Bowling Green State University Athletics
Akron Advances Past Marshall To Title Match
November 15, 2002 | Men's Soccer
Nov. 15, 2002
2002 MAC Men's Soccer Tournament Page
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The University of Akron men's soccer team won a penalty-kick shootout over Marshall University to advance to the championship match of the Mid-American Conference Tournament. After regulation and two sudden-death overtimes left the teams deadlocked at 2-2, the Zips posted a 4-3 advantage in six rounds of PKs to advance. The match was held at a snowy Cochrane Field Friday afternoon (Nov. 15).
Akron (now 8-7-3), the number-two seed for the tournament, now advances to face Bowling Green in the championship match Sunday (Nov. 17) at 1:00 p.m. Marshall (7-9-2), the #3 seed, went to penalty kicks for the second consecutive match, having downed Northern Illinois in the quarterfinal round of the league tourney.
The Zips, who never trailed in the contest, got on the board first. Ross McKenzie flicked a through-ball to a streaking Kirk Harwat. Harwat, in all alone, beat MU goalkeeper Jeremy Williams to the far side, as his shot banked off the left goalpost and into the net. The goal was Harwat's team-leading ninth of the year. McKenzie drew the lone assist on the score, which came at the 10:46 mark.
The Thundering Herd equalized at 27:53, courtesy of Byron Carmichael. Dave Spaulding played a cross from the left side of the field to Carmichael, who was at the top of the penalty box. Carmichael trapped the ball with his chest and volleyed a shot that dropped just under the crossbar. Spaulding had the lone helper on the goal, Carmichael's 15th of the season.
Despite lopsided Akron advantages of 10-2 in shot attempts, 7-1 in shots on goal and 9-0 in corner kicks over the first 45 minutes, the teams were deadlocked, 1-1, at the intermission.
In the second half, UA came close to taking the lead when Alex Odwell drilled a shot off the post with 31 minutes remaining. Just over 11 minutes later, though, the Zips would indeed find the back of the net.
UA's Amico DiFranco blasted a shot from about 12 yards out that was blocked by MU defender Clayton Cochrane. Cochrane, however, was called for a handball in the penalty area, and was given a red card at the 70:55 mark. UA's Matt Boswell converted the ensuing penalty kick for his fifth goal of the year. Marshall now trailed by a goal and was forced to play a man down for the remainder of the match.
With just 2:16 left in the second half, though, the short-handed Herd equalized. The play developed quickly, as Kirk Gibson poked a pass to Dennis Ahebwa, who one-timed the ball past UA 'keeper Dan Pinho from close range. For Ahebwa, the goal was his first of the year. Gibson had the lone assist.
The teams battled through a pair of scoreless overtime periods, marking the second consecutive match than Marshall had rallied from a one-goal deficit to force a penalty kick shootout.
In that penalty-kick sequence, in which each team has five tries, the Zips quickly jumped out to a 3-0 advantage. UA's Boswell and Will Kletzien both went lower-left to score, sandwiched around a miss by MU's Firas Al-Samarraie. Al-Samarraie tried to slide the ball into the lower-left corner as well, but pushed it just wide of the post.
Then, the Herd's second shooter, Gibson, tried to go the other way, but was denied by Pinho. The UA 'keeper, diving to his left, made a hand save.
The Zips' Harwat began the third round of PKs by doing just what his two teammates had done: scoring into the lower-left corner. Marshall faced elimination, but Carmichael put his shot into the right side of the net.
Then, MU goalie Williams denied UA's Michael Marich. Marich tried to shoot toward the left post, but got his shot too far toward the center of the net, and Williams made the stop. In the Herd's half of the fourth round, Brent Sobczak scored into the upper left corner, and Marshall was within a goal.
Williams dove to his left to make a save on Hans Jorgen Haugland's attempt, and Ahebwa scored into the right side of the net to tie the sequence at 3-3. The teams went to a sixth round.
In that round, UA's Chris Gnandt scored into the left-side of the goal, and Pinho made the save on Spaulding to send UA into the championship match.
The match is considered a tie in the teams' win-loss records.
UA outshot MU by a 26-14 margin in the match, and the Zips held a 13-4 advantage in shots on goal. Williams made 11 saves in the 110 minutes of scrimmage time, while Pinho made two stops.
Akron had a whopping 14 corner kicks to MU's two, and the Herd had 21 fouls to the Zips' 18.
Akron now advances to the championship match for the fifth time in the nine-year history of MAC men's soccer. The Zips won the title in 1998, and posted runner-up finishes in 1995, 1997 and 2001.
Marshall was eliminated in the semifinal round of the tournament for the third consecutive year, and was knocked out of the tourney by Akron for the second-straight season.
PENALTY KICK SEQUENCE: AKRON 11 BOSWELL, Matt............... GOAL MARSHALL 8 AL-SAMARRAIE, Firas.......... Wide AKRON 3 KLETZIEN, Will............... GOAL MARSHALL 11 GIBSON, Kirk............... Saved AKRON 23 HARWAT, Kirk................ GOAL MARSHALL 24 CARMICHAEL, Byron........... GOAL AKRON 5 MARICH, Michael............. Saved MARSHALL 10 SOBCZAK, Brent.............. GOAL AKRON 10 HAUGLAND, Hans............. Saved MARSHALL 16 AHEBWA, Dennis.............. GOAL AKRON 9 GNANDT, Chris................ GOAL MARSHALL 2 SPAULDING, Dave............. Saved
