Seniors on the varsity soccer team walked off their home field for the final time as victors when they defeated Flint Carman-Ainsworth 2-1 on Thursday, Oct. 14.
A pregame ceremony honored nine Wildcats who gave their sweat, blood and tears to a game that they loved and excelled at. Those seniors included Jacob Clark, Christian Lopez, Daniel Peck, Brandon Barber, Connor Risinger, Jesse Kolean, Matt Frisch, Kevin Rein and Tyler Bozigar.
Once the game began, the Wildcats were able to open the scoring when Peck took a feed from Clark and buried it behind Ainsworth’s keeper. Ainsworth tied the game on the ensuing kickoff and went into halftime tied at one with the Wildcats.
Both teams generated plenty of scoring opportunities in the second half, but junior Marco Bonfiglio finally converted a scoring opportunity into a goal, bouncing the ball off of the post after taking a throw in from junior Mike Kitchner.
With the victory, the Wildcats ended non-league play at 6-0. Oxford closed out its first season in the Oakland Activities Association with a 3-0 loss to Birmingham Groves on Tuesday, Oct. 12.
The Wildcats were 3-8-1 in the OAA White. Oxford ended up 9-9-1 overall and played Waterford Kettering in the district opener on Tuesday, Oct. 19. Results will be in next week’s edition of the Oxford Leader.