Catching Up 11/8/10

Men's Soccer:

The 16-1-1 #2 men's soccer team (man, that's disappointing to say) needed Michael Nanchoff's 80th minute penalty kick to defeat Hartwick (the 2-14-1 Hartwick Hawks!) 2-1 on Saturday. I'm not sure what's going on with the soccer team, but this is not the same team that scored a touchdown against Michigan. Hartwick is 2-14-1. And the Zips only outshot them 12-9.

The MAC tournament begins Friday, and Akron (obviously) has the #1 seed. We'll be playing Buffalo at 5pm. If the team becomes complacent like they seem to have been lately, we could see some serious trouble.

Volleyball:

The lady Zips won a 5-set scare over Kent State, but fell in four sets to Ohio the next day, falling to 15-11 (7-7 MAC), one game behind Ohio. MAC East play ends on Thursday, with a home matchup against 16-14 (4-10 MAC) Buffalo.

Football:

What. The. Heck. This year couldn't get worse. In fact, the team name "Zips" fits very well with that number in the win column. If you haven't seen, the Zips lost in double overtime 37-30 to Ball State on Saturday. This was our best chance to avoid a winless season, and pretty much fully explains how this entire season has gone.

But here's the best part: Do you want to know why the game went into overtime? The Ever Dependable Igor Iveljic. That's right. He missed an extra point.

On the bright side, this above-average offensive showing allows me to stop posting Zack Campbell's stats every week. But just for fun:

Zack Campbell-8 punts, 277 YDS

Alex Allen had a heck of a game, carrying the ball 25 times for 165 yards, but all of the touchdowns went to Patrick "Throws-the-ball-not-so" Nicely and the receiving corps.

Jalil Carter-6 REC, 69 YDS, TD

Alex Allen-5 REC, 29 YDS

Jeremy LaFrance-3 REC, 46 YDS, 2 TD

Anthony Meriweather-2 REC, 17 YDS

Richard Hall-2 REC, 17 YDS, TD

Patrick Nicely negated his best game of the year by throwing three interceptions. Wow, that guy has been awful this year.

Also on the bright side, the team gets to close out the season with two televised home games against Miami (OH) (5-4) and Buffalo (2-7).

UPDATE: Added a poll to the side bar. Let's see what you guys think.

Men's Soccer Wins Again

Penn State put up a fight, but the #1 Akron Zips men's soccer team pulled out a 2-1 victory in double overtime yesterday. This game was the closest we have seen this year in terms of shots (17-15 Akron), shots on goal (6-4 Akron), and corner kicks (9-4 Penn State). Penn State's only goal came in the 6th minute, right before Darlington Nagbe fired back with his fourth goal of the season just one minute and four seconds later.

How's that for a comeback?

Michael Nanchoff scored the game winning penalty in the second OT after Darlington Nagbe was taken out in the box. It was his third goal of the year. Also, news flash: Coach Porter finally shows some emotion!

Did you see the hint of a cocky smirk when he answered? Who knew he had it in him?

This win moves the Zips to 10-0-1 (man, that Ohio State tie just sticks in the craw, doesn't it?) and are now 57-0-1 under Coach Porter when scoring two goals in a match (man, that Ohio State tie just stick in the craw, doesn't it?)

The men's soccer team also has the lone sporting event of the weekend when they play visiting Buffalo (5-6-1) Saturday night at 7:30.

No NCAA Record

Despite leading in shots (25-16), shots on target (11-8), and corner kicks (8-1), the men's soccer team drew with Ohio State 2-2 yesterday, failing to set the NCAA record for consecutive shutouts. The Zips instead share the record of 11 consecutive shutouts with Furman and Virginia.

The Buckeyes scored in the 30th minute to ruin the record, but Michael Nanchoff tied it at 1-1 with a penalty kick after Darlington Nagbe was taken out in the box. Darren Mattocks scored his fourth of the year in the 68th, which would have been the game winner if not for a crazy Buckeyes goal with 89:57 on the clock. Yeah...three seconds left in the game (no extra time in college).

An interesting stat: Ohio State was called offsides 8 times.

The Zips return to MAC play tomorrow at 5:30 against the Florida Atlantic Owls, who have yet to win on the road this year. The women's team then follows at 8:00 against Ball State. Fans attending the men's game can stay to watch the women for free.