TOLEDO, OH - The Toledo Rockets and the Oakland Grizzlies battled for 90 minutes under bad conditions, but in the end Oakland muscled their way past the Rockets en route to their 3-2 victory. With the loss, the Rockets fall to 1-4-0 overall. while Oakland improves their record to 3-2-1.
"This was a tough loss today," said Toledo head coach Rj. Anderson. "We found a way to beat ourselves again with numerous mistakes. I take full responsibility for this loss. We made serious errors in the midfield. We have practiced over and over again and looked good yesterday--but that was yesterday."
The Rockets scored first at 35:00 when freshman Sarah Gardqvist played a perfect free kick into the penalty box that fellow freshman Melissa Lesage headed it in for her first collegiate score. The goal was set-up by good midfield play by freshman Sofia Rask and defender Sarah Donahue keeping the Oakland attack off balance and out of sync.
Oakland netted the equalizer at 42:21 off a corner kick. The Grizzlies' Gail Wilson launched a shot that the Toledo defense made a great team save on, but the ball trickled in front of the goal and Natalie Rodi placed the ball in the back of the net to tie the score at 1-1.
Oakland's Kristen Luoma started the scoring in the second half, as she netted her fourth goal of the season for Oakland on a pass from Ashley McGhee to put OU up 2-1. McGhee scored the Golden Grizzlies' third unanswered goal and the eventual game-winner at the 54:12 minute mark on Wilson's second assist of the game. Toledo's Corrie Hasenjager scored the final goal of the game at the 79:53 mark. Off a corner kick by Gardqvist, Hasenjager volleyed a rocket shot into the upper left-hand corner for her team-leading third goal of the season.
"Oakland is a good team, no team in the MAC has ever beaten them," said Anderson. "We had a shot, but mental errors killed us. Two early goals in the second half that should not be scored on any Division I team hurt us."
Toledo had 14 shots, four corner kicks, nine saves, one offsides and seven fouls. Oakland had 24 shots, six corner kicks, five saves, seven offsides and 21 fouls.
The Midnight Blue and Gold played for the second straight contest without the services of starters, senior captain Shauna Cottrell and sophomore defender Alissa DeLong. Both players are suffering from foot injuries.
The Rockets will hit the road and play at Marshall on Tuesday, Sept. 19. The match will start at 4:00 p.m. on the Marshall Soccer Field.
OAKLAND 3, TOLEDO 2
UT: Melissa Lesage (Gardqvist), 35:00
OU: Natalie Rodi (Wilson), 42:21
OU: Kristen Luoma (McGhee), 52:14
OU: Ashley McGhee (Wilson), 54:12
UT: Corrie Hasenjager (Gardqvist), 79:53
