ROCHESTER, Mich. – The Oakland women's soccer team will open its season at Florida Atlantic Thursday, Aug. 19 at 7 p.m. from the FAU Football Stadium in Boca Raton, Fla.
The Golden Grizzlies will conclude competition in the Sunshine State Sunday when they take on Stetson at 3 p.m.
Thursday's meeting marks just the third all-time meeting in program history between the two squads with the previous two meetings both ending in a 0-0 double OT draw. The Golden Grizzlies and the Owls met in back-to-back season in 2016 and 2017.
Sunday's match-up against Stetson marks the first meeting in program history.
SCOUTING THE OWLS
The Owls finished the regular season with a 5-3-2 record, and a 4-1-1 mark in Conference USA, earning the No. 2 seed in the East Division. A quarterfinal loss wrapped up the team's spring slate, but nearly every contributor for the team returns, including five players who earned award notoriety, either from C-USA or on the All-Region level.
A LOOK AT STETSON
Stetson returns 20 players from its roster a year ago while adding 10 new faces to the program. Among the key returners for the Hatters is Fiacco, a graduate student from Camarillo, California. In the spring season, Fiacco led the Hatters with three goals on the year and was named to the ASUN All-Academic team.
PRESEASON POLL
Oakland was picked to finish third in the 2021 Horizon League women's soccer preseason poll, announced by the league office on Wednesday and voted on by the league's 12 head coaches.
SENIOR LEADERSHIP
The Golden Grizzlies welcome back 10 seniors to the squad this season, bringing a wealth of knowledge and leadership to the roster, including graduate student,
Ashley Postma, who returns for her fifth season.
A LOOK AT LAST YEAR
After a canceled 2020 fall season, Oakland competed in a 10-game, conference-only schedule beginning in February. The Golden Grizzlies posted a 5-3-2 record which included a four-game winning streak in the month of March. Oakland was just two of 12 Horizon League teams to play in all 10 games.
The Golden Grizzlies tallied 16 goals on the year, tied for second-most among the Horizon League. Oakland's 1.6 goals per game ties the Golden Grizzlies mark in 2013, and is the best since the 2010 season.
The Golden Grizzlies boasted an impressive eight goal scorers, tied for second-best among league foes.
Oakland racked up an impressive 26 assists, a league-best, with 12 Golden Grizzlies tallying one or more.
Sami Lopez led with a season-best seven assists, second-most in the Horizon League.
Oakland allowed just .90 goals/game, the fewest in 12-plus seasons. Opponents were only able to find the back of the net nine times, the fourth-fewest in conference play.
ALL LEAGUE HONORS
The Oakland women's soccer team had three student-athletes garner All-Horizon League honors as voted on the by league's head coaches.
Sami Lopez and
Kendra Zak earned first team honors while
Emily Penney was a Horizon League All-Freshman Team selection, marking the first time since the 2016 season Oakland has had a student-athlete represented on the first team, and the first time since 2015 two student-athletes have been recognized as first team honorees.
UNITED SOCCER COACHES HONORS
Zak earned 2020-21 United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division I Women's All-Region second team honors, while Lopez and Postma earned third-team honors announced by the national office in May.
Zak earned 2020-21 United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-America Third Team honors, becoming the first to accomplish this feat in program history. Zak was also named to the United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division I Scholar All-Region team in addition to All-North Region Second Team honoree.
