Golden Goal Propels Santa Clara Past Akron, 2-1

Thursday, November 18

Akron, Ohio

7:00 PM

University of Akron

9-6-3, 2-3-1

Santa Clara

12-1-4, 5-0-2

Santa Clara

Akron

November 18 | Men's Soccer

Box Score

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BOXSCORE (PDF) | AKRON POSTGAME COMMENTS | SANTA CLARA POSTGAME COMMENTS | PHOTO GALLERY

AKRON, Ohio – A golden goal in the 102nd minute from Eduardo Lopez Perez lifted No. 16 Santa Clara (12-1-4) to 2-1 double-overtime triumph past Akron (9-6-3) in the opening round of the 2021 NCAA Men's Soccer Championship on Thursday, Nov. 18 at FirstEnergy Stadium.

The tally spoiled what had been a statistically dominating performance by the Zips against the West Coast Conference champion Broncos, who extended their unbeaten streak to 13 games with the victory.

Akron registered a 17-3 edge in shots in the contest, including a 4-3 margin in shots on goal. Santa Clara was held to just one shot on the evening until the final play of the tilt, one that resulted in the game-winner.

Freshman Jonas Buechte (Rantigen, Germany) recorded a game-high four shots for the Zips, while adding two strikes apiece was senior Diogo Pacheco (Lisbon, Portugal), junior Carlo Ritaccio (Westbury, N.Y.), sophomore Will Jackson (Hudson, Ohio) and freshmen Tobias Bak (Taastrup, Denmark) and Dyson Clapier (Layton, Utah).

The Zips assumed an early 1-0 lead in the contest at the 25:49 mark when Ritaccio delivered his third goal of the season heading home a ball served into the box on a corner kick from Buechte.

Akron maintained a 1-0 advantage into the intermission as the Zips outshot the Broncos in the opening stanza, 8-0.

Santa Clara netted the equalizer in the 47th minute (46:15) when Tyrone Kirunda found the back of the net off assists from Oladayo Thomas and Javier Ruz Duran.

The game marked the final contests in the distinguished Akron careers for seniors Samuel George (Dagenham, England), Will Meyer (Solon, Ohio), Pacheco, Hazem Sobhy (Cairo, Egypt) and Daniel Strachan (Lakewood, Ohio), as well as Ritaccio and redshirt sophomore Ivan Nikolic (Toronto, Ontario).