ROCHESTER, Mich. – The Oakland men's soccer team opens a two-game home stand beginning with Milwaukee on Friday, Mar. 12 at 2:30 p.m. The match will be broadcast live from the Grizz Dome on ESPN+ with the voice of the Golden Grizzlies Neal Ruhl on the call along with legendary coach Gary Parsons.
 
Notes:
Match up vs the Panthers:
Last season, Oakland and Milwaukee played to a 2-2 double-overtime draw. During the 2018 season, The Golden Grizzlies won the regular season match, 1-0, before falling 1-0 to the Panthers in the Horizon League Championship quarterfinals.
 
Last Time Out:
Defenseman Reid Sproat recorded his first career goal, Charlie Braithwaite posted this third of the season while Dawsun Schrum, Kieran Hayes and Noah Jensen and each added an assist as Oakland played the 2019 defending Horizon League champion Wright State to a 2-2 double-overtime tie on Saturday afternoon. Nour Moaoui made six saves while facing 20 shots.
 
Tops in the Horizon League and among the nation's best:
- As a team, Oakland leads the Horizon League and ranks in the top-15 nationally in points (50 – 9th nationally), goals (15 – 12th nationally) and assists (20 - 4th nationally).
 
- Dylan Borczak leads the league in goals (7 – 3rd nationally) and points (16 - 4th nationally)
 
- Jensen also leads the league in assists (7 – 1st nationally) and ranks second in points (11 – 12th nationally).
 
- Schrum is fourth in the league in assist (3) which ranks 16th nationally.
 
Supporting Cast:
- Charlie Braithwaite is third on the team in points (7) with three goals and an assist followed by Ahola (4) with a goal and two assists. Owen Smith is fourth (4) with a goal and two assists.
 
- Mikey Ketteman, Adam McAleenan, Arthur Widiez and Kieran Hayes each have an assist on the season.
 
- The Golden Grizzlies are 0-0-2 in both of their overtime game this season.
 
PK Specialist:
Booth of Jensen's goals this season have come off penalty kicks
 
Borczak named Horizon League Nike® Horizon League Offensive Player of the Week for the second time:
For the second time this season, Oakland men's soccer midfielder Dylan Borczak was named Nike® Horizon League Offensive Player of the Week, announced by the league office (3/5).
 
Borczak, a senior from Detroit, Mich., accounted for five points scoring two goals, giving him a league-leading seven on the season, while assisting on the game-winning goal to lead Oakland to a 3-1 Metro Series win over arch-rival Detroit Mercy. The win kept the Golden Grizzlies a perfect 5-0-2 all-time against the Titans since the inception of the Metro Series in 2014.
 
Jurak named Nike® Horizon League Defensive Player of the Week:
Finn Jurak, a redshirt sophomore from Canberra, Australia, picked up his second win of the season making two saves including a crucial one off a penalty kick helping Oakland to a 2-1 win over Purdue Fort Wayne to remain unbeaten in conference play. Jurak came up big late in the match during the 77th minute as he saved a penalty kick off PFW's Logan Lee keeping the Mastodons off the board and preserving Oakland's 2-0 lead.
 
Not 1, Not, 2, Not 3, but 4 Player of the Week honors:
For his efforts against RMU, Borczak earned three national Player of the Week honors and totaling four overall. He earned United Soccer Coaches College Player of the Week honors (2/9) and TopDrawerSoccer.com Men's DI Player of the Week accolades and was one of 11 student-athletes named to the TopDrawerSoccer.com Men's DI Team of the Week (2/9).
 
He also earned College Soccer News Men's National Player of the Week honors and was one of 12 student-athletes named to the College Soccer News Men's National Team of the Week (2/8) in addition to being named Nike® Horizon League Offensive Player of the Week (2/5).
 
Team of the Week:
After the 5-0 win over Robert Morris, Oakland was named TopDrawerSoccer.com Team of the Week (2/9).
 
Hat Trick:
Dylan Borczak knotted three first-half goals to complete the hat trick while adding an assist for a total of seven points to lead Oakland to a dominating 5-0 win over visiting Robert Morris to open the 2021 Horizon League season at the Grizz Dome (2/4). Noah Jensen also pulled off the hat trick in the assist department with three while Ville Ahola, Mikey Ketteman and Adam McAleenan each added a helper. Owen Smith scored his first collegiate goal followed by a tally from Charlie Braithwaite. Goalkeeper Finn Jurak picked up the shutout in his debut for the Golden Grizzlies.
 
2021 Horizon League Rewind:
Metro Series Domination:
Dylan Borczak scored two goals with an assist totaling five points while Charlie Braithwaite added the game-winning goal along with his first assist of the season to lead Oakland to a 3-1 Metro Series win over arch-rival Detroit Mercy (2/28). Ville Ahola, Dawsun Schrum and Noah Jensen also added assists. In his first career start in an Oakland uniform, Nour Moaoui faced six shots making three saves to record his first win of the season. Oakland is a perfect 5-0-2 all-time against the Detroit Mercy since the inception of the Metro Series in 2014 and 12-3-6 over the last 20 matches.
 
Metro Series Results:
2020: W - Oakland 3 vs Detroit Mercy 1
2019: T - Oakland 1 vs Detroit Mercy 1 (2OT)
2018: W - Oakland 1 at Detroit Mercy 0
2017: T - Oakland 0 vs Detroit Mercy 0 (2OT)
2016: W - Oakland 2 at Detroit Mercy 1
2015: W - Oakland 2 vs Detroit Mercy 0
2014: W - Oakland 2 at Detroit Mercy 1 (OT)
 
Oakland falls at NKU:
Noah Jensen recorded his second goal of the season off a penalty kick late in the first half as Oakland dropped its first Horizon League match of the season with a 2-1 setback at Northern Kentucky (2/22). Dylan Borczak recorded two shots while Dawsun Schrum, Ville Ahola and Reid Sproat each posted a shot. Set pieces proved the be the difference as Northern Kentucky (2-1) got the game-winner late in the second half off a corner kick while Oakland could not convert and of their 10 corner kick opportunities.
 
Oakland holds off Purdue Fort Wayne:
Ville Ahola scored his first goal in an Oakland uniform while Dylan Borczak posted his fifth goal of the season as the Golden Grizzlies defeated visiting Purdue Fort Wayne, 2-1, on Tuesday night at the Grizz Dome to remain undefeated in Horizon League play.  Dawsun Schrum set the tone for the offense recording his first assist of the season while Owen Smith also tallied his first collegiate assist along with Noah Jensen who added his team-leading fifth assist of the year.
 
Showdown at UIC ends in draw:
The battle of the top two preseason teams lived up to its billing as Noah Jensen scored a goal with an assist while Dylan Borczak added his fourth goal of the season to lead Oakland to a 2-2 double-overtime draw at UIC (2/10). Arthur Widiez also recorded his first collegiate assist on Borczak's goal. The Golden Grizzlies and Flames were each picked to finish in a first-place tie along atop the 2021 Horizon League Preseason Poll.
 
Season Opening Magic vs Robert Morris Deja Vu:
After Oakland opened up the 2019 season at Robert Morris with an impressive offensive explosion in a 5-1 road win, the Golden Grizzlies picked up where they left off against the Colonials last week with a 5-0 shutout win at home. Oakland total 17 total points with five goals and seven assists.