Oxford picks up marquee OAA win against Lahser
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
OXFORD — In its first season of OAA competition, wins have not come at a premium for Oxford on the soccer pitch. The Wildcats have fought and scrapped for points in any fashion this season.
“We’ll take league points any way we can get them,” admitted second-year Oxford coach Larry Ferris.
One of those key league points came Tuesday for the OAA newbie Wildcats, as Oxford downed visiting Bloomfield Hills Lahser, 2-1, in an OAA White Division girls soccer match at the Oxford Soccer Stadium. In the past decade, Lahser has been one of the more successful teams in the entire OAA.
“We beat a quality opponent in Lahser. It doesn’t matter if they were missing kids. We needed the league points,” said Ferris. “We’ve had a lot of ties this season and a couple of those were 0-0 games. We needed to score a couple of goals and get some league points against a good, quality program.”
Sam Medici scored the game-winner and Amanda Roth also scored for the Wildcats (5-3-3, 3-1-3). The Wildcats outshot Lahser 16-4, including 8-2 with shots on frame, taking advantage of the short-handed Knights, who were missing six players due to a school field trip.
“I don’t want to make any excuses. We didn’t have everyone here, but we have other girls that our capable and that’s why were on the team,” said Lahser coach Kevin McConnell. “I was disappointed in our play, especially in the first half. I thought they out-worked us. You can always work harder. We just came out flat.”
Tied 1-1 early in the second half, Oxford’s Medici gave the Wildcats the lead for good when she retrieved a pass from Marina Ibarra, cut back and laced a low shot into the corner of the goal with 35:34 still to play.
Lahser had come out of the half with plenty of pressure and quickly tied the game. Anna Grace picked off a clearing pass in the box, turned around and tucked a shot into the right corner of the goal with 38:56 still to play. The Knights (6-5-0, 4-3-0) only attempted two other shots after that point.
Oxford’s Sarah Stroope, who made one save, picked up a key defensive play from Alex Anderson, who cleared a dangerous play with eight minutes left when a loose ball squirted near the goal line.
“They never gave me 80 minutes of soccer. Sometimes 40 (minutes), but tonight we played the whole time,” said Ferris, pleased with his team’s effort one day after dropping a 3-1 non-league decision to Lapeer East. “When we play a whole game, we can beat some teams. This is a good win for us.”
Roth put Oxford up early when she scored from six yards out with 21:07 left in the opening half. Paige Brinker drew the assist.
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Category: High School, High School (M-Z), Oxford, Prep Wraps
