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By Troy Ewers

HAYWARD–At CSU East Bay, the Oakland Roots played their match against Memphis 901 that was rescheduled from earlier in the season and this was an important game for Oakland as they have only scored once in the last four games and were coming off back to back losses where they were unable to score. They were able to score in this match that ended up in a draw on Wednesday night 1-1.

In the first half, the Roots had the sense of urgency to score, with a score by Johnny Rodriguez past the Memphis goalie Bill Hamid, but it was called offside and no goal. The attack didn’t stop for Oakland as they were the first on the board with a goal from a difficult shot by Jeciel Cedeno, assisted by Daniel Barbir in minute 33 putting Oakland up 1-0 and despite this first strike by the Roots, Memphis wasn’t going to let that happen to them again.

In the 61st minute Memphis took advantage of the Roots defensive mistake as 901 forward Laurent Kissiedou scored the equalizer to make the match 1-1. From that point on the Roots went on a flurry of scoring opportunities, but each opportunity was halted and by the final whistle the desperation to score for Oakland was visible and resulted in no change of the score.

A win for Oakland would put them in a position to compete for a playoff spot, but the 1-1 draw leaves them at a complete even record. Next game for the Roots will be on July 15th against Monterey Bay in an away game.