Men's Soccer: WVU Falls to Akron
November 23, 2005 02:34 PM | General
November 23, 2005
AKRON, Ohio – The West Virginia University men’s soccer team fell 5-0 to No. 9 seeded Akron in the second round of the NCAA tournament on Wednesday, Nov. 23, in Akron, Ohio.
The match was supposed to be played the previous night, however a snowstorm blanketed Akron’s field and pushed the game to Wednesday.
The Mountaineers (13-8-2) struggled to find their footing in the first half as every chance around the goal seemed to slip away due to the slick, frozen surface of Lee Jackson Field. The Zips (18-1-2) on the other hand thrived in the first period as they out shot WVU 12-1 and netted a pair of goals.
West Virginia goalkeeper Nick Noble and the rest of the defense held the game at 0-0 through the first 31 minutes of play. In the 29th minute Noble made a diving save but could not hold onto the ball and a rebound shot was then saved by defender Pat Carroll. An Akron player was able to fire off one more shot in the flurry, but Noble was able to make yet another diving save.
True freshman Matthew Tutich put the Zips on the board in the 32nd minute as he poked in a cross from four yards out that the WVU defense was not able clear away. Sinisa Ubiparipovic and Ross McKenzie combined on the assist.
Just 12 minutes later senior midfielder Justin Sadler made the score 2-0 when he buried a shot into the side right netting from the top of the box that Noble could not tip wide. Amico DiFranco assisted on Sadler’s goal.
The Mountaineers tried to put together numerous scoring attempts early in the second half but Akron’s defense stifled all chances and allowed no shots to reach goalkeeper Evan Bush for the first 28 minutes in the second half.
Akron began to pull away as Zip forward McKenzie recorded his team-high 16th goal of the season as he headed in a cross from Dino Campelione to make the score 3-0 in the 65th minute.
UA put the game away just two minutes later as Matthew Tutich got room with the ball in the goal box and netted his seventh goal of the season to push the score to 4-0. DiFranco assisted on his second goal of the day.
Junior Mountaineer forward Jarrod Smith tried to get his team on the board in the 72nd minute as he ripped a shot just wide. Three minutes later midfielder Geoff Cameron got a shot off that forced Evans to make a diving stop to his left side.
West Virginia tried desperately to get on the scoreboard in the final minutes with a flurry of shots, but to no avail. The Mountaineers ended up out shooting the Zips 7-5 in the second half.
Steve Kalan wrapped up scoring on the day when he tapped in Akron’s fifth goal with only 37 seconds remaining.
Bush ended up with six saves in 90 minutes of play for his team record 14th shutout of the season. Noble recorded five saves and allowed five goals on the afternoon.
The Mountaineers finish the season with a team record 12 shutouts in 2005 as well as a record 23 matches played.
