MOON TOWNSHIP– Autumn was in the air at the North Athletic Complex as RMU men’s soccer welcomed Oakland, a reunion after falling short in Michigan to end their season last fall.
Despite a hard-played 90 minutes, RMU would fall with a heartbreaking 1-0 to Oakland.
Starting off possession was pretty 50/50, as the ball teeter-tottered between the Golden Grizzlies and Colonials zones. RMU was beginning to get frustrated when they would gain offensive possession just to be shut down by the strong Oakland defense.
Despite a yellow card issued ten minutes into the game to RMU’s Anass Hadran the Colonials did not really miss a beat and both teams kept continuing their back-and-forth battle.
RMU had a great chance with back-to-back shots, first by William Dodzi Afawubo and then by Victor Koah in the fifteenth minute. The crowd went wild with Koah’s hard knock at the net that was stopped by Michael Sly Jr., who proved himself to be the key player of the match.
Donavan Phillip was not far behind for Oakland, with a sneaky header shot that Kieran Gorgenyi saved in the 22nd minute. The battle continued with more shots alternating between both sides. Chase Gilley almost put one in the net, with two back-to-back shots of his own, but Oakland’s stone wall goalie had yet another outstanding save.
This would not be the first or last incredible stop by Golden Grizzlies goalie Michael Sly Jr., as there were a fiery but unlucky thirteen shots in the first half by RMU to Oakland’s three shots in the first half.
The half was full of shot after shot, and the crowd was in awe as the Colonials were able to get through the defense of the Golden Grizzlies, but could not finish. RMU was able to maintain possession in Oakland’s half and had a lot of opportunities that were shut down due to astounding saves by the redshirt sophomore goalkeeper.
Going into the second half, the Colonials still had the fire lit beneath them but the shots were much closer with Oakland having three to RMU’s four. The score remained scoreless for most of the game with a neck-and-neck battle between the two contenders.
That was until the 86th minute when the game’s sole goal would occur. Donovan Philip would capitalize on an opportunity and bury the ball in the center of the net against RMU’s freshman goalie, Kieran Gorgenyi.
Despite the hard-fought effort and heap of shots in the first half, the Colonials fell short. It was déjà vu matchup, as they once again were in a tie with the Golden Grizzlies for most of the time, but ended up falling short in a painful conclusion.
“All season the guys have worked tremendously hard,” Coach Potter said on the team’s resilience. “The guys keep fighting. Just disappointed today that we couldn’t find the goal that we needed.”
William Dodzi Afawubo led the team in shots with a whopping eight, with Chase Gilley, Kai McLoughlin, and defender Fabian Overkamp having two a piece. Anass Hadran, JP Mbuthia, and Victor Koah also had a shot each.
Nearing the end of regular season play, the Colonials will have to regroup after a tough ending.
“Now the guys just have to refocus,” Potter said. “We’ve got two games left guaranteed to us this season. We’ve just got to put everything together that we can to win those two games…We created a lot of chances, it’s just unfortunate we couldn’t come away with any points today.”
In a week, the Colonials will be at Detroit Mercy to faceoff against the Titans at 3 p.m. and conclude their season back at home on Nov. 1 on their senior day against Cleveland State.
