First Place on the Line as 'Roos Battle Grizzlies Saturday
10/12/2012 2:05:00 PM | Men's Soccer
at Oakland Grizzlies (8-4, 3-0 SL)
Saturday, October 13 - 6:00 pm CT
Rochester, Mich. * OU Soccer Field
Live Stats: OUGrizzlies.com
The Game:
The 'Roos head to Michigan for a first-place showdown with the Oakland Grizzlies on Saturday night. The two squads are 3-0 in the Summit League and look to stay atop the standings. Both teams also come into the weekend after 1-0 losses during the week.
The Coaches
In his 15th season at UMKC, Rick Benben is the winningest coach in school history, posting a 110-132-29 record. Under his guidance, UMKC has captured four Summit League regular season titles and has made three appearances in the NCAA College Cup with the most recent appearance coming in 2008. Benben, the fourth head coach in the Division I era, was inducted into the UMKC Athletics Hall of Fame this past year.
Eric Pogue is in his fourth season as the head coach at Oakland, and his 11th overall after serving the previous seven years as an assistant coach. He has a 30-32-7 overall record, and has a regular season and tournament title under his belt as well.
The Series
It will be the 21st meeting between the two schools with an 11-5-4 series record in favor of the Grizzlies, however the last 14 meetings have been decided by a goal or less. Last season the 'Roos took a 1-0 decision at home. The 'Roos are 2-0-1 in the last three meetings overall.
The 'Roos have tied the last two contests played at Oakland, last falling in 2008.
Benben has a 5-11-4 overall mark against OU, while Pogue is 1-2-1 vs. UMKC.
Scouting the Competition
The Oakland Grizzlies are 8-4 overall and 3-0 in Summit League play, tied with the 'Roos atop the standings. They had their five-game unbeaten streak snapped on Tuesday vs. Michigan, 1-0.
The Grizzlies came into the week as the national leader in goals scored with 31. They have out-scored Summit League opponents by a 13-1 margin thus far as well. Kyle Bethel leads the nation with 10 assists, wile teammates Miche'le Lipari and Joey Tinnion each have five goals. Defensively, they boast a 1.23 goals against average.
A Win vs Oakland Means...
- Kansas City would extend its unbeaten streak agains OU to four games.
- The 'Roos would have moved its unbeaten streak at Oakland to four games as well.
- Kansas City would have won four consecutive league games to start the year for the first time since 2003.
Summit League Starts
The 'Roos have been good to start Summit League play during the Benben era, with a streak of six straight years being unbeaten (10-3-1 under Benben) in openers.
They are 3-0 for the third time under Benben, and the first since 2003 (started 4-0 that year), joining only the 2001 and 2003 NCAA Tournament teams that have accomplished that during this coaching era.
The longest winning streak to start conference play was in 1997 at five games.
Ahead of the Pace
Kansas City has already won five games this year, matching last season's total for the whole season. Also the 'Roos have tallied one more Summit League win than all of last year (2).
It was also the first time UMKC has been above .500 since the end of the 2010 season.
Up Next
The 'Roos hit the road for another non-conference game, heading to face No. 24 Creighton in Omaha on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
It will be the 13th meeting between the two schools with a 9-2-2 series record in favor of the Bleujays. Last season the 'Roos fell 5-0 at home. The 'Roos last won in 2008 by a 1-0 score.
