What started out as a hopeless affair for the Golden Grizzlies last Saturday, quickly turned into a golden example of the team’s perseverance as they clawed their way back from a deficit to bring home the win in their Homecoming game.

After both teams finished their feeling out process and finished getting their feet underneath them on the pitch, the first half felt like it was all Cleveland State as they would end with 12 shots on goal as opposed to the five shots recorded for OU. 

CSU would end the first half with a 1-0 lead after scoring off the back of a penalty kick in the last few minutes of the half, leaving the pitch with the upper-hand and returning after the break to further assert that advantage.

The second set is where the game would pick up, as both teams would score the bulk of their points here. In ten minutes, the comfortable one point lead that OU would have to climb would turn into an near-insurmountable three-point lead as UIC would turn up the aggression and take the wind out of the Golden Grizzlies’ sails.

The energy on the pitch for the Golden Grizzlies continued to deflate with each passing minute until the first OU goal was scored by Dawsun Schrum. The goal would become the catalyst for the eventual comeback that the Grizzlies would mount. 

Just two minutes later, OU’s Charlie Braithwaite would score another goal and breathe life back into their own hearts as the game now looked winnable. The newfound energy on the pitch would enable Noah Jensen to score the game-tying goal just a few minutes before to complete the comeback. 

In just five and a half minutes, the lead was toppled and the energy flipped on the pitch as the Golden Grizzlies fought their way back into this game. With mere minutes left to go in the game, both teams desperately tried to break the tie and go home with the win. After treading water for the entirety of the game, OU’s Noah Jensen would score an absolutely electric second goal off the back of a scramble to send both the crowd home happy and Cleveland State home in tears. 

The electricity on the pitch would reach an all-time high as all the players on the field and the bench would swarm Jensen to celebrate the potential game-winning goal. Cleveland State would try to score one more goal to tie the game up and send it into overtime, but their efforts were all for naught as the Golden Grizzlies would persevere and pull out the hard fought, well-earned win with a score of 4-3. 

The sadness and despair that once filled the air on the pitch would dissipate and turn into pure joy and happiness as OU had their hard work rewarded and they would increase their overall record to 4-5-2, and their conference record to 3-1-1..

The Golden Grizzlies will return to the pitch on Oct. 13th to face off against Green Bay University in Rochester at 1 p.m.