The University of Akron Athletics
No. 1 Men's Soccer Takes Down Northern Illinois, 1-0
October 09 | Men's Soccer
DEKALB, Ill. - Freshman striker Darren Mattocks, who scored twice at Oakland Wednesday, stayed hot by netting the game-winner as The No. 1 University of Akron men's soccer team earned a 1-0 victory at Northern Illinois Saturday at NIU Soccer Complex.
With the win, the Zips (9-0-1, 3-0-0 Mid-American Conference) remained unbeaten in their last 26 league matches (24-0-2), including postseason play, as well as extended their regular-season road unbeaten streak to 21 (18-0-3) matches.
"NIU is a tough team to play against," said UA head coach Caleb Porter. "It certainly wasn't pretty, but in this type of game it's about getting out of it with a result and we did that. We'll take it and move on. Our guys are looking forward to playing at Penn State Wednesday."
As has become a trend this fall, UA wasted little time taking the lead Saturday. Mattocks, who has now scored five goals in his last five matches, scored his team-leading seventh goal of the season in the 16th minute after an Akron free kick was headed into the air by an NIU defender.
The native of Kingston, Jamaica, has produced game-winning goals in each of his last two games and has scored at least one goal in four of his last five.
For the second straight game, reserve goalkeeper Anthony Ponikvar was called into action when starter David Meves left the game following a collision with NIU's Tim King on a long throw-in in the 50th minute. King was charged with a yellow card on the play. Ponikvar was more than up to the task, finishing with five saves in 40 minutes to preserve the Akron victory.
The Zips were already shorthanded to start the game as Hermann Trophy candidate and senior midfielder Anthony Ampaipitakwong was forced to miss the contest after taking a hard hit at Oakland Wednesday.
A number of reserve midfielders stepped up in his absence as true freshmen Reinaldo Brenes, who made his UA debut against Florida Atlantic last weekend, logged 64 minutes and Martin Ontiveros played 39 minutes. Sophomore midfielder Scott Caldwell earned his seventh start of the season in Ampaipitakwong's place.
After matching an NCAA record with 11 consecutive shutouts early this season, the Zips have shut out their last three opponents.
UA will complete the last leg of its three-game road trip at Penn State Wednesday at 7 p.m. (ET) before opening a four-game homestand against Buffalo (Oct. 16), Michigan (Oct. 19), Western Michigan (Oct. 23) and Creighton (Oct. 27).
Single-game and general admission season tickets are still available for those games and the remainder of the Zips' home schedule. To purchase your ticket, go to GoZips.com/tickets, call 1-888-99-AKRON (25766) or visit in-person at the Akron Athletics Ticket Office at InfoCision Stadium-Summa Field (located at the southwest corner of the venue, near Gate 1).
The UA Athletics Ticket Office is open Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. (ET).
Zips Notebook: Akron, which has won three consecutive league regular-season and tournament championships, is 22-1-1 all-time against MAC foes during the regular season under fifth-year head coach Caleb Porter ... UA is 72-1-1 when scoring first and 53-0-0 when leading at halftime since Porter arrived on campus in 2006 ... Saturday's game was just Akron's second decided by one goal this fall. Incidentally, the Zips have defeated the Huskies by one goal in each of their last four meetings ... Since 2008, UA has posted an overall record of 49-3-6 and a 13-0-1 mark in MAC play ... Akron has also recorded 42 shutouts in 58 contests during that time.
