ª With 11 assists this season, Kyle Bethel ranks third in the nation in assists per game and is fourth in the NCAA in total assists
â-ª Bethel led the league in both assists (11) and points (23) during the regular season
â-ª The Golden Grizzlies are No. 8 in the NSCAA Midwest Regional ranking and are picked to win The Summit League with a place in the TopDrawerSoccer.com National Ranking
â-ª Bethel and Miche'le Lipari led OU in scoring during the regular season with six goals each. The two players are tied for third in the league in scoring.
â-ª Johnny Dreshaj was recently named to the Capital One Academic All-District 5 team and is now on the national ballot to become a Capital One Academic All-American
â-ª Joey Tinnion has five goals for Oakland this year, while Dreshaj has four goals
â-ª Oakland goalkeeper Scott Messer led The Summit League in fewest goals allowed (17) and goals-against average (1.23)
â-ª The Black and Gold recorded seven shutouts this season
â-ª Goalkeeper Eliott Tarney posted a 3-0 record in matches this season
â-ª Matt Dudley is fourth in The Summit League with five assists
â-ª DeLeon, Messer, Dudley, Bethel, Timm and Lipari have all been named Summit League Player of the Week by the league office this season
â-ª The Black and Gold announced captains for this season as John Timm, Nick Kristock and Lucas Diener
â-ª Scott Messer started the season with 275:27 minutes of scoreless action in the nets
â-ª Dating back to the previous season, the Golden Grizzlies went 356:30 consecutive minutes without allowing a goal
â-ª The Golden Grizzlies posted a 2-0-1 record during the preseason and never failed to score under two goals in a match
â-ª Oakland was picked third in this season's Summit League Preseason Poll
â-ª Four Oakland players were recognized by CollegeSportsMadness.com for preseason all-league honors. John Timm was named to the first team, while Johnny Dreshaj and Jeff Cheslik earned second team honors. Jacob Vanderlaan was named Preseason Freshman of the Year.
â-ª Oakland has won 12 Summit League Championships in fourteen years of competition in The Summit League and advanced to five NCAA Tournaments.
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