It was a golden finish for the Oakland Roots [1], who despite coming into the match having already been eliminated from playoff contention, had one of their most complete performances of the entire season, defeating Lexington SC by a final score of 3-0 at the Oakland Coliseum on Saturday night, October 25.
[2]Lexington needed to win this match to punch their ticket to the 2025 USL Championship playoffs. In the early portion of the match, Lexington deployed an aggressive high press but Oakland defenders did a good job of disallowing the visiting team’s ability to turn that pressure into real scoring threats.
In the 19th minute of the match, the Roots opened the scoring in historic fashion when Bobosi Byaruhanga made a furious run up the right wing to keep a play alive before sending a cross to Wolfgang Prentice just outside the top of the box. Prentice chipped the ball past a defender, finding Peter Wilson, who also shook a defender before depositing the ball just inside the right post to give Oakland a 1-0 lead.
The goal was Wilson’s 18th of the regular season, and earned him the 2025 USL Championship Golden Boot award. It was also his eighth consecutive match with a goal, tying him with Hadji Barry for the all-time league record. And if that weren’t enough, the goal also pushed Wilson to 22 goal contributions in 2025, passing Óttar Magnús Karlsson to become the all-time single-season club leader.
Despite the desperation from Lexington following the goal, the Roots kept their foot on the gas, limiting opposition scoring opportunities, and continuing to find attacking pressure of their own.
Wolfgang Prentice scored one of his own to push Lexington’s season to the brink with only moments remaining in the match, when Camden Riley played a cross into the box, finding Prentice all alone with time to take a touch before putting a shot off the keepers gloves and into the twine to make it 2-0 Oakland in the 82nd minute.
The Roots put the game to bed in the 89th minute, scoring their third of the match when Peter Wilson capped off an otherworldly season by earning an assist on what turned out to be his very last play of 2025, teeing up Faysal Bettache for his first goal of the year to bring the score to 3-0.
Oakland’s season is over, but the club delivered one of the most exciting matches in club history to send 2025 out with a bang.
Talking with the Head Coach
After the match, Head Coach Benny Feilhaber told reporters he didn’t want to talk about the game, but he just wanted to say that this season has been an honor for him.
“I’ve told you guys this before,” he said. “It’s the first time that I’ve had the opportunity to coach a first team. I coached with Sporting’s second team, which is nothing like this. And I’m very appreciative of the opportunity that I was given. I’m extremely appreciative of the effort that the boys put in. I think we have a lot of top quality people, top quality professionals. I want to also thank the staff that came and worked tirelessly every single day—both the coaching staff and the support staff.”
Feilhaber added that it has been an honor getting to know the media as well. “I see you guys as part of the staff,” he said. “You guys push the product out there to the rest of the fans through the media.”
Last, but “definitely not least,” he added, “I feel connected to the fans in Oakland. I never lived in NorCal, I’m a SoCal guy, but I can honestly say that it’s a part of me now. And it’s been a great experience for me. I can relate to the fans. I think you guys probably know that from a lot of my press conferences and teams that I’ve rooted for and the highs and lows. These fans deserve a winning team, and I obviously hope that they get that. I think they will.”
The coach finished by saying, “Regardless of what happens this offseason or into next, I’ll forever be a fan and follow the Oakland Roots. So as much as it’s not the end that we necessarily wanted in terms of the season, I think it’s been an incredible ride with a lot of optimism for the future.”
Summary
Scoring:
- OAK: Peter Wilson 19’
- OAK: Wolfgang Prentice 82’
- OAK: Faysal Bettache 89’
Discipline:
- OAK: Peter Wilson 67’ (yellow card)
- OAK: Daniel Gomez 73’ (yellow card)
- LEX: Latif Blessing 75’ (yellow card)
- LEX: Joseph Hafferty 87’ (yellow card)
Oakland Roots SC
Lineup: Gagi Margvelashvili, Camden Riley, Daniel Gomez, Wolfgang Prentice (Morey Doner), Peter Wilson (EJ Johnson), Tyler Gibson, Neveal Hackshaw, Bobosi Byaruhanga, Kai Greene (Jürgen Damm), Raphael Spiegel, Faysal Bettache
Unused subs: Kendall McIntosh, Julian Bravo, Ali Elmasnaouy, Thomas Camier, Alejandro Caracheo Luna, Ilya Alekseev
Line: Shots: 12 | Shots On Goal: 4 | Corner Kicks: 3 | Fouls: 15 | Offside: 2
Lexington SC
Lineup: Logan Ketterer, Kendall Burks, Joseph Hafferty, Elio Firmino (Michael Adedokun), Roderick Epps, Blaine Ferri, Jacob Greene, Alfredo Midence (Braudilio Rodrigues), Latif Blessing, Forster Ajago, Cory Burke
Unused subs: Xavier Zengue, Daniel Wu, Malik Henry-Scott, Brooks Thompson, Devon Williams
Line: Shots: 15 | Shots On Goal: 3 | Corner Kicks: 5 | Fouls: 15 | Offside: 2