Oakland Advances Past No. 4 Ohio State, 3-1

by Oakland Athletics

November 11, 2012

1
No. 4

Ohio State
16-4-2

1ST	2ND	OT (1)	OT (2)	FINAL
0	1	0	0	1
1	0	0	0	1

Columbus, Ohio • Attendance: 603
NCAA Tournament - First Round
(Oakland Advances 3-1 in Penalty Kicks)

1
OAKLAND
11-5-4

STATS COMPARISON
Shots	28	5
Shots on Goal	7	3
Corner Kicks	6	4
Saves	2	6
Fouls	9	6

SCORING SUMMARY
Time	Goal (Assist)
40:55	Boyle (Sieja)	0	1
60:53	Cameron (Walker, Granberg)	1	1
	Penalty Kicks
OU	Sarkis (Good)	0	1
OSU	Gruenbaum (Save)	0	1
OU	Reynolds (Good)	0	2
OSU	Gruber (Save)	0	2
OU	Haelewyn (Miss)	0	2
OSU	Walker (Save)	0	2
OU	Kellermann (Save)	0	2
OSU	Granberg (Good)	1	2
OU	DeLuca (Good)	1	3

OAKLAND SOCCER CENTRAL
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COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Shannon Coley saved three penalty kicks as unseeded Oakland (11-5-4) advanced 3-1 in a shootout after a 1-1 draw with No.4 seed Ohio State (16-4-2) in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. The Golden Grizzlies advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history and travel to Tallahassee, Fla. to face Texas A&M on Friday.

"We're so excited to be moving on in the tournament," said head coach Nick O'Shea. "We've been to the tournament a number of times and haven't been able to get past the first round. This group of players we that we have right now worked very hard over the last few years to try to help us accomplish that and today it came true. Hard work pays off and I'm just very proud of our team right now."

After the score finished 1-1 following 110 minutes of soccer, the match was decided in a shootout. After Whitney Sarkis made the first shot for OU, Coley denied Ashley Gruebaum to put Oakland ahead 1-0. After Meghan Reynolds converted her spot kick, Coley made another diving save to her right to deny Ellyn Gruber, giving OU a 2-0 lead.

Although the Golden Grizzlies failed to score on the next two penalties, Coley was the hero making a third consecutive stop before finally conceding on the fourth OSU kick. With OU up 2-1, Nicole DeLuca stepped to the line for the clinching kick and calmly converted the shot that sent the Oakland bench erupting onto the field.

Julianne Boyle blasted Oakland in front with a goal in the 41st minute. Joan Sieja slotted a pass across the penalty area and Boyle one-timed the ball into the back of the net from the edge of the goal area. It was the first goal for Oakland in the NCAA Tournament since the 2006 season and marked only the second time that OU has led in an NCAA Tournament match.

Tiffany Cameron scored in the 61st minute to level the match at 1-1. The goal snapped a streak of more than 453 minutes without allowing a goal for the Coley and Oakland defense.

Oakland played well early and had some close chances, which included a near-miss at the near post by Abigail Haelewyn. Coley also had a defining moment early on when she saved a long range shot and then reacted quickly to make a near-post save on the follow up. She also made a strong double save in the second half to keep the score level.

Ohio State outshot Oakland 28-5 in the match, but was forced to hit most of the shots from long range, resulting in just a 7-3 edge in shots on goal. Coley made six saves from open play, while Jillian McVicker made two stops for OSU.

This was the eighth NCAA Tournament appearance for Oakland, which won The Summit League regular season and tournament championship. The Golden Grizzlies tied four matches this season, including three against Big Ten opponents. Ohio State won the Big Ten Tournament Championship.

Match times for the second round of the tournament will be announced later in the week.

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