ROCHESTER, Mich. – Oakland Men's Soccer will battle their second consecutive Big East foe when they host the Butler Bulldogs Sunday night at 7:00pm at the Oakland Soccer Field.
Oakland will enter the game winless, however their most recent effort versus DePaul hints that will end soon.
The Golden Grizzlies dropped a nail-biting 1-0 game against the Blue Demons on Thursday night, where things started to fall in place for the black and gold.
OU was able to maintain consistent offensive pressure on the DePaul defense. Oakland got off many quality shots worthy of adding to the goal total on the early 2022 regular-season, forcing the Blue Demon's keeper to make an equally quality save.
Forward Dawsun Shrum built off his goal-scoring performance versus Omaha (8/28) by placing two shots on net Thursday evening. Midfielder Owen Smith pitched in with two amazing rebounding shots, one of which struck the right woodwork. Ville Ahola fired a shot from roughly 30-yards away that would also strike the pipes, this time hitting the crossbar.
Reigning Horizon League Coach of the Year, Eric Pogue and OU aim to bring the aforementioned offensive consistency to the pitch Sunday evening versus a Bulldogs team predicted to finish fifth when it's all said and done in the Big East.
SCOUTING REPORT
Butler is a team with All-Conference level talent, as Senior forward Wilmer Cabrera Jr. is voted in as a pre-season favorite to be named to the 2022 All-Big East team.
Butler enters Sunday's match undefeated, with victories against Western Michigan and the current no.14 in the nation, Marshall. This will be the Bulldogs first trip away from their home of the Bud and Jackie Sellick Bowl.
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.
