Oakland’s late surge sends Grizzlies into Summit League soccer finals
Battle at midfield: Oakland's Makesi Lewis shields the ball from IUPUI's Weston Hawkins during Friday's Summit League semifinals. Staff Photo | Dan Stickradt
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
ROCHESTER HILLS — Due to some injuries, Sean Magee got a chance to grab some minutes off the bench Friday in Oakland’s Summit League men’s soccer semifinal.
The freshman forward delivered.
Magee scored just his second goal of the season and also drew a penalty kick for a teammate as the third-seeded Golden Grizzlies scored three goals inside the final 19 minutes to advance to Sunday’s conference tournament final.
Fourth-seeded Oral Roberts upended top-seed UMKC 1-0 in a shootout in Friday’s first semifinal to set up the 12 p.m. final for Sunday.
Oakland broke the stalemate in the 72nd minute, when Sean Magee hammered home a rebound just inside the box for what proved to be the game winner. Johnny Dreshaj’s blast was initially stopped by IUPUI goalkeeper Tyler Keever.
Magee was tripped up on a breakaway just three minutes later, and Dreshaj was the beneficiary, lacing the ensuing penalty kick into the corner of the net with 15:22 to go.
IUPUI took a gamble by trying to push up nearly its entire team to try to climb back into the contest. The tactic backfired, as Alex DeLeon took a clearing pass from John Timm just 30 yards out in front of the Oakland goal and he dribbled the ball to the other end of the field before tucking in his breakaway shot with 2:48 left to seal the deal.
“The game plan today was just going hard. It wasn’t about tactic or anything because it’s tournament time,” said Magee. “We’re trying to protect this house and luckily (my goal) was off a rebound and the next thing I put it in.
“It’s just reaction-instinct,” added Magee. “You know if you play this game for a while you know why you’re in the game and you tuck it in.”
With as many as three starters out for various reasons, Oakland was looking for a spark on the offensive end and Magee delivered.
Sean’s had kind of an up-and-down year,” admitted OU coach Eric Pogue. “He came in and did real well, struggled bit through the middle (of the season) and then was able to step in today (because of) some injuries and perform for us.”
Last season OU was the top seed but were upset in the semifinals. Two years ago Oakland lost in the Summit finals but still gained an at-large berth in the NCAA tournament.
“Today is all about heart and intensity. You can throw game plans out the window,” said Pogue. “It just comes down to who wants in t the most. It was a 3-0 game on the scoreboard, but it wasn’t a 3-0 win. Until the very end when it opened up a bit, we had a bunch and they had a bunch of chances.”
IUPUI was the only team to defeat Oakland in the regular season, but the Grizzlies finished 2-1-3 to land in third place in the standings. Now, OU is just a win away from marking the NCAA tournament for the second time in three years.
The Golden Grizzlies played an extremely tough non-conference schedule, which led to its 6-10-3 overall mark. Oakland is proving that records don’t mean much in the postseason.
“I received a text from a friend of mine (at the) University of Michigan today and it said ‘to go win it. This is when your tough schedule will pay off,’” smiled Pogue. “I think that has prepared us for this (tournament).”
Oakland outshot IUPUI (9-8-2) by a wide 23-10 margin in the game, including 10-2 with shots on frame. Mitch Hildebrandt made two saves for the shutout.
ORAL ROBERTS 1, UMKC 0: Fourth-seeded Oral Roberts picked off the top-seeded Kangaroos Friday afternoon in the first semifinal of the Summit League men’s soccer tournament. The Golden Eagles prevailed in a shootout, where they held a a 7-6 edge.
The shootout went nine deep to determine the winner.
Oral Roberts (6-7-5) advanced to the Sunday’s 12 noon final at Oakland gpr the right to earn the league’s automatic berth to the NCAA Division I tournament.
Andrew Techanchuk made six saves through 110:00 minutes of play. In the shootout he stopped three shots, including a diving save on UMKC’s Zachary Balthazar to end the game.
UMKC finished 10-6-3. Ken Cooper finished made two saves in regulation and overtime play and two more saves in the shootout.
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Category: Oakland University
