It was a beautiful night for football in Saline, as the Mighty Oak took on Northwood University for a preseason friendly.

Play kicked off at 7:00pm. The Mighty Oak looked confident in the opening ten minutes, controlling play and dominating possession. A few efforts came on the counter from Northwood, but AFCAA was able to hold off the advances.

In the 25th minute, Connor Cole found space down the left hand side for Northwood and whipped in a dangerous cross to the top of the box finding the late runner, who coolly slotted home the ball into the Mighty Oak net.

The pressure continued to mount for AFC Ann Arbor and after some tough challenges, AFC’s Knox Cameron was shown a yellow card in the 35th minute.

A free kick at the top of the eighteen yard box snuck past the AFC wall and forced an excellent save from AFC keeper Adrian Motta, who was the mighty oak’s stand out performer in the first half.

The second half saw an immediate turnaround for the Mighty Oak, and second half substitute, Yuri Farkas, took a sliced Northwood clearance off his chest and volleyed in to level the match 1-1.

Then in the 50th minute, Dalton Ames saw yellow for a tough challenge. Northwood easily cleared the resulting free kick away. AFC Ann Arbor looked poised to make the breakthrough after shots from Dario Suarez and Hector Morales both went wide.

The physical play continued and yellow cards came to both Dario Suarez and Adam Miserly.

In the 88th minute, after a Northwood Yellow Card, the free kick bounced around in the box before finding its way to the left side of the box. The ball was brilliantly flicked up and over the Northwood defense for Knox Cameron to powerfully head home, giving the Mighty Oak a deserved 2-1 lead, with just minutes to play.

AFC could have made it three in the 92nd minute, Knox Cameron again leading the charge. Northwood pressed hard, but after a few more seconds, the referee blew the whistle for Full Time.

AFC Ann Arbor will enjoy a well deserved win, but will also be taking a few things learned from the match into next weeks training. Now the Mighty Oak must prepare for the first match at Holloway Field against Oakland County FC at 7:00pm Friday April 29th.