The University of Akron Athletics
Team of Distinction: 1986 Men's Soccer
Under the direction of head coach Steve Parker, the 1986 soccer team became Akron’s first College Cup team, setting its preseason goals on a national
championship.
Only those familiar with the 1986 University of Akron soccer team knew what the chant, “Here we go, Here we go,” meant. That pre-battle cry was the self-imposed slogan developed by the 1986 Zip booters and inspired them throughout their season.Heading into the season, head coach Steve Parker knew all too well the sweet taste of gaining NCAA tournament bids but, also the bitter flavor of early-round defeats. After his teams had earned three consecutive NCAA appearances, that saw only the 1983 squad advancing to the second round, Parker was determined to do better.
“We have set our sights high, and there is no reason that we should settle for anything less than a national championship,” Parker said before the start of the 1986 schedule. Some raised their eyebrows, some passed it off as acute optimism, and others even laughed. The laughing didn’t last long.
UA went on to earn its fourth consecutive NCAA tournament bid, advance farther than any previous soccer squad in finishing as national runner-up and winning 17 games, the most in its 32-year soccer history. In the process, the Zips captured their seventh consecutive Ohio Collegiate Soccer Association Championship, senior striker Derek Gaffney earned first-team All-America honors by the Intercollegiate Soccer Association of America, and Parker was accorded National Coach of the Year by the National Collegiate Soccer Coaches Association.Akron opened its season by hosting the Budweiser Classic, which it had won on five previous occasions, and defeated Western Kentucky, 3-0. However, a sixth championship was not to be as Wisconsin blitzed the Zips with three goals in nine minutes for a 4-3 victory.
The Zips regrouped and put together a nine-game stretch that saw UA pile up six victories and three ties. Most notable in that period was a venture west to Fresno, CA to compete in the Domino Pizza Gold Rush Classic. After a scoreless tie with San Francisco, UA stunned hometown favorite Fresno State, 2-1.
“It was a turning point for the Zips,” Parker said.
That streak also included a 1-0 win over national power Penn State and a 1-0 shutout of the 14th ranked Indiana Hoosiers before a sellout crowd at Buchtel Field. Not since 1975 had UA recorded a victory over Indiana.
Akron then sandwiched six consecutive wins between a 2-1 upset to unheralded Fairleigh Dickinson and a 4-1 shellacking to another national power, South Carolina. Among those six wins was a heart-stopping 1-0 upset of the nation’s number one ranked Evansville Purple Aces before a crowd of 3,000 on Lee Jackson Field. It vaulted the Zips to a nationally ranked sixth place, their highest ranking ever up to that time. That outstanding effort was followed up on Lee Jackson Field with a record-breaking eight goals, all in the second half, for an 8-0 bashing of Wisconsin-Green Bay.
UA then closed out its regular season with a 2-0 victory at Davidson and a 14-3-3 record.
It was no shock that Akron earned its 15th NCAA tournament bid in the sports’ history on campus, but getting a bye in the first round was. It was the start of something special.
Beating a team twice in any sport is no easy task, let alone in the NCAA tournament. However, the Zips pulled it off against three top-notch programs in 1986. It began with Akron journeying for a return match with Evansville and coming away with another heart-stopping 2-1, win.
The Zips then hosted a quarterfinal match for the first time and defeated Penn State for the second time, 2-1, in overtime with a 3-2 advantage in penalty kicks and, in front of an estimated 3,500 chilly fans. Then it was it was out West for another go around with Fresno State, which proved as exciting as the first meeting as UA nipped the Bulldogs, 1-0 on freshman Neil Turnbull’s first half goal.A week later, on December 13, the Zips were back out West for the school’s first NCAA I national title game at the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Wash. Their opponent, the highly regarded Duke Blue Devils.
Previous history had Akron playing with a chip on its shoulder. Years prior, Steve Parker was told by Duke athletic personnel that his team was not prominent enough to play the likes of the Blue Devils, and assistant coach Simon Spelling, who played well enough at Akron to earn All-America honors, was told he was not good enough to play at Duke. As it turned out, the Zips came up short on the scoreboard losing by the narrowest of margins, 1-0. Interestingly, one of the Duke starting players was Ken Lolla, who succeeded Parker as the UA head coach in 1993. In his 13 year-career Lolla became the school’s winningest soccer coach with record of 160 wins, 71 losses and 25 ties.
Akron finished with a 17-4-3 record as the national runner-up and the Duke loss did nothing to reduce the season’s performance in Coach Parker’s mind.
“These are some of the finest young men I’ve ever been associated with,” said Parker, in his fifth year at UA. “They are the epitome of the word team.”
As in any success story, the Zips had an abundance of individual talent. Besides Gaffney, other senior players were Bill Andrews, David Burke, Michael Berish, and Mark Pfister. This five-some helped UA compile an impressive 58-16-11 mark over the last four seasons. Other veterans who turned in outstanding performances were fullback Shaun Docking, midfielders Grahame Evison and Pat Nash; and forward Roderick Scott.
Three freshmen, who started in all 24 games, were forwards Turnbull and David Wells and goalie David Zupko. All three played key roles in the Zips successful campaign. Turnbull was UA’s leading scorer with 11 goals, seven by headers, and one assist, while Wells added six goals and four assists to the Zip attack.At 5-8, 160, Zupko was an undersized goalie who made up for it with his uncanny quickness and leaping ability. He registered a school-record 12 shutouts and had an impressive 0.83 goals-against-average.
“I think we turned the corner in terms of national exposure, said Parker. “In past years, everybody regarded Akron as a ‘good’ team- a team that would make the NCAA tournament. The difference in our approach this year is our kids expected to win!”
1986 Akron Men’s Soccer Team
17-4-3 overall
Ohio College Soccer Association Champions
| No. | Name | Pos. | Ht. | Wt. | Yr. | Hometown | |||
| 1 | Bill Andrews | GK | 5-10 | 165 | Sr. | Akron, Ohio | |||
| 1 | David Zupko | GK | 5-8 | 150 | Fr. | Westfield, N.J. | |||
| 2 | Kory Sensky | MF | 6-0 | 175 | So. | Washington, Pa. | |||
| 3 | Neil Turnbull | FB | 6-3 | 170 | Fr. | Fareham, England | |||
| 4 | Matt Smith | FB | 5-11 | 162 | Jr. | Ringwood, England | |||
| 5 | Peter Mapp | MF/FB | 5-10 | 150 | Fr. | North Canton, Ohio | |||
| 6 | Mark Pfister | FB | 5-9 | 160 | Sr. | Brecksville, Ohio | |||
| 7 | Grahame Evison | MF/FB | 5-10 | 160 | So. | Crowborough, England | |||
| 8 | Derek Gaffney | MF/F | 5-10 | 160 | Sr. | Dublin, Ireland | |||
| 9 | Michael Berish | MF | 5-10 | 160 | Sr. | Stow, Ohio | |||
| 10 | Shaun Docking | MF | 5-11 | 165 | Jr. | Eastleigh, England | |||
| 11 | Miki Jalics | F | 5-10 | 155 | Fr. | Copley, Ohio | |||
| 12 | David Burke | FB | 6-2 | 170 | Sr. | Columbis, Md. | |||
| 13 | Tommy O’Rourke | F | 5-8 | 150 | Fr. | North Olmsted, Ohio | |||
| 16 | Pat Nash | MF | 5-11 | 165 | Jr. | Akron, Ohio | |||
| 18 | Roderick Scott | F | 5-10 | 160 | So. | Kitchener, Ont. | |||
| 19 | David Wells | F | 5-10 | 150 | Fr. | Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio | |||
Head Coach: Steve Parker
Dr. Tom Nash, Assistant Coach
Simon Spelling, Assistant Coach
Sean Burke, Assistant Coach
as printed in the 1986 media guide
