[dropcap]A[/dropcap] textbook header in the 67th minute prevented Oakland’s men’s soccer team from reaching its first NCAA College Cup Sweet Sixteen.
The corner opportunity serviced from Dewey Lewis reached Zach Carroll just outside the edge of the six-yard box, who did well to direct his effort downward and into the corner of the net, the lone difference in No. 3 seed Michigan State’s 1-0 victory Sunday afternoon over the Golden Grizzlies in East Lansing.
“I just wanted to get a nice, firm header down, and on the slick surface, it skipped in right past (the goalkeeper),” Carroll said.
Both netminders factored heavily into the scoreline, with Michigan State junior’s Zach Bennett also getting assistance from his defensive markers to help preserve the shutout. Oakland (10-7-3) came painstakingly close on several set pieces, including nearly summoning a leveler just four minutes after Carroll’s team-best fifth goal of the season. Matt Dudley played a ball from just inside the midfield line into the box, taking a deflection off one Oakland player, which gave Joey Tinnion the opportunity to do a half turn and unleash a volley that prompted a spectacular fingertip save from Bennett to keep the visitors off the board.
Bennett finished with six saves, including another remarkable stop within the match’s first 10 minutes, supplying him with his 12th shutout of the year, a category he led the Big Ten in.
Despite Oakland goalkeeper Wes Mink being denied one of his own, he did tremendous work in the 35th minute to deny Adam Montague’s shot from just inside the corner of the 18, making a reactionary dive to his right to parry the ball out of play. The freshman finished the afternoon with five saves.
“I thought except for a few stretches of the game, we played very, very well, and created a number of opportunities,” Oakland coach Eric Pogue said. “Even going down a goal, we battled hard and created a number of chances.”
Both teams recorded a total of six attempts on goal, including four each in the opening 45 minutes.
The win served as a mark of revenge for Michigan State (12-4-5), who fell to the Golden Grizzlies, 1-0, in front of a large crowd in Rochester in October. Both teams held a win over the other in the schools’ pair of previous meetings in the NCAA Tournament.
The Spartans, who advanced to the Elite Eight last year before falling to eventual champions Notre Dame, will get a chance to face another familiar opponent in No. 13 seed Washington next Sunday. The Huskies, who advanced past Furman despite needing nine rounds in a penalty shootout on Sunday night, bested MSU in an exhibition, 1-0, on Aug. 21.
Report courtesy of Press Row Sports.
