ROCHESTER, Mich. – As the rain rolled in on Thursday afternoon in Rochester, Oakland University Women's Soccer grabbed a late game equalizer to tie Akron 1-1 to advance to 2-0-1 on the season.

Oakland would come out firing, per the game plan, from the opening kick on as Macey Wierenga and Anuhea Aluli (twice) would get attempts off as the possession would be heavily in OU's favor early. Things would slow until the Golden Grizzlies conceded its first goal of the year at the 20 minute mark and go down at a deficit.

After the Zips goal, Akron would then control a lot of the offense of the game up through 15 minutes remaining as teams would exchange attempts as Oakland would force the opposing goalkeeper to make six saves through the entirety of play.

Jessica Shears would get one final shot off before the half as Oakland would hold the edge in shots after the first 45 12-4 but down one.

The Golden Grizzlies would continue to pour on the shots with three in a row coming from the boots of Sophie Wilsey, Jayna Fraser, and Kendra Zak that forced Akron's defense to adjust to the onslaught. Possession would remain fairly even through the rest of the game as fans at the OU Soccer Field held their breath with fresh legs checking in (19 total Golden Grizzlies) and the clock ticked just under five minutes to go.

At that point, the front row advanced through holes in the Zips' defense with Zak getting a through-ball to Fraser who would have her shot bounce off the lunging arms of the Akron goalkeeper, only to roll directly into the foot of Alexa Sabbagh for the equalizer at the 84 minute mark.

WIth the game knotted up at 1-1, time would expire with the rain beating down and a tie in the overall record column for OU.

GAME HIGHLIGHTS

• Oakland outshot Akron 21-9 through 90 minutes of play
• Sabbagh now records her first goal of the season in 10 shots and three games played
• Fraser would record two attempts on goal, Aluli forced one along with Shears
• Noëmi Stadelmann grabbed three saves in goal for OU
• The series versus Akron now advances to 2-0-1 in favor of the Golden Grizzlies.

The Golden Grizzlies will be at home on Sunday, August 28 at 2:00 p.m. as it hosts Big Ten opponent Northwestern University for Kids Day presented by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan #MIKidsCan.