The Golden Grizzlies came onto the pitch firing on all cylinders Sunday against the Raiders in an evenly matched game that quickly turned into a one-sided beating. 

In the first 20 minutes of the game, both teams came out and played very aggressively. Both sides ran drives that were continuously stuffed by the defensive efforts of the opposing team, before retrieving the ball and meeting the same fate on offense. 

It went on like this for a while until Jessica Shears broke through the monotony of the match to put the first goal of many behind the Raiders’ goalie for the Golden Grizzlies to lead the match by one. This goal lit a fire of inspiration under the Golden Grizzlies, as they continued to push the envelope against the Raiders. 

Eight minutes later, Sharon Sampson and the Golden Grizzlies would take advantage of the Raiders’ lack of focus by scoring after the defense gambled for a stop and lost. This extended the Golden Grizzlies’ lead to 2-0, and further took the Raiders out of the game.

In retreat mode, the Raiders would try their best to regroup and put an end to the run but they would give up another goal as an errant shot would ricochet off of the shin of their goalie and meet with the feet of OU’s Karabo Dhlamini as she scored the third goal just two minutes after the second one would touch the net. 

In the span of about 11 minutes, the Golden Grizzlies had put themselves up three to nil and completely sapped the confidence of this Raiders team in the first half. Avoidable mistakes and unnecessary fouls plagued the Raiders play, and they found themselves in a near-insurmountable hole as they prepared for the second half of play. 

The Raiders would come out of the half with a new energy and renewed resolve while the Grizzlies came out with the same focus that filled their first half play. Both teams seemingly kicked it into high gear as Wright State tried desperately to get back into this game and the Grizzlies defended their lead with everything they had. 

The Raiders seemed to be a bit more prepared for the task coming out of the break than they were going into the first half. The sloppy play became calculated, and their play had more cohesion in it as a result.

Both teams fought relentlessly and showed off amazingly smothering reactionary defense, but the Raiders would catch the Grizzlies off-guard and score their first goal of the game after making the defense frantic and unorganized. 

The time continued to tick off the clock as the plays would get riskier and riskier, leading to collisions out on the pitch. As the aggression on the field died down, so did the Raiders’ chances of winning this game. 

The Raiders tried their best to mount a comeback, but their efforts were all for naught as OU sailed ahead for a dominating 3-1 victory. 

The Golden Grizzlies will return to the pitch on Oct. 23 to face off against Milwaukee on Senior Night at 4 p.m.