Monday, November 7, 2011

Toledo women soccer takes championship


Its about time.

After finishing runner up the last two years, the Toledo Rockets have finally broken through again and has won the 2011 Championship; their,and a record, forth league title. They beat Western Michigan 1-0 Sunday afternoon.

Toledo entered the tournament as the number one seed after beating 10 of 11 MAC opponents during the regular season. The only time they failed to clinch victory was against Akron, who managed to draw the eventual champion.

In the Championship contest, the Rockets held an outstanding 14 to 4 shot advantage, and played on offense for most of the match. Western Michigan was held with limited chances and few that had a chance at scoring.

However, head coach Brad Evans knew that getting the winning goal was not going to be an easy task.

"We talk a lot about wanting the tense moment, you can't win a championship running away. It's not going to happen" Evans said.

Toledo picked up the game winning goal off the foot of MAC player of the year Rachel MacLeod who capitalized in the 69th minuet. That was enough for Toledo's goal keeper Vicki Traven and her defense who was able to keep the Broncos scoreless.

It was not an easy run to the championship. In fact, Toledo started the season 0-2-1 before getting their first win.

"All credit to our players for finding a way and sticking to the game plan" Evans said.

The Toledo Rockets will now hit the road and play Marquette in the first round. They finished the regular season with a 14-6-2 record.

Photo taken from utrockets.com (here)

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Akron stunned, home streak ends.


The University of Akron men's soccer team fell at home Wednesday night to the Michigan State Spartans zero to one. The loss, which stunned the packed crowd, was Akron's first home defeat in 48 matches, which was a NCAA record and spans almost four years. The game did not end without controversy either.

Akron won a 17 to five shot advantage and played on the attack for most of the match. Receiving opportunities from just about everywhere on the pitch, Akron appeared to be just moments away from breaking through. The greatest example was in the 29th minuet when Akron Midfielder Will Trapp fired a shot that bounced off the crossbar and went directly down and onto the pitch.

Regardless of the shot advantage, Zips head soccer coach Caleb Porter was still not happy with his team after the game.

"You get out of this game what you put in." Porter said, "...we didn't put in what we need to, to win a game like this."

The match remained scoreless until Michigan State capitalized on their best chance of the night. Rubin Bega found the back of the net when a perfectly passed ball found him in the box. The 86th minuet goal could of all but crippled the Zips, but with the support of a full house, Akron was able to muster two more chances.

The first shot had little chance of scoring, the second some say did. After receiving a corner, Akron's Matt Digilis found the ball played into the area and perfectly time his header. The ball shot off his head and to a knee of a Michigan State defender. From behind the net, it appeared that the defender had clearly drifted into the goal area, and while many Akron Zips player celebrated, the head official declared it saved. That was the last chance Akron had.

Because of the loss, which Porter described as embarrassing, Akron falls to 12-3-3 and will likely have to travel to a couple places during the up coming NCAA tournament.

Photo from Gozips.com