Michigan Suffers First Series Loss to Golden Grizzlies

Friday, September 16

Rochester, Mich.

5:00 PM

Michigan

4-2-0

Oakland

1-4-0

Michigan

Oakland

Michigan Suffers First Series Loss to Golden Grizzlies

9/16/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

ROCHESTER, Mich. -- On a very gloomy September evening the University of Michigan men's soccer team was upset at Oakland University, falling 2-1 on Friday (Sept. 16) in its first-ever loss to the Grizzlies.

The first half of the game was a close battle between the two schools. Oakland took six shots, five on goal, while U-M had five shots with three on goal. The first missed opportunity for Michigan came just minutes into the game when senior Ryan Alexander (Southfield, Mich./University of Detroit Jesuit) shot a rocket at Oakland goalkeeper Jeff Wiese, giving him his first save of the day. Oakland responded by scoring the first and only goal of the half at the 9:19 mark, when Brady Vance assisted Brandon Felker to beat senior goalkeeper Peter Dzubay (Sylvania, Ohio/Northview) to his upper left.

Minutes after the first goal of the half, senior Adam Bruh (Roslyn Heights, N.Y./Wheatley) and the Wolverines turned up the defense, stopping a 2-on-1 break after U-M missed a scoring opportunity on a corner kick.

After intermission, the Wolverines cranked up the offensive and defensive intensity. On offense Michigan took four more shots (7) than Oakland in the second half, and two more than their first-half performance. On the defensive end of the field, the Wolverines held the Grizzlies to just three shots in the second half, as opposed to the six shots in the first half.

The game was plagued by missed opportunities for U-M. One of the biggest shots of the game came at the 36:10 mark, when freshman Santos Perez (Troy, Mich./Athens) shot a missile at the Oakland goalie, causing a rebound for Michigan, but the Wolverine offense was unable to put the ball in the net after an Oakland defender stole the ball. The second big missed opportunity for U-M came with just 13:09 left in the game, after freshman Steve Bonnell (St. Clair Shores, Mich./Detroit Country Day) set up a racing junior Bobby Trybula (Loveland, Ohio/Archbishop Moeller) but only coming up with a shot on goal, and giving Wiese one more save.

Unfortunately, the Grizzlies were able to connect on one more goal of the night with 11:14 left in the game, when Ben Gearhart was assisted by Brandon Felker and Brady Vance setting up a 2-on-1 break to beat Dzubay to his left. Being down 2-0 with just 11:14 left in the game, the Wolverines still continued to play hard and force scoring opportunities. With 10:34 left, Perez fired a pass through a pack of Oakland defenders to junior Kevin Savitskie (Plymouth, Mich./Salem), giving Savitskie a clear shot at the net from 12 feet out to cut the deficit in half. Still determined, the Wolverines tried to tie the game with 6:00 left, after Perez set up Alexander for a beautiful header, but it only resulted in a wide shot to the right.

The Wolverines will host the Kentucky Wildcats on Sunday (Sept. 18) at the U-M Soccer Field at 2 p.m.

GAME SUMMARY

Team	1	2	F
Michigan	0	1	1
Oakland	1	1	2

Scoring, Time (Assist)
1st -- OU, Brandon Felker, 9:19 (Brady Vance)
2nd -- OU, Ben Gearhart, 78:46 (Felker, Vance)
2nd -- U-M, Kevin Savitskie, 79:26 (Santos Perez)

Shots: U-M 12, OU 9
Saves: U-M 4, OU 6
Corner Kicks: U-M 8, OU 3
Fouls: U-M 17, OU 24
Cards: U-M, Santos Perez, 44:08 (yellow); OU, Chris Edwards, 87:13 (yellow)

Q U O T E S

Michigan Head Coach Steve Burns
On the game ... "The toughest thing about the game, the event, the match, the race, is coming to grips with losses, and this is a tough one for our players because we saw a talented team that played against a good and talented team in Oakland, and Oakland had everything to play for. And we tried to warm our way into the game, and you can look as recently as a Champions League game in Real Madrid vs. Lyon, where both teams have a lot of talented players, Real is expected to win because you look at their roster and they have more talented players, but Real doesn't start strong, Lyon does, and Lyon wins the game. I really like our team, and I think we've got the potential to be very good this year, but we got to come out and play with that urgency, we have to be that team that wants to take control from minute one, and that was the big difference."

On something positive out of the game ... "In terms of the overall progress of how we're playing and our style, we're taking good steps forward. Even though there were two goals scored, I thought that defensively we looked good, we shut down their counterattack, which had been something we had problems with. I think we're still trying to settle on who our midfielders are and we saw a great performance from Alex Morrisset, who got his first 45 minutes on the field in a Michigan uniform."

On what needs improvement for the next game ... "Right now is a time where we need leadership more than any point in the season. That's not only from the coaching staff but also from the internal workings from the team, and that's the big area where we want to see improvement for the next game, is how we respond to this loss, how the leaders from within the team help the team to stay motivated to play at a high level."

Contact: Joseph Conrad (734) 763-4423