Exhibition matches for sports programs generally serve as nothing more than glorified practices. They don’t count. Yet, the Oakland

University men’s soccer team doesn’t plan to take any game, exhibition or not, lightly.

In their exhibition opener against Bowling Green, freshman Alex de Leon knocked in a header with less than 90 seconds remaining in overtime to give the Golden Grizzlies a 2-1 victory. Oakland went on to win its other exhibition game as well, a 3-2 road win against Xavier.

Albeit they are just a pair of throw-away games against a non-conference opponent, the two wins served as a small sample of what Oakland has the potential to accomplish this season. The Grizzlies were picked to finish second in the Summit League in the coach’s preseason poll. Oakland coach Eric Pogue, the 2009 Summit League Coach of the Year, welcomes the challenge of meeting those lofty expectations with a team bringing in nine new players.

“On paper we look young with only one senior, but we were even younger last fall and a lot of young guys got a lot of valuable playing time and experience in 2009,” Pogue said. “That should translate into a more mature, experienced, and deep team in 2010.”

Pogue believes the maturity was imported with the new recruiting class. He feels confident in his freshmen, because they have looked mature and up to speed in camp.

“Our 2010 recruiting class is a very good group of guys with a lot of talent and they all possess the right core values that we are looking for in Oakland players,” he said. “We expect a number of them to be key contributors for us this fall.”

The freshmen will be brought into a returning group who suffered a gut-wrenching end to the 2010 season.

Oakland went into the 2009 Summit League Tournament as the No. 1 seed, following an undefeated regular season within the conference. Having the tournament on their own field didn’t help the Grizzlies, as UMKC stunned Oakland in the first round with a 2-1 defeat.

For returning players, Pogue believes it is important to remember the past for motivation, but more important to wipe the slate clean.

“Obviously the loss to UMKC in the conference tournament left a bitter taste in our mouth,” Pogue said. “We were so close to achieving all our goals in year one, that to come up just short was tough. Sure, you use it as motivation and fuel for the future, but we have really tried to refocus ourselves on this season, this team, this year’s goals and put last year behind us and refocus in 2010.”

Focus will be a key with a very difficult non-conference schedule.

Oakland will play six of its first seven matches away from Rochester. This can provide an early challenge for a young team.

The Grizzlies will face seven squads ranked inside the nation’s top 40, including second-ranked Akron Oct. 10 in a home game played at Pontiac Ultimate Soccer Arena and seventh-ranked Ohio State in Columbus Oct. 27. But first up is eighth-ranked Drake Sept. 5 at home.

The team will also be traveling to play in the San Diego State Marriot Classic, where it will play the host team of the tournament and UC Irvine in the second weekend of September.

Coach Pogue welcomes the challenge of Oakland’s intimidating schedule.

“Our out of conference schedule is one of the top ones in the nation,” he said. “With a young team, it is always important to get off to a good start, get our confidence high and protect home field advantage heading into a tough stretch of games against San Diego State, UC Irvine, Michigan, Butler and Akron.”

Sophomore forward Shane Lyons returns as OU’s top striker with four goals last season. He is paired with lone senior Makesi Lewis, who led the Grizzlies with 15 shots on goal and was named to the second-team All-Summit League roster last season.

By the numbers, the most impressive returning player might be junior goalkeeper Mitch Hildebrandt — last season’s Summit League Defensive Player of the Year. His numbers were impressive not just on a conference level, but also suited for national notoriety for his play in net with a conference-leading seven shutouts and a 0.73 goals against average, good enough to finish in the top 10 ranks in the country.

Led by a coach hungry for further success in his second year and a roster fused with award-winning returning players and an influx of youth, the Grizzlies look to strike early against some of the nation’s highest ranked teams and settle in for another run at the Summit League title.

The official start of the season is Sept. 3 but, as they showed in their exhibition openers, the Golden Grizzlies have long been ready to take the field for the games that count this season.