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Coach says being stripped of home game unfair
By Michael Beaven
Special to the Beacon Journal
Published on Sunday, Nov 30, 2008
The University of Akron men's soccer team was not expecting to make a bus trip to Evanston, Ill., the day after Thanksgiving.
It appeared the Zips (17-1-4) would be staying in Akron for a few games after receiving the fifth seed in the NCAA Men's Soccer Tournament on Nov. 17, when the pairings were televised on ESPNews.
UA earned a bye in the first round and had the possibility of hosting two or three games in the 48-team tournament at Lee Jackson Field.
A lot has changed since then.
The NCAA Men's Soccer Committee recently ruled UA, ranked No. 4 in the NSCAA/adidas poll, will play a third round match at unseeded No. 17 Northwestern at 2 p.m. today.
The Zips traveled about seven hours by bus to get to Evanston, Ill., because snow, rain and strong winds last week made UA's home turf unplayable. The grass was torn up and muddy.
The Zips were forced to play Ohio State in a second round game on the artificial turf Wednesday at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School's athletic complex. UA prevailed with a 1-0 double overtime victory. Following that game, the Zips' next home game was taken away.
Coach responds
''Initially, I think we were all shocked,'' UA coach Caleb Porter said. ''We never anticipated that that would happen. I was surprised how quickly the decision was made. I was informed 30 minutes after the game Wednesday.''
Northwestern (14-4-3) has artificial turf at Lakeside Field, which is similar to the surfaces at St. V-M, Archbishop Hoban, UA's Rubber Bowl and KSU's Dix Stadium.
''I have never heard of a team that was stripped a home game in this manner,'' Porter said. ''Making the decision five
days before the game is my biggest issue. We earned the home-field advantage and they never gave us a chance to prepare the field.
''They made their decision based on pure speculation and by looking at weather patterns. We have had three clear days in a row in Akron. The field would have been ready on Sunday. We were stripped of a home game. With that being said, we are focused on this game and excited to be in Northwestern to play the game. Our team is on a mission and nothing like this will stop us from accomplishing our goal.''
Moving forward
While Porter questions the fairness of the situation, he is encouraging his players to make the best of the opportunity at hand.
''After the initial shock wore off and there was nothing we could do about it, we knew we needed to shift our focus to winning this game,'' Porter said. ''We are using this as motivation and extra fuel for the fire. We need to go out and take care of business. We can't let this affect our focus.''
Northwestern defeated visiting Notre Dame (12-7-2) 2-1 on Tuesday. Freshman reserve forward Oliver Kupe netted both Wildcats' goals.
Sophomore forward Matt Eliason leads the Wildcats with 12 goals. Seniors Brian Usinger and Drew Ratner lead a defense that includes juniors Pat Coleman, Mark Blades and Misha Rosenthal (goalkeeper) and sophomore Cody Stanley.
''Northwestern is a very well-coached team,'' Porter said. ''I have a lot of respect for coach Tim Lenahan. I have known him for a lot of years from playing and coaching in the Big Ten at Indiana. He has essentially taken a team that was a bottom dweller in the Big Ten and made them into a Big Ten contender and a College Cup contender. They are a very organized and well-disciplined team.''
Zips senior midfielder Matt Tutich headed in a goal with five seconds remaining in the second overtime to lift the Zips past the Buckeyes this past Wednesday. Junior midfielder Ben Zemanski, a Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy graduate, notched the assist off a free kick.
''My experience has been that the first game is always the toughest,'' Porter said. ''On every team that I have been a part of as a player and coach that has been in the NCAA Tournament and made runs, the first game is always the toughest. You look at the scores around the country and you see [No. 1 seed] Wake Forest going to overtime [and winning 1-0] against William & Mary. You look at some of the upsets.''
Fourth-seeded Michigan State was knocked out of the tournament along with other seeded teams Loyola (Md.), Virginia, Notre Dame and UC Santa Barbara. The top three seeds — Wake Forest, Maryland and St. John's — remain in the tournament.
''Those first games are difficult because you are dealing with a different psychological burden that you haven't dealt with the whole year, where your season could be done on one mistake,'' Porter said. ''I told our guys after the game that is something now they have experienced and going into the next game now that we have that game under our belt, they will know what that feeling is like and they will know to deal with it.''
Zemanski started the final play of the Ohio State game with a free kick from the left side and Tutich finished the play with a header from about 10 yards away.
''Once Benny kicked the ball, it was one of those services where I knew it was finding my head when it came off his foot,'' Tutich said after the victory.
Motivated Zips team
Zips sophomore forward Steve Zakuani leads the nation in goals (20) and points (47). Tutich (six goals, nine assists) and Zemanski (10 assists, two goals) also have been vital to the Zips offense, along with sophomores Anthony Ampaipitakwong and Blair Gavin and freshmen Teal Bunbury and Darlington Nagbe.
UA fifth-year senior goalkeeper Evan Bush has been steady all season behind a defense that consists of sophomore Chris Korb, freshman Kofi Sarkodie and redshirt freshmen Aaron Henkle and Matt Dagilis (Firestone). The Zips have shut out 14 opponents this season.
''I think you will see a very inspired and motivated Akron team that thinks they should be playing at home,'' Porter said. ''Our players deserve to get another home game and our fans that support us deserve to see us play at home again. This is another piece of adversity to respond to.''
The University of Akron men's soccer team was not expecting to make a bus trip to Evanston, Ill., the day after Thanksgiving.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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North Hill, OH
Posted 01:15 PM, 11/30/2008
Sure hope the NCAA is paying travel expenses for the Zips and giving the majority of the gate to UA as well. DOubt it though.
GO ZIPS!
