Morey Doner’s goal in the 34th minute was all the offense that Oakland Roots needed and their defense held on for a 1-0 win over Monterey Bay FC in front of 9,871 fans at the Oakland Coliseum on Saturday night.
Doner appeared in 102 matches for Monterey Bay from 2022 through 2024. He also scored a goal in the Roots victory over Monterey on June 28 in the Jägermeister Cup competition.
The three points the Roots earned from the match enabled them to pass Monterey and move into 10th place in the USL’s Western Conference standings. They are currently 3 points behind Colorado Springs and New Mexico United, who are currently tied for the eighth and final playoff position.
Doner’s goal came in the 34th minute. Faysal Bettache passed the ball to Doner who was unmarked and 30 yards from goal. Doner dribbled the ball until he reached the edge of the box. His low, hard shot sailed past a pair of Monterey defenders and goalkeeper Nico Campuzano and made its way into the bottom left corner of the net.
Doner had already had a scoring chance in the 21st minute, a cross by Julian Bravo was deflected by a Monterey defender to Doner, but Campuzano ventured to the edge of the six-yard box and made a kick save.
Other Scoring Chances
Three minutes after Doner’s goal, Peter Wilson apparently scored Oakland’s second goal of the match, but the referee nullified the goal because Danny Gomez was deemed to be offside.
Oakland had another chance in the 39th minute when on a Danny Gomez one-timer from the edge of the box. Campuzano made a diving stop, but left the rebound for Julian Bravo, whose shot sailed well over the bar.
Monterey’s Tarik Scott made a run into the box in the 24th minute, but he hit the shot with the outside of his foot and it sailed wide of the target. Scott had another chance in the 60th minute, when he chased down a long pass into the box, cut back to avoid Gagi, and fired a low shot that forced McIntosh to make a diving save. Neveal Hackshaw kicked the ball over the touchline for a throw-in.
In the 76th minute, Oakland substitute Wolfgang Prentice made his way into the box, but his soft shot was easily corralled by Campuzano, while Wilson stood hoping for a rebound.
Monterey nearly earned a draw thanks to a breakaway in the 83rd minute, Sami Guediri received a through ball from Anton Sojberg Horup. McIntosh rushed out to challenge him and Guediri pulled the ball wide.
Benny Feilhaber
“From the perspective of the performance, I thought that we did a lot of good things in the first half. We wanted to make sure that we kind of came back to the way that we want to play. I thought that we became a little bit prisoners of the moment against Lexington, where we scored an early goal, which was the case against Sacramento, and then we defended for our lives for a long period of time, and we didn’t want to do that in the first half.
“I thought we did a pretty good job of still being proactive, still trying to go for it, you know, finding opportunities to try and get the second goal. Second half, I think it started kind of similarly, but at some point there, and I’m not sure exactly of what minute that was, but it felt kind of early on where they started getting a little bit more of the game. You know, it’s not what we really wanted to do, but unfortunately we had to defend more than we would have wanted.
“But I do think that the subs that came in did an exceptional job today of knowing their role, being influential, and preserving that result. I think from the 80th minute on, so 15-20 minutes, I thought we actually were able to kind of get a grasp on things, not give up too many opportunities, keep possession in their end, kill time, kill clock, find some fouls, which is all a big part of seeing results out.
“So an incredibly professional performance in the second half, although I would love to find us a different way of keeping a 1-0 result and maybe turning that into two, as opposed to suffering for as much as we did in moments in that second half.”
Morey Doner
“I think the first half was really good. I think we started off really positive. They gave us a lot of chances to play with the ball, and they went pressing really high, so they gave us time to make our own passes and opportunities.
“But in the second half, they came out with a different press. And it was less space and time for us to make decisions. I thought we kind of struggled with that. I’m giving up a lot of fouls and corner kicks, which led to them continuing to press us and to create pressure on our team. Once you go through those moments over and over again, you start to lose confidence and doubt yourself a bit. But I thought the difference between last week in Lexington and this week is that we took the game out of them because we wasted some time and in the end, we got to win.”
Doner was also asked what advice he would give young players.
“I think the main thing for me that I try to emulate in my life is that I try to tell myself that I get to do something special that not everyone gets to do. So when I approach my day like that, sometimes I have a bad day, but I’m waking up and doing what I love, I’m waking up, 75 degrees every day. I’m kicking the ball. I go home at 12:30, one o’clock. I go for a coffee. I go to Whole Foods. I complain about the traffic, but in the end, the next day I get to wake up and do what I love again. So, I think for me, I’m very happy and very privileged to do that.”
Next Week
Oakland hosts Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC at the Oakland Coliseum next Sunday, September 7th at 1 PM.
