The Oakland University Men’s Soccer team shutout the Dayton Flyers 3-0 on Wednesday at the Oakland Soccer Field. The game was previously scheduled for Tuesday at 7 p.m., but was postponed due to severe weather in the area.

The game started off quiet with both teams passing the ball to each other. Then, in the 19th minute, forward Charlie Braithwaite scored off a feed from Noah Jensen to take a 1-0 lead. 

The rest of the first half was pretty uneventful. Oakland did keep the pressure on, though — having seven shots on goal to Dayton’s three. Fouls were 5-2 in favor of Dayton.

The Golden Grizzlies picked up right where they left off in the second half, spending much of the first three minutes in Flyers territory. 

Then — in the 55th minute — the Grizzlies struck again. Forward Mikey Ketteman scored on assists from Jensen and forward Ville Ahola to make it 2-0. 

In the 67th minute, midfleider Mohammad Jamal Issa went down with an apparent leg injury — he left the game and was replaced by Cameron Wilde. Head Coach Eric Pogue said Issa’s injury was just cramps.

As well as Oakland’s offense played, their defense deserves some credit, as well. The Flyers couldn’t get anything going offensively thanks to the defensive pressure from the Golden Grizzlies.

In the 79th minute, midfielder Owen Smith went down hard on his head after going for a header. A foul was called on Dayton’s Seth Antwi on the play. Smith would leave the game and be replaced by Jensen. 

Pogue said the team is pretty sure he has a concussion. 

“I think [Antwi] headed the back of his head, and then I think he fell [headfirst],” Pogue said. “That one was pretty bad.”

A minute later, Ketteman scored his second goal of the game to put the game out of reach. Ahola was credited with his second assist of the game on the goal. 

The Grizzlies won 3-0 — it was their first non-conference win of the season. 

“It’s just continuing the momentum,” Pogue said. “[That’s] two games in a row that we that we got results — both on our home field — [and it’s] important that we protect our own field. I think we built on our performance against Fort Wayne, and we played well in that game, but I thought we played even better in this game and I thought we managed it well. Dayton is a dangerous team with a lot of power and athleticism, and I think that we have to manage it the right way or it turns south on you. [I thought] we did a really nice job.”

Pogue was pleased with the team’s overall performance, but said there are still some things they need to work on.

“Obviously every game there’s room for improvement, whether you win or lose,” Pogue said. “But I think there were more positives to take away from this game than negatives. [There] were areas that I thought we can continue to get a little bit better at, and we’ll address those.”

The next home game for Men’s Soccer will be against the University of Illinois-Chicago on Saturday, Sept. 25. The game starts at 1 p.m. at the Oakland Soccer Field.