Senior Piotr Nowak, freshman Tom Catalano, sophomore Makesi Lewis and junior Sebastian Harris all scored a goal, and Summit League Defensive Player of the Year senior Steve Clark tied a league record with his 11th shutout of the season, making two saves, to lead the 30th-ranked Oakland University men's soccer team (14-4-0) to an easy 4-0 win over fourth-seeded IUPUI (8-9-2) on Friday in the semifinals of the Summit League Tournament.
Oakland will take on No. 3 seed UMKC (10-6-2) who clipped No. 2 seed Western Illinois (12-5-3) 1-0 in double-overtime in the other semifinal. The Golden Grizzlies advance to their second straight championship game and sixth title game appearance (2-4).
The Grizzlies tallied three goals in the first 45 minutes. Nowak took a pass from junior Stefan St. Louis at the top of the box and blasted a shot through the defense and in to the back of the net at the 22:42 minute mark. Catalano then took a penalty shot at 27:31 and beat the keeper to make it 2-0.
Sophomore Makesi Lewis scored the third goal as he broke in wide and sent a shot in from 18-yards out to give the Golden Grizzlies a 3-0 lead. OU's Harris would score the fourth and final goal early in the second half (49:02) on a nice pass from St. Louis that Harris finished in the corner for a four-goal advantage.
OU carried play for most of the game and ended with 13 shots, eight on goal, three corner kicks and 18 fouls, while the Jaguars had eight shots, two on goal, three corner kicks and 14 fouls.
The Golden Grizzlies will try and win their first back-to-back tournament titles this Sunday at Noon. OU defeated UMKC 2-1 in the regular season finale to win the regular season title outright. The game can be followed via live stats at www.ougrizzlies.com or watched on video for $6.95.