The University of Akron Athletics
Zips Wrap-up MAC West Play with Road Matches at Ball St. & Toledo
October 06 | Women's Soccer
Akron (5-4-1, 2-1-1) at Ball State (8-4-1, 3-1-0)
Oct. 7, 2011 | 4:00 p.m.
BSU Soccer Field | Muncie, Ind.
Live Stats: BallStateSports.com
Akron (5-4-1. 2-1-1) at Toledo (6-5-1, 4-0-0)
Oct. 2, 2011 | 1:00 p.m.
Scott Park Soccer Complex | Toledo, Ohio
Live Stats: UTRockets.com
Game Notes (PDF)
The Match Up...
• Akron takes on a pair of squads situated ahead of them in the early MAC table this weekend with road matches at Ball State and Toledo.
• BSU enters Friday's match with a 8-4-1 overall mark and a 3-1-0 mark in MAC play. UA has not lost to the Cardinals since 2007, going 2-0-1 in the last three meetings.
• Toledo sits atop the early MAC standings with a 4-0-0 conference mark. The Rockets are 6-5-1 overall. UT claimed a 1-0, double-OT win over Akron last season at FirstEnergy Stadium - Cub Cadet Field
Scouting The Cardinals...
• Ball State is the second-highest scoring offense in the MAC at 1.85 goals per game. Brigit Reder (6g, 1a) and Jasmine Moses (5g, 0a) lead the Cardinals up top.
• BSU has allowed 1.31 goals per match this season with Aubrey Buehler holding a 1.11 GAA in net. Buehler has four shutouts to her credit.
Scouting The Rockets...
• Defending MAC regular season champs Toledo, are off to another quick start this year. UT is scoring 1.67 goals per match with Rachel MacLeod (5g, 6a) and Kristen Lynn (7g, 1a) currently among the MAC's top five point scorers.
• Goalkeeper Vicki Traven leads a defense that is giving up 1.67 scores a match. Traven has three clean sheets and a 1.30 GAA.
Last Time Out...
• Akron split a pair of 1-0 road battles last weekend, dowing Northern Illinois on Friday before losing to Western Michigan on Sunday.
• Rachel Phillip scored the second half game-winner in the NIU match. Jordan Clark and Gillian Gross each picked up assists on the play.
• A 27th minute score by Brittney Pavlica on a corner kick was the difference in the loss to the Broncos.
• The WMU loss snapped a 5-game unbeaten streak (4-0-1) for UA. The Pavlica goal also halted an Akron shutout streak that had reached 523 minutes.
Quotable...
• Coach Chris Pfau on this weekend's matches: "It's going to be a tough weekend. Both Ball State and Toledo are playing very well. It's also our second consecutive weekend on the road so we will have to watch our legs. We'll have to rely on our bench, which we are comfortable with because our bench has really been playing well."
East vs. West...
• The Zips have historically struggled against the MAC West, but have the opportunity to buck the trend this season.
• UA's 3-3-0 mark against the West in 2003 is the best inter-divisional season in program history.
• The Zips are 2-1-1 through four games against the West this season, with the final two inter-divisional games occurring this weekend.
• The Zips enter MAC East play next weekend, and are 9-0-1 against East Division sides in the last two seasons.
Defensive Minded...
• With the exception of one match, Akron has played excellent defense to throughout the 2011 season.
• Excluding the 5-0 loss to Michigan State, UA is allowing just 0.33 goals a match this season.
• The Zips backline has recorded six clean sheets and allowed just one score in three other matches.
• Even including the 5-0 loss to MSU, Akron is 21st in the nation (3rd in the MAC) in shutout percantage at .600 - earning six shutouts in 10 matches.
• The Zips rank 44th in the nation in goals against average and Jeny Wolbert is 39th in the country individually in the statistic. Wolbert is 26th nationally in save percentage.
• UA had a shutout streak of 523 minutes snapped in the loss to WMU last weekend.
Record Watch...
• Rachel Phillip stands in the top ten in career points (third, 33), goals (third, 14), game winners (t-third, 5), shots (fifth, 94), assists (t-fifth, 5).
• Jordan Clark has the opportunity to break the career record for games played this season (74, Leigh Cullen, 2007-10). Clark has played in 68 matches in her career.
• Jeny Wolbert now owns both the career saves record (262) and the career wins mark (23). She also is approaching the career minutes played mark (4,945, Wilson). Wolbert has played 4,791 minutes in goal in her UA career.
• With her assist on the game-winner in the Michigan game, Kelly DeNiro moved into fourth on the all-time Akron assists list with six.
Up Next...
• The Zips return to the friendly confines of FirstEnergy Stadium - Cub Cadet Field next weekend. Akron hosts Bowling Green on Friday at 7:30 for Senior Night. Akron then takes on Miami on Sunday at 1:00.
