The University of Akron Athletics
No. 4 Men's Soccer Rallies Past Ohio State in Thriller
November 08 | Men's Soccer
scored a pair of goals and assisted two others while Blair Gavin put the finishing touches on an
improbable comeback as the No. 4 University of Akron men's soccer
team rallied to a 4-3 victory over Ohio State Friday night before
1,008 fans at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.
Akron (15-1-3) started the second half with a 1-0 lead, but it
wouldn't hold up in a frantic second half that featured six goals
and 17 combined shots.
UA, which hadn't allowed more than one goal in a single game all
season, saw OSU score two times in little more than one minute to
regain the lead early in the second half and find the net three
times for the contest. The Zips' defense, which is ranked second in
the nation, had allowed just six scores through the first 18 games
of the year.
"This was one of the craziest soccer games I have been a part of,"
said UA head coach Caleb Porter. "Our performance defensively was
not good enough and we are going to have to make some adjustments.
However, this team has a special quality that sets them apart. They
find ways to win and tonight our attacking group was electric."
The 2007 national runners-up Buckeyes (9-7-2) wasted little time
after the break, blitzing back with two goals in the first five
minutes of play. A goal by Ben Zemanski tied the game in the 55th minute,
but the Zips had to rally once more as OSU regained the lead less
than a minute later.
Zakuani, the nation's goals leader and Hermann Trophy candidate,
scored his second goal of the game to pull the Zips even before
assisting Gavins's gamewinner in the 82nd minute. Zakuani crossed
the ball from the left side of the box and Gavin lifted the ball
just under the crossbar from 10 yards out for his first goal of the
season.
The Zips were on the attack for much of the first half and
capitalized early when Steve Zakuani netted his nation-leading 18th goal
off a feed from Darlington Nagbe in the 13th minute. The
difficult shot by the Hermann Trophy candidate came from the top of
the box and traveled about 25 yards before settling into the top of
the goal.
The Buckeyes actually managed to out-shoot UA in the opening
period, 8-4, with most of their opportunities coming off counters.
Evan Bush recorded three saves as the Zips took a
1-0 lead into the break.
A goal by OSU's Konrad Warzycha in the 48th minute knotted the game
at 1-all and a score by teammate Dave Tiemstra in the 49th minute
gave the Buckeyes their first lead of the game. Both tallies were
assisted by Joshua Breto, with Warzycha also getting credit for an
assist on Tiemstra's score.
Zemanski his second goal of the season from the top of the box off
a feed from Zakuani to tie the game for the second time, but OSU
answered right back with a goal off the foot of Doug Verhoff and
assisted by Sam Scales less than one minute later.
Zakuani struck again in the 68th minute with his 19th goal of the
year to tie the game for a third and final time off a pair of
passes from Gavin and Bunbury.
The atmosphere for the game was also electric as more than 150 UA
students made the trip down to Columbus.
"I also can't say enough about our fans, the AK-Rowdies, who made
the trip to Columbus," Porter said. "They were a big part of this
victory."
Friday's game concluded the regular season for Akron. The Zips will
have a week off before beginning defense of their MAC Tournament
title next Friday night at Lee Jackson Field.
Zips Notebook: With a pair of goals, Zakuani moved
into fifth place on UA's single-season records list with 19 ... The
striker also also moved into sixth place on the school's
single-season list for points with 45 on the year ... UA, which
improved to 22-6-2 all-time versus Ohio State, defeated the
Buckeyes for the first time in Columbus since 1984 – snapping
a string of three-straight defeats ... The Zips finished the
regular season with a 2-0-2 record versus schools from the Big Ten
Conference ... Akron, which was out-shot 17-12 for the game, was
out-shot for just the fifth time all season.
