Oakland Claims 2021 #HLMSOC Championship
Box Score
Rochester, Mich. – Top-seeded Oakland took down No. 2 Cleveland State 3-1 to win the 2021 Horizon League Men’s Soccer Championship at Oakland Soccer Field on Saturday afternoon. This is Oakland’s first #HLMSOC championship title since they went back-to-back in 2014 and 2015. With this win, the Golden Grizzlies have clinched a spot in the NCAA men’s soccer tournament.
Noah Jensen got the Golden Grizzlies on the board early with a goal from outside the box :42 into the match off an assist from Owen Smith and Cameron Wilde. This was Jensen’s third goal of the #HLMSOC Championship.
Oakland maintained a 1-0 lead for most of the first half before Julian Pellegrini set Pablo Kawecki up for a goal in the 41
st minute to tie the game 1-1.
Oakland responded immediately, scoring :34 after Cleveland State’s equalizer. Sebastian Nuzzo found the corner of the net off the assist from Reid Sproat to make it 2-1 in favor of Oakland. Oakland would take that 2-1 lead into halftime. Finn Jurak of Oakland collected five saves in the first half while Omeed Naeemy tallied four saves for the Vikings.
Oakland wasted no time extending their second half lead as Dylan Borczak notched a goal in the 48
th minute to make it a 3-1 game. Noah Jensen and Sebastian Nuzzo set up Borczak at the top of the box before blasting it past the keeper. Cleveland State applied the pressure on Oakland but Jurak kept a clean sheet in the second half and totaled seven saves on the match. Oakland would hold on to that lead and earn a 3-1 victory.
With today’s victory, Oakland claims their third Horizon League Men’s Soccer Championship and will move on to the NCAA tournament. The Division I NCAA men’s soccer selection show will take place on Monday, November 15 at 1:00 p.m. ET. The selection show can be streamed live on NCAA.com.
All-Tournament Team
Noah Jensen, Oakland (MVP)
Finn Jurak, Oakland
Adam McAleenan, Oakland
Kieran Hayes, Oakland
Thomas M’Barek, Cleveland State
Jannis Schmidt, Cleveland State
Pablo Kawecki, Cleveland State
Paolo Gratton, Milwaukee
Shawn Azcueta, Milwaukee
Eduardo Garcia, UIC
Christian Crespo, UIC