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COLLEGE SOCCER: Oakland trips up Oral Roberts

Dan Stickradt | September 25, 2012 | Comments (1)

TULSA, Okla. — Two goals and an assist by Miche’le Lipari helped propel Oakland a 5-0 win over Oral Roberts in the Summit League opener on Saturday at the Case Soccer Complex. The explosive Golden Grizzlies have scored five goals in back-to-back matches.

“A great team effort allowed us to open up conference play with a good win on the road,” said Oakland head coach Eric Pogue. “It’s never easy to get a win at ORU, but some clinical finishing opened the game up and then some sound team defending kept ORU from mounting a comeback.”

Johnny Dreshaj netted the opening goal for Oakland (4-3, 1-0) to in the 11^th minute when Raphael Reynolds picked him out with a cross to the back post and he was able to side-foot the ball into the back of the net. It was the eighth career match-winning goal of his career for Dreshaj, who earlier in the week was named a candidate for the Senior CLASS Award.

Almost a minute later, Lipari scored his first goal of the night, from a through pass by Derek Nowak. For his second goal, Liapri linked up with Kyle Bethel, who sent a floated chip over the top of the ORU defense, allowing Lipari to run onto the ball and finish on the break.

In the second half, Oakland added to the lead with a good set piece goal by Jeff Cheslik. After a foul deep down the left wing, Lipari sent in a cross that found an unmarked Cheslik, who connected on a diving header to make it 4-0. The Golden Grizzlies tacked on a fifth goal in the 73^rd minute when Matt Dudley whipped in a cross that was too strong for the ORU goalkeeper to grab and the rebound fell to Gavin Hoy for the goal.

Oakland outshot Oral Roberts (1-6, 0-1) 16-15, but clinical finishing by the Golden Grizzlies saw the team score on five of their six shots on goal. Oakland goalkeepers Scott Messer and Eliott Tarney each made three saves and combined for the shutout win.

After four consecutive road matches the Golden Grizzlies will return home to host Duquesne on Wednesday at 7 p.m. The Golden Grizzlies will also host a Summit League match with Western Illinois on Saturday.