ROCHESTER, Mich. – A clash of the #HLMSOC undefeated will take place Saturday evening as the Oakland Men's Soccer team bring their undefeated conference record to Cleveland for a match with the Cleveland State Vikings at 7:00pm at Krenzler Soccer Field.
Both teams are entering Saturday's contest on a winning streak as the Vikings have bested their opponent in three consecutive matches while Oakland has also claimed victory in their last two games.
Speaking of victories, head coach Eric Pogue and company have effectively turned their 2022 regular-season around after a vigorous non-conference schedule, including a four-game cross-country road trip.
It appears the difficulty of the non-conference schedule thoroughly prepared the Golden Grizzlies for #HLMSOC action as the black and gold have yet to lose in conference play.
Oakland's offense struggled in their non-conference schedule, only netting four goals in seven games. It has been a different story with conference opponents as the Golden Grizzlies have found the back of the net four times in just three games.
The most recent of those goals came last Saturday versus Detroit Mercy as freshman Doug Hainer fired a shot from roughly 35-yards out that sailed right over the UDM keeper's head and into the top left corner of the goal.
Hainer's goal, right after the opening kick proved to be the difference between the two teams as Oakland would defend their 1-0 advantage for the remaining 88 minutes of play, eventually concluding the game as a 1-0 Golden Grizzlies win.
Oakland tends to find success often when they match up with the Vikings. The Golden Grizzlies are the proud owners of a 10-3 all-time record when they take on Cleveland State. The most recent victory coming in November of 2021 where the black and gold claimed their #HLMSOC tournament crown in a 3-1 rout of the Vikings.
SCOUTING REPORT
As mentioned, the Vikings are undefeated in conference play with a 3-0-1 record, placing them second in the conference just behind Wright State and just in front of Oakland.
Cleveland State possesses a high-powered offense with 23 goals scored in the 2022 regular-season, 14 of which came from the duo Bojan Kolevski and Pablo Kawecki, each with seven goals scored this season.
Kolevski and Kawecki are assisted by senior Jannis Schmidt, who has four goals and an assist this season and Hector Gomez, who claims one goal and three assists so far this season.
TOURNAMENT TEAM RETURNS
Oakland is coming off a historic entry into the NCAA Tournament after winning both the regular season and tournament Horizon League titles, falling in the first round to Northern Illinois.
NO. 1 IN THE LEAGUE
Oakland was picked to finish first in the Horizon League in the annual #HLMSOC Preseason Coaches Poll.
COACH OF THE YEAR
Head Coach Eric Pogue was named Horizon League Coach of the Year in 2021 following a 10-6-2 overall record, 8-1-1 in conference play.
ALL-LEAGUE RETURNERS
The Golden Grizzlies reload in 2022 with four of the seven All-Horizon League honorees last season in Mikey Ketteman,
Reid Sproat,
Ville Ahola, and
Kai Garvey.
NEWCOMER IMPACT
With plenty of new faces to go around, Oakland was introduced to fire power in the exhibition games in Charlie Retzler, Ahmad Hamad,
Jace Foster, and
Addrian Knights-Browne to name a few.
