ROCHESTER, Mich – The long-awaited return of the Oakland Men's Soccer team to the Oakland Soccer Field will come to a close as they are set to host Robert Morris University in a 7:00pm match on Wednesday evening. 

Oakland's previous match against Bowling Green (9/23) marked the end of their long winded four-game road trip where the Golden Grizzlies went 0-2-2. 

The last four games on the road featured goals from Owen Smith and Ville Ahola, both of the goals were assisted by redshirt senior, Dawsun Schrum. 

Michael Sly Jr. continued his impressive play in net in the time the team was away from their home of Rochester, Michigan. The 6-foot redshirt freshman amassed 23 saves over the four-game road trip, including a performance versus Michigan (9/19) in which he executed five diving saves.

Through eight games, Sly Jr. ranks fourth in the Horizon League in total saves with 33 and is good enough for second in the conference in saves per game with 5.50.   

Historically, Oakland has yet to lose against the Colonials,winning all three of the previous matches including a 4-0 road shutout of RMU the last time the two teams met on September 21, 2021.

SCOUTING REPORT

OU will have their work cut out for them as Robert Morris currently tops the conference standings with an undefeated conference record of 2-0-1 and an overall record of 3-3-1. 

Chase Gilley of Robert Morris will be one to watch, the Denver, North Carolina native ranks third in the conference in points per game with 1.43. Gilley also leads the Horizon League in game-winning-goals with two on the 2022 regular-season. 

 

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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.