On Saturday, Nov. 16, the Oakland University men’s soccer team was bested by the Robert Morris Colonials at the Oakland Soccer Field with a final score of 1-0 in the Horizon League Championship game.
Oakland entered the game on a six-game win streak, with their most previous loss coming at the hands of DePaul University back on Oct. 8, marking over an entire month without a loss for the Golden Grizzlies.
As the game got underway, the Colonials came out aggressively. Having lost to the Golden Grizzlies earlier in the season and never beating Oakland in their program history, Robert Morris looked eager to make a statement early.
Before the first minute of the game even passed, Anass Hadran from the Colonials secured the first shot of the afternoon. Minutes later, Hadran followed up with another shot. However, like his first attempt, Golden Grizzlies goalkeeper Alex Flowers was there for the save.
In the eighth minute of play, Morris’s aggression paid off. Colonial defender Victor Thompson took a strike from just outside Oakland’s box. Despite Flowers’ diving effort to keep the ball away, Thompson scored, making it a 1-0 game in favor of the Colonials.
With an early lead secured, Morris shifted to a more conservative approach while Oakland searched for a goal to stabilize the match. After the Colonial goal, the Golden Grizzlies took six more shots than Robert Morris before heading into halftime.
As the second half kicked off, tensions began to rise with both teams. In the first minute after the break, Andrew Darakdjian went up for a ball and made contact with a Robert Morris defender on his way down.
In what would turn out to be a rather scrappy second half from both teams, Darakdjian’s contact was enough to send him off with a red card, leaving Oakland with just ten players on the field instead of the standard eleven.
Although the loss of Darakdjian would seem to zap away all of the energy Oakland had, the opposite effect took place. The following moments after Darakdjian’s booking saw the Golden Grizzlies play with a lot more urgency.
This promptness led to Oakland’s first shot attempt of the second. Jack Klomparens tested colonial goalkeeper Josh Lane, but Lane was there for the save, leaving the Golden Grizzlies still on the hunt for an equalizer.
Abdul Al-Rashed rattled a shot off ten minutes after Klomparens’ attempt, but Morris prioritized limiting all of Oakland’s chances. In the next 24 minutes of play, the Golden Grizzlies couldn’t get a single shot off against the Colonials.
In the dying minutes of the championship game, with an emotional crowd supporting them from the stands, the Golden Grizzlies poured everything into their attack. Oakland took four shots in the game’s final ten minutes, but none found the back of the net, resulting in a loss for the Golden Grizzlies.
Despite the loss, a trio of Golden Grizzlies made enough impact throughout the Horizon League tournament to be named to the Horizon League All-Tournament Team. Carson Ballagh, Flowers and Darakdjian were all recognized as all-tournament team members.
The loss to the Colonials marks the end of the Golden Grizzlies’ 2024 season, their inaugural season under head coach Paul Doroh.
It was a rollercoaster of a season for the Golden Grizzlies. Oakland opened with four straight losses to non-conference opponents before defeating the Michigan State Spartans for their first win on the season.
Following the win against the Spartans, Oakland was nearly unstoppable the rest of the season, winning the next eight of their 12 regular-season matchups while only losing twice.