LEXINGTON, Ky. - Cody Archibald and Gavin Hoy each scored second-half goals as the Oakland men's soccer team defeated No. 24 Kentucky, 2-0, in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament Thursday night at Wendell & Vickie Bell Soccer Complex. The Golden Grizzlies advance to play No. 3 seed Michigan State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday.
"I'm just really proud of the guys as I thought it was a great game," said coach Eric Pogue. "Kentucky is a great team and we knew we had to come with our best effort tonight. It was a pretty evenly matched game in the first half. In the second half we came out and really dictated the play and had some nice finishes. Just really proud of the entire team effort. I guess I'll say that we expected to be here. We weren't just happy to be in the NCAA Tournament. We expected to compete with Kentucky and give them a game. To be in the second round, we are obviously excited about it, but where we are with our program we expected to be in the second round. We expect to compete for titles and we expect to advance. We know it's not easy but we are just really proud of our effort from back to front."
The Golden Grizzlies advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for only the second time in the Division I era, last accomplishing the feat in 2007 when they defeated Michigan State, 2-1. This also marks the first shutout in the NCAA Tournament since 2008 when Oakland and Ohio State played to a scoreless draw.
After a tightly contested but scoreless first half, the Golden Grizzlies got on the board in the 55th minute as Archibald headed in a corner kick from John DeLeon to the far post for his second goal of the season.
Oakland pushed its lead to a 2-0 advantage in the 61st minute as Gavin Hoy intercepted a Wildcat pass, weaved his way through the oncoming UK defense and finished to the upper-far post.
Wes Mink recorded his seventh shutout of the season with two saves and improved to 10-4-3 on the season. The Golden Grizzlies outshot the Wildcats 10-6 including 5-2 in shots on goal.
The Golden Grizzlies will travel to East Lansing on Sunday to face the Michigan State Spartans in the second round of the NCAA Tournament starting at 1 p.m. at DeMartin Stadium.
#WearTheBear