The University of Akron Athletics
Men's Soccer Continues NCAA Run At No. 9-Seed Marquette Sunday
November 23 | Men's Soccer
Follow Akron Men's Soccer on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram | Buy Tickets
2013 NCAA Tournament Bracket: Interactive | Printable (PDF)
AKRON, Ohio – The University of Akron men's soccer team will play at No. 9-seed Marquette Sunday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Zips and the Big East Champion Golden Eagles will kick off at 6 p.m. ET at Valley Fields in Milwaukee, Wis.
The winner of Sunday's contest will advance to take on the winner of the No. 8-seed Virginia vs. St. John's match on Dec. 1 in the third round of the NCAA Tournament.
Match #22: Akron Zips (17-3-1) at No. 9 Marquette Golden Eagles (12-5-2)
Date/Time: Nov. 24, 2013 • 6:00 p.m. ET
Venue: Valley Fields • Milwaukee, Wis.
Match Notes: NCAA Tournament Second Round - Akron at Marquette (PDF)
Television: None • Radio: None
Live Stats: GoMarquette.com • Video Stream: GoMarquette.com (Free)
Akron At The NCAA Tournament
• The Zips are making their 28th all-time appearance in the NCAA postseason where they have posted a record of 10-1-4 (.800) 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 penalties (3-2) to Virginia in the national final.
The Road To Philly
• UA advanced to Sunday's game after knocking off 2012 defending champion Indiana 3-2 in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament last Thursday night at FirstEnergy Stadium – Cub Cadet Field.
• Akron jumped on top with three early goals before holding off an inspired IU rally that saw the Big Ten Champions pull to within one in the 53rd minute.
• Senior striker and Hermann Trophy Watch List honoree Reinaldo Brenes paced the Zips attack with his first multiple-goal performance of the fall and third-year sophomore Jake Fenlason made seven saves in just his third career start in goal.
• Brenes opened the scoring in just the match's seventh minute, then completed the brace with the game-winning goal in minute 48. The native of Costa Rica may have notched his second career hat trick after his shot late in the first half appeared to break the plane of the goal line. But the referee ruled otherwise as a Hoosiers' defender came swooping in to clear the shot off the line with a bicycle kick.
• Senior midfielder and Mid-American Conference Player of the Year Aodhan Quinn also stayed red hot with a goal and an assist. Quinn has scored a goal in each of the Zips' last three matches.
• Despite the Zips' offensive onslaught, the match's outcome may have been very different had it not been for a trio of spectacular saves by Fenlason. Fenlason came off his line to smother a dangerous 1v1 opportunity on an IU breakaway in the 19th minute then turned away rapid-fire shots early in the second half as IU's Femi Hollinger-Janzen had a go from just inside the 18 and teammate Tommy Thompson redirected the rebound from close range.
About Akron
• Winners of the Mid-American Conference regular-season and tournament titles, the Zips are unbeaten in their last 11 matches (10-0-1) and have been defeated just once (14-1-1) since Sept. 15.
• With a healthy roster and players peaking at the right time, the UA attack has been among the hottest in the country. After scoring 15 goals through the first 14 matches of the season, Akron has scored 18 times in its past seven contests alone.
• While goals had been coming at a premium for the Zips early this season, tremendous individual play has not. In fact, six different Akron players have bagged a brace in 2013, including a pair of two-goal performances by Eric Stevenson, who willed UA to a 2-1, double-overtime victory against San Diego State on Sept. 6 and fueled a 3-0 rout of West Virginia in the MAC Tournament semifinals last weekend.
• Following Reinaldo Brenes' two-goal performance against IU last Thursday night, a different Akron player has recorded a brace in each of the Zips' last three matches (Stevenson vs. West Virginia on Nov. 15 and Zac Portillos vs. Western Michigan on Nov. 17). Furthermore, five different UA players have posted two-goal games in the last six contests, including Robbie Derschang at Michigan on Oct. 30 and Aodhan Quinn vs. Penn State on Nov. 6.
• 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 seven assists in 11 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 nine assists rank him 12th nationally among all Division I players and second among all Division I freshmen (Boston College's Zeiko Lewis has 11). Moreover, it matches the highest assist total by an Akron freshman since Anthony Ampaipitakwong notched nine as a first-year player in 2007.
• 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.
• Quinn became the ninth consecutive Akron player to be named MAC Player of the Year in 2013. 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).
• Akron's possession-style attack has provided opposing teams very few scoring chances this season. As a unit, the Zips are ranked 13th in the nation with a goals-against-average (GAA) of 0.67.
About Marquette
• Champions of the Big East Tournament, the Golden Eagles, who shared the regular-season crown with Georgetown, were awarded the No. 9 seed and a first-round bye during Monday's NCAA Selection Show.
• Marquette defeated Providence 3-2 to win the first Big East Tournament championship in program history last weekend at PPL Park, the site of the 2013 College Cup.
• MU, which was the No. 7 seed nationally in the NCAA Tournament a year ago, is 0-2 all-time at the Big Dance. The Golden Eagles suffered a 1-0 defeat to Northwestern in the second round at Valley Fields in 2012 and were defeated by Mid-American Conference champion Bowling Green in the first round of the 1997 tourney.
• Marquette was 2-1 versus nationally-ranked opponents during the regular season, posting victories in back-to-back matches against No. 21 Butler (3-2, 2OT) and No. 7 Creighton (1-0) in early October. After playing No. 9 Georgetown to a scoreless draw in regulation, MU fell by way of a Golden Goal in the first overtime period later that month. All three matches were played at Valley Fields where the Golden Eagles posted a record of 5-2-1.
• MU went 2-1-1 against shared Akron opponents this fall; defeating Bowling Green (3-0) and Michigan (1-0), losing to Michigan State (2-0), and drawing St. John's (0-0).
• The Golden Eagles are led in scoring by sophomore forward C. Nortey, who has scored nine goals – including five game winners – in 19 matches. Junior goalkeeper Charlie Lyon, who shared goalkeeper of the year honors with Georgetown's Tomas Gomez, has logged every minute in net for MU and owns a GAA of 0.86.
Marquette Series Notes
• Sunday's game will represent the 13th meeting between the Zips and Golden Eagles. Akron is unbeaten against Marquette through the first 12 matches, posting an all-time series record of 8-0-4 (.833) dating back to the 1980 season.
• The two teams played each other on a fairly regular basis throughout the 1980s and 90s but have not faced off since the 1998 campaign. UA, which is 4-0-1 at Marquette all-time, and MU have never met in the postseason.
