Akron Falls to Bowling Green in Season Opener

Thursday, March 4

Akron, Ohio

7:00 PM

University of Akron

0-1-0

Bowling Green

1-0-0

Bowling Green

Akron

March 04 | Women's Soccer

Box Score

Follow Akron Women's Soccer on Facebook and Twitter

BOXSCORE (PDF)

AKRON, Ohio - The University of Akron women's soccer team opened its 2021 spring campaign on Thursday, March 4 at FirstEnergy Stadium, dropping a 3-0 decision to Bowling Green (1-0-0), the defending Mid-American Conference champions.

"I thought in the first half we did alright against a very good team, unfortunately going down right before the half was a bit of a blow," Akron head coach Noreen Herlihy commented. "Overall, I thought we made a couple of mistakes that cost us, and we can't make those against a team like this and not be punished. Overall, we know we need to be better, we just made team mistakes and they capitalized on them. We didn't create enough moving forward and now we have to dust ourselves off and show our character and look to bounce back at Kent State on Sunday."

The Zips were outshot on the evening, 14-5, including 5-2 on goal, with sophomore Bailee Bowers (Dublin, Ohio) directing Akron's offensive attack with a team-high three shots, with one falling on frame. The Zips also garnered shots from redshirt junior Charley Kale (Sylvania, Ohio) and junior Sydney Worthy (Groveport, Ohio). Nikki Cox led Bowling Green with a game-high five shots.

Sophomore GK Vanessa Berlin (Gau-Odernheim, Germany) notched a pair of saves in net for the Zips, while Lili Berg and Becky Moss each posted a stop for the Falcons.

The two sides battled through a defensive first half which saw the teams combine on 10 shots as they fought through the elements on a 28-degree evening.

The Falcons assumed a 1-0 lead in the 43rd minute (42:34) when a give-and-go from Maya Dean to Lynsey Spotts resulted in a Bowling Green goal. The tally was the first of the season for Spotts.

The Zips lone shot on goal in the opening kick came off a free kick that nearly bent into goal off the foot of Bowers at the 44:32 mark.

Kennedy White extended the Falcons' advantage to 2-0 in the 51st minute (50:27) when she found the back of the net for her first goal of the year.

Lacee Bethea capped the scoring on the evening with a tally at the 69:12 mark off assists from Cox and Sarah Allen.

Worthy collected Akron's best scoring chance with a strike on net in the 87th minute (86:23) that only a leaping save by Moss prevented the strike from being a goal.

Akron is scheduled to travel to Kent, Ohio, to square off against Kent State on Sunday, March 7 in a 1 p.m. contest. The rivalry showdown will have a full point on the line for the winner in the Crystal Clinic Orthopaedic Center Wagon Wheel Challenge. The Zips currently lead this year's edition of the challenge, 4.0-2.0.