MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University men’s soccer team fell to No. 6 Akron, 2-0, on Wednesday night at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium.
The Mountaineers (6-10-0, 1-3-0 Mid-American Conference) controlled play for much of the second half, but could not find the back of the net. The sixth-ranked Zips (12-2-2, 3-0-1 MAC) were WVU’s highest ranked opponent of the season and West Virginia’s first top-six foe at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium since 2011.
“In the second half, I thought we executed our gameplan almost to near perfection, we were all over them for the next 45 minutes,” WVU coach Marlon LeBlanc said. “We missed some really great chances to even the game up at 1-1. I thought they couldn’t break us down, we did a really good job. They got one off of a set piece where the ball bounces around a couple of times and they toe-poke it in, but they couldn’t break us down.
WVU had eight shots, seven in the second half. All four of WVU’s shots on goal came in the final 45 minutes. Akron had nine shots, four in the second half, with just three shots on goal, two in the second half.
“Unfortunately, this has kind of been the story of our season, we’ve been really good a lot, and tonight is a good example of it, were we played very, very well,” LeBlanc said. “Credit Akron, they’re a very good team. As the game wore on, we started to find more and more of it and take more control of it, we just didn’t do a good job of finishing and getting the goal back that we gave up so early in the game. We created a lot of chances to score, we just didn’t finish.”
Senior Jamie Merriam led the team with three shots, one on goal, while sophomore Joey Piatczyc had two shots, both on goal. Junior Jack Elliott recorded WVU’s fourth shot on goal.
In goal, junior Daniel Diaz had one save for the Mountaineers, while Akron’s Jake Fenlason had three saves. The Zips also had a team save.
Akron took an early 1-0 lead three minutes into the match. Brad Ruhaak scored from six yards out, and Stuart Holthusen Adam Najem earned assists on the play.
West Virginia’s lone shot in the first half come off the foot of Merriam. The senior was six yards out when he took the shot, but it went high.
WVU came out strong to begin the second half. In the 50th minute, sophomore Louis Thomas sent a cross inside the six to Piatczyc, but his shot was saved. Seven minutes later, with the Mountaineers continuing to apply pressure in the offensive zone, Merriam had a shot from just outside the box on the top left side, but Fenlason again made the save.
Akron extended its lead to 2-0 at 66:38 on its first offensive chance of the second half. Sam Gainford connected on a long pass from Victor Souto and scored after Diaz slipped trying to intercept the cross.
Just a minute later though, the Mountaineers had another scoring opportunity, when Piatczyc sent a shot in from 30 yards out, near the left side. The shot went past the Akron keeper, but an Akron defender used his head to make a brilliant save at the goal line.
In the 76th minute, senior Ryan Cain passed the ball in to Elliott, but the Zips’ Fenlason made a kick save to keep the ball out of the net.
WVU’s final chance came with two minutes remaining in the game. On a free kick 30 yards out and on the left side, senior Ivo Cabral sent a ball in, but Merriam’s header sailed high.
West Virginia plays its final nonconference match of the regular season when it hosts Penn on Tuesday, Nov. 3, at 7 p.m., at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium. WVU is 1-0 against Penn after a 1-0 road victory last season. The Mountaineers then close the regular season against Northern Illinois on Friday, Nov. 6. The Senior Day matchup will now begin at 6 p.m., an hour earlier than originally scheduled.
