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Season Ends in Hard-Fought Loss at No. 4 Akron
November 13, 2015 10:23 PM | Men's Soccer
AKRON, Ohio – Two goals weren’t enough as the West Virginia University men’s soccer team’s season came to an end in a hard-fought, 3-2 loss at No. 4 Akron in the Mid-American Conference semifinals on Friday.
The fourth-seeded Mountaineers (7-12) scored two second-half goals and cut two different two-goal deficits in half, but the top-seeded Zips (13-3-2) prevailed on a windy, cold day on their home pitch.
“You look at the box score and wonder how you lost the game,” WVU coach Marlon LeBlanc said. “I think we made some mistakes, gifted Akron their goals, and we had to fight ourselves back into it, which we did. This is one of those moments where it’s hard to put into words the feelings and emotions you have because we really created a lot of chances tonight and had more of the attack. It’s a disappointing way to go down, but I want to congratulate my kids for the way they fought and the way they played tonight. We were unlucky in this game to see it end the way it did, but I’m proud of the way that my kids fought.”
West Virginia outshot Akron, 14-13, including 8-5 in the second half. WVU had nine shots on goal, five in the second half, while Akron had five shots on net, three in the first half. The Mountaineers played into a 35-mile-per-hour wind in the first half, and had the wind at their backs for the final 45 minutes.
Akron took a 2-0 lead, with goals in the 23rd and 49th minutes, before an own goal put the Mountaineers on the board to make it 2-1 in the 68th minute. The Zips answered five seconds later to take a 3-1 lead, but it took less than three minutes for WVU to respond, with a goal by senior Jamie Merriam. Merriam’s team-leading seventh goal of the season came at 71:17.
Senior Zak Leedom led the Mountaineers with four shots in the match, three on goal. Merriam had three shots, with two on net.
In goal for the Mountaineers, freshman Alec Boerner made two saves. Akron keeper Jake Fenlason stopped seven shots in the contest.
In the first half, WVU had several scoring opportunities, and held a 4-3 advantage in shots on goal in the opening 45 minutes. The first chance came in the 16th minute. Sophomore Joey Piatczyc had a strike from 18 yards out that was blocked, and on the rebound, Merriam sent in a shot that was saved.
Two minutes later, Leedom had his first shot on goal of the match, but the ball was directed right at Fenlason.
Adam Najem gave Akron a 1-0 lead at 22:22. On a free kick from 19 yards away on the left side, Najem’s shot sailed over the wall and into the top right corner of the net.
WVU closed the half with several offensive chances. Junior Jack Elliott had the Mountaineers’ third shot on goal in the 32nd minute. Leedom had his second shot on goal in the 40th minute, and had another shot two minutes later that went wide.
Shooting into the wind in the first half, West Virginia had six shots, four on goal. Akron had eight shots, three on goal.
With the wind at their back in the second half, the Mountaineers opened with a strong offensive push. Off a corner kick in the 48th minute, Elliott’s header from two yards out went high, and 43 seconds later, Leedom recorded his third shot on goal, but it was saved.
The Zips took a 2-0 lead at 48:58 on a goal by Stu Holthusen. On a ball served in from the middle of the field, Najem sent a pass to Holthusen on a fast break, and Holthusen beat Boerner on a shot from the top of the box into the corner of the net.
Freshman Tucker Stephenson had a shot on goal that was saved in the 51st minute before both teams scored in the 68th minute.
The Mountaineers got on the board at 67:48. On a ball served into the box by Piatczyc on a corner kick, the ball found the back of the net on an own goal to cut the WVU deficit in half at 2-1.
Just five seconds later, Akron regained its two-goal advantage on a goal by Holthusen.
West Virginia came right back though, and after a shot by junior Felix Angerer in the 69th minute, Merriam netted WVU’s second goal of the game at 71:17.
Merriam scored with the assist to junior Mike Desiderio, his third of the year.
In the 82nd minute, Merriam nearly tied the match at 3-3, but the shot went wide. In the 84th minute after a free kick, the ball was bouncing around inside the 18, but senior Haydon Bennett was the only Mountaineer to get a solid foot on the ball, and his shot was blocked.
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