Worthy's Hat Trick And Offensive Outpour Earns Akron A Dominant 6-0 Win Over Youngstown State

Sunday, September 2

Akron, Ohio

1 PM

University of Akron

2-2-1

Youngstown State University

1-3-2

Youngstown State

Akron

Photo by: Jeff Harwell

Worthy's Hat Trick And Offensive Outpour Earns Akron A Dominant 6-0 Win Over Youngstown State

September 02 | Women's Soccer

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AKRON, Ohio – Freshman Sydney Worthy (Groveport, Ohio) dazzled the crowd at FirstEnergy Stadium with her first career hat trick as the forward led the way for the Akron women's soccer team to a dominating 6-0 win over Youngstown State on Sunday afternoon.

Worthy's hat trick against the Penguins was the fifth in program history which puts her tied for first in goals scored in a single contest. The Zips scored five goals in the second half of play which is also tied for the most goals scored in a single half in program history. The last time it was accomplished was in 2003 against Youngstown State. The six goals scored by Akron are the most tallied in a single-game by the Zips squad since it was last done in 2008 against Pittsburgh.

Akron dominated the ball in both the offensive and defensive halves of the field against the Penguins. The Zips took the offensive advantage in shots with a 16-differential (20-to-4), including an 11-to-3 advantage in shots on goal. Defensively, Akron held YSU to one shot in the first half before allowing three in the second period, however not one shot would get past the Akron keepers.

In the contest, the Zips totaled a season-high 20 shots against the Penguins with 11 shots coming on goal. A trio of Zips players in the lineup registered four shots in the match including senior Rachel Baughman (Alliance, Ohio), sophomore Abigail Brown (Batavia, Ohio), and Worthy. An additional four Akron players each tallied at least one shot in the match.

Freshman Bella Henderson (St. Peters, Mo.) made her third start in the goal for Akron. In 73' of play, Henderson did not face a shot. At the 72:54 mark of the second stanza redshirt junior Samara Yurchak (Leola, Pa.) entered the match for the Zips and went on to grab three saves.

Baughman started the offensive frenzy for the Zips and tallied her second goal of the season at the 15:10 mark of the first half. Senior Erica Schrader (Blacklick, Ohio) possessed the ball in the left side of the box. Schrader made a quick turn around her defender and headed towards the net. Baughman came sprinting down the middle of the box and Schrader sent a picture-perfect pass to her teammate setting up the score. Schrader earned her first assist of the season on the play.

Holding a 10-1 shot advantage and dominating possession in the first half, Akron took the 1-0 lead with them into the locker room.

After the whistle blew signaling the start of the second half, the Akron offense began to pour in. Worthy scored three unanswered goals over the span of a 20-minute period. The freshman forward scored her first collegiate goal just two minutes into the second half. In the 51' of play, goal number two for the young Zip followed after sophomore Ryley Watt (Irwin, Pa.) sent a perfect pass off a free kick into the box and the speedy Worthy poked it in with her right foot as the keeper came out to make a play. The hat trick for Worthy was capped off after she took advantage of a YSU turnover in the box and fired a shot into the back of the net for goal number three.

The Akron offense did not stop there as Schrader got in the goal column with her first of the year courtesy of a penalty kick after the Penguins were whistled for a foul inside the box.

Sophomore Lexie Kolano (Trafford, Pa.) joined in on the scoring party in the 80' as the end result of a dynamic string of passes. Sophomore Eliese LaCourt (Rockford, Mich.) placed the ball into the box to Baughman, the Zips forward made one touch to Kolano, and the sophomore finished off the play with her first goal in an Akron uniform.

The Zips notched six assists in the contest, including a game-high and career-high two assists from Watt. LaCourt, Baughman, Schrader, and Kolano all garnered their first respective assists of the 2018 season.

Akron now prepares for a five-game road swing spanning over the next two weeks which includes the final three non-conference matches and opens the 2018 Mid-American Conference season. The Zips sights are first set on a trip to southwest Ohio as Akron takes on Dayton (Sept. 7) and Xavier (Sept. 9).