The University of Akron Athletics
Men's Soccer Ready To Begin NCAA Championship Journey Thursday
November 20 | Men's Soccer
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2013 NCAA Tournament Bracket: Interactive | Printable (PDF)
Tickets: Purchase On-Line Here
AKRON, Ohio – The University of Akron men's soccer team will host Indiana in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Thursday in a match-up of two of the past three national champions. The Zips and the defending NCAA Champion Hoosiers will kick off at 7 p.m. ET at FirstEnergy Stadium – Cub Cadet Field.
The winner of Thursday's match will travel to No. 9-seeded Marquette for an NCAA Second Round contest starting at 6 p.m. ET Sunday in Milwaukee, Wis.
Match #21: Akron Zips (16-3-1) vs. Indiana Hoosiers (8-11-2)
Date/Time: Nov. 21, 2013 • 7:00 p.m. ET
Venue: FirstEnergy Stadium – Cub Cadet Field • Akron, Ohio
Match Notes: NCAA Tournament First Round - Akron vs. Indiana (PDF)
Television: None • Radio: FOX Sports 1350 AM (WARF)
Live Stats: NCAA.com • Video Stream: MAC-Sports.com (Free)
On The Air Waves
• Thursday's match will air live on FOX Sports 1350 AM (WARF) with the pre-game show starting at 6:45 p.m. ET.
• Longtime voice of the Zips' Steve French will handle play-by-play duties, while former Akron All-American Simon Spelling will provide analysis.
Ticket Information
• Reserved ($15), General Admission ($10) and Student ($1) tickets are on sale now.
• Family Plans ($35) are also available and include a combination of two adult and two youth tickets or one adult and three youth tickets.
• To purchase your ticket, click on GoZips.com/Tickets, call 1-888-99-AKRON (25766) or visit the C.P. and Cornelia S. Chima Athletics Ticket Office at InfoCision Stadium – Summa Field (located at the southwest corner of the venue, near Gate 1, at the corner of East Exchange and South Union streets).
• Tickets may also be purchased at Gate 1 of FirstEnergy Stadium – Cub Cadet Field Thursday starting at 6 p.m.
Akron At The NCAA Tournament
• The Zips will be making their 28th all-time appearance in the NCAA postseason Thursday where they have posted a record of 9-1-4 (.785) since 2009. UA's lone defeat during the run of play came by way of a 1-0 result at Charlotte in the third round of the 2011 tournament.
• Akron is one of just eight Division I programs to qualify for the 48-team national tournament in each of the past seven seasons. Only Connecticut, Indiana, Louisville, Maryland, South Florida, UCLA and Virginia can share that claim.
• The Zips have advanced to the Round of 16 of the NCAA Tournament in each of the past five years. After playing Creighton to a 1-all draw after regulation in the third round a year ago, the Bluejays ended UA's season in a 5-4 penalty-kick shoot out.
• Akron captured the school's first team national championship in any sport in 2010 with a 1-0 victory over top-seeded Louisville. The historic victory came one year after UA fell in penatlies (3-2) to Virginia in the national final.
About Akron
• Winners of the Mid-American Conference regular-season and tournament titles, the Zips are unbeaten in their last 10 matches (9-0-1) and have been defeated just once (13-1-1) since Sept. 15.
• Akron's winning percentage of .825 (16-3-1) is fourth highest in the nation. UMBC, which is the No. 16 seed in the NCAA Tournament, leads the country with a mark of .895 (16-1-2).
• Senior Aodhan Quinn, who shares the team lead with six goals, became the ninth consecutive Akron player to be named MAC Player of the Year last week. The California-native and son of former U.S. Men's National Team star Brian Quinn joins an elite group of UA stars to earn the honor, including Scott Caldwell (2012), Darren Mattocks (2011), Darlington Nagbe (2010), Teal Bunbury (2009), Steve Zakuani (2008), Cory Sipos (2007), Sinisa Ubiparipovic (2006) and Ross McKenzie (2005).
• With a healthy roster and players peaking at the right time, the UA attack has been producing at a much more efficient level in the last month. In fact, after scoring 15 goals through the first 14 matches of the season, Akron has scored 15 times in its past six contests alone.
• Along those lines, the Zips have set season highs for goals scored in each of their past two games, finding the back of the net three times against West Virginia and then four times versus Western Michigan.
• Five different Akron players have scored multiple goals in a match this fall, including Zac Portillos, who bagged the brace and added an assist in UA's last match against Western Michigan in the MAC Tournament final. Eric Stevenson, who is third on the team with five goals scored, has accomplished the feat on two occasions this fall. The first came in a 2-1 win against San Diego St. on Sept. 6 and the second in a last Friday night's 3-0 victory against West Virginia.
• Multiple-goal games have been especially common recently as an Akron player has recorded a brace in four of the past five matches: Robbie Derschang at Michigan, Quinn vs. Penn State, Stevenson vs. West Virginia and Portillos vs. Western Michigan.
• Akron true freshman Adam Najem has been a key to the Zips offensive revival. Since Oct. 9, the midfielder has scored four goals and handed out six assists in 10 contests. Furthermore, two of his goals have been game winners and three of his assists have led to game-winning goals during that time.
• Najem's team-leading total of eight assists rank him 23rd nationally among all Division I players and second among all Division I freshmen (Boston College's Zeiko Lewis has 11). Moreover, it is the highest assist total by an Akron freshman since Anthony Ampaipitakwong notched nine as a first-year player in 2007.
• Akron's possession-style attack has provided opposing teams very few scoring chances this season. As a unit, the Zips are ranked eighth in the nation with a goals-against-average (GAA) of 0.61 and 29th with a shutout percentage of 0.45.
• UA has displayed a flair for dramatics in 2013 with seven of its wins coming on game-winning goals after the 75th minute of play. Moreover, following Derschang's game winner at WMU on Nov. 9, the Zips improved to 4-1-1 in overtime games.
• Third-year sophomore Jake Fenlason has started the last two games in net for the Zips, allowing just one goal in 180 minutes (0.50 GAA). He earned the first shutout of this career in his collegiate debut against West Virginia in the MAC Tournament semifinals last Friday night.
About Indiana
• The Hoosiers became the first No. 16 seed in history to win the NCAA Championship in 2012. IU defeated Georgetown 1-0 in Hoover, Ala., to claim its eighth national title.
• Indiana nearly missed the opportunity to defend its crown this fall however, going 8-11-2 overall and losing five straight matches from Oct. 2-18. But an inspired run through the Big Ten Tournament salvaged the season as IU secured an automatic berth by defeating Michigan State 1-0 in the championship match last weekend in Columbus.
• The Hoosiers went 0-6 vs. nationally-ranked foes during the regular season with setbacks against UCLA (1-0), UAB (2-1), Butler (3-2), Notre Dame (2-0), Louisville (3-0) and the Spartans (2-1). Four of those losses came in overtime.
• Senior midfielder Nikita Kotlov, who netted the game-winning goal in the national championship game a year ago, shares the team lead for goals scored (5) with Tommy Thompson and Femi Hollinger-Janzen.
• Indiana is 1-5-2 in matches decided in overtime this fall. Further, the Hoosiers have been defeated five times in contests they held the lead or were tied with 10 minutes to play.
• Twelve Indiana players have contributed to the team total of 34 goals in 21 matches (1.62/game). Conversely, the Hoosiers have allowed 35 goals or 1.67 per game.
Indiana Series Notes
• Thursday's game will represent the 34th meeting between the Zips and Hoosiers. Akron trails the all-time series with a record of 7-24-2 (.242) dating back to the 1967 season.
• UA has won each of the last three meetings however, including a 2-1 victory in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at FirstEnergy Stadium – Cub Cadet Field in 2010, and is unbeaten in its last four (3-0-1).
• Akron's 2-1 victory during its national championship run marked its first win against IU in the NCAA Tournament in five tries.
• The Zips earned a 1-0 result against Indiana during the regular season last fall at the Notre Dame Tournament in South Bend. Eric Stevenson scored the match's lone goal by tucking a liner just inside the far right post in the 19th minute.
Akron Versus The Big Ten
• The Zips went 3-0-1 against the Big Ten during the regular season and have gone 9-0-2 against the league since 2012.
• UA defeated then-ranked No. 11 Penn State (2-1, 2OT), Michigan (2-1) and Ohio State (1-0) while drawing No. 17 Michigan State (0-0).
• In all, Akron is 25-4-5 (.808) versus teams from the Big Ten since 2007. During that time, the Zips have out-scored the competition, 62-22.
Zips Claim 10th MAC Tournament Title
• Akron defeated West Virginia (3-0) in the semifinals and took down Western Michigan (4-1) in the title game to win its 10th MAC Tournament Championship last weekend at FirstEnergy Stadium – Cub Cadet Field.
• In recognition of their performances over the two matches, Najem, Portillos, Quinn and Stevenson each landed on the MAC All-Tournament Team.
• The Zips won the MAC Tournament title for the second straight season and have secured six of the last seven conference tournament crowns overall.
