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COLLEGE MEN’S SOCCER: Oakland rebounds to rout IUPUI

Dan Stickradt | October 13, 2019 | Comments (0)

BY DAN STICKRADT

SENIOR EDITOR

dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com

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ROCHESTER HILLS — Quite a reversal act.

Just three days after an embarrassing first half against Western Michigan University where Oakland University allowed three first-half goals in a 3-2 loss, the Golden Grizzlies rebounded in a major way Saturday.

Hosting IUPUI in a battle of Horizon League unbeatens, Oakland dominated in all phases of the game, scored a first-half marker and tallied three more times in the second half in a 4-0 rout of the visiting Jaguars at the OU Soccer Complex.

“The Western (Michigan) game was what it was. They finished their opportunities and we had to come back,” recalled Oakland head coach Eric Pogue. “I think what springboarded us was the second-half performance we put in (against Western Michigan) and the young guys that we put in, and we got ourselves back into the mindset that we can compete. We got refocused and every time we have a game like that, whether it’s Michigan or Western Michigan or whatever, we use that to refocus us for the Horizon League matches.”

Oakland University’s Carson Debison-Larabie (No. 11) tries to maneuver through traffic during the Golden Grizzlies’ 4-0 shutout Saturday over IUPUI. Photos By Amanda Thick, Amanda Leigh Photography.

Oakland was quite refocused against IUPUI. In fact, the Golden Grizzlies were merciless against the Jaguars in maintaining the Horizon League advantage.

Oakland (6-4-2, 4-0-1) now has 13 league points with three games to go with a four-point lead on second place UIC (9-3-0, 3-1-0, nine points) heading down the stretch. IUPUI (3-6-2, 2-1-1) is in third with seven points and three other teams have six points apiece.

“We know we’re not going to get an at-large berth (to the NCAA tournament), so we have to play well to get a great seed for the (conference) tournament and then try to win it,” said Pogue. “It’s almost like two seasons and our main focus right now is on the horizon League games.”

Oakland held a commanding 21-6 shots edge in the contest against IUPUI, including 10-2 with shots directly on frame, and even held a 11-2 edge on cornerkicks during the onslaught. Oakland possessed the ball for most of the 90 minutes and rarely allowed the Jaguars to pose a serious threat.

Oakland University’s Michael Ketteman (No. 18) dribbles into the box during the Golden Grizzlies’ 4-0 shutout Saturday over IUPUI. Photos By Amanda Thick, Amanda Leigh Photography.

Oakland’s Dylan Borczak (Detroit Western) scored what proved to be the game-winner at the 20:52 mark. After Cameron Wilde (Macomb Lutheran North) ripped a ball off the goal post, Borczak was there to clean up the rebound and place it into the open net.

Although that was OU’s sole tally of the first half, the Golden Grizzlies controlled play and peppered IUPUI netminder Quinn McCallion (Reading-Berkshire, England) over the final 45 minutes of play.

McCallion (six saves) single-handily kept the Jaguars in the contest, as Oakland even misfired on the net on several other occasions. Still, the Golden Grizzlies scored three more times in the second half to put the game away.

Oakland added an insurance tally at 51:57 when Noah Jensen (Courtice, Ont., Holy Trinity) chipped in a penalty shot after Michael Ketteman (Portage Central) was hauled down in the penalty box.

The Golden Grizzlies were not done making deposits into the net, as Borczak slotted a ball through the goal mouth and Charlie Braithwaite (Doncaster, England, Ridgewood) cashed in a close-range paycheck from two yards out at 73:05.

Photos By Amanda Thick, Amanda Leigh Photography.

Mitch Meldrum (New Baltimore Anchor Bay) capped the scoring at the 87:42 mark and he finished off a breakaway following a feed from Ketterman.

“This was a dominating performance for us,” smiled Pogue. “Having said that, the first half was good, but in the end we could scored a couple of more and we could have been scored on. I thought the second half we really dug ourselves in really put in a complete performance.”

Sullivan Lauderdale made two saves for his third clean sheet of the season for Oakland. That included making a point-blank save on Carson Shrader, who broke free on a breakaway at the top of the box at 80:41 but was stopped cold by Lauderdale.

Oakland has now outscored the opposition by a 24-14 edge through 12 games and scoring nine times in the last three games.