DAYTON, Oh. - Oakland lost to Wright St. 4-2 on Tuesday at Alumni Field in the final match of the season.
Despite a two-goal second half, the Golden Grizzlies were unable to overcome a massive first half deficit in the match.
Wright St. scored in the first minute when Cairo Duarte put Oakland behind 1-0.
Cole Thompson stopped Josyah Nozil in the 13th minute and Maximilian Banfi in the 15th minute during a stretch in which Wright St. generated multiple shots and corners before Tedrick Neptune scored their second goal of the match in the 17th minute.
Duarte added another goal for Wright St. in the 27th minute, with Rowen Arnold assisting, to put Oakland in a 3-0 hole. Oakland's best recorded chance of the half came from
Anthony Marinco, whose shot went out top right in the 36th minute, and the Golden Grizzlies went into halftime trailing 3-0.
The Golden Grizzlies opened the second half with life and pressure, taking five shots and five corners from the 47th through the 57th minute, including efforts from
Cal Kurzawa,
Kinan Abdulrazzak and
Andriy Bilous.
Arnold scored for Wright St. in the 80th minute to make it 4-0, but Oakland responded quickly as
Zach Townsend put Oakland on the board in the 82nd minute, and Kurzawa added another goal in the 85th minute, cutting the final margin to 4-2.
Oakland scored both of its goals after halftime and finished with 13 shots, 12 in the second half, while Wright St. totaled 23 shots and 10 shots on goal. Kurzawa scored a penalty kick goal and led Oakland with five shots, including two on goal. Townsend added an unassisted goal on his lone shot attempt. Thompson recorded six saves over 90 minutes in goal.
With the loss, Oakland's 2026 season comes to an end as they finish just outside of the postseason picture.
