After battling with South Florida to double overtime in search of their first victory of the 2014 campaign, the University of Akron men’s soccer team dropped their second straight match to the Bulls open the season on Thursday, 2-1.
The Zips haven’t opened up a season with back-to-back losses since the 2002 season when they dropped games to North Carolina and Wake Forest on their way to a 10-8-2 campaign under then head coach Ken Lolla. Akron went on to win the MAC Tournament that year as well.
Just as the Zips struggled offensively early on in their season opener at New Mexico, South Florida outshot Akron 7-3 in the first half of this contest. None of the Zips’ three shots were on goal. On top of that, Akron committed nine fouls in the first half that lead to a trend for the rest of the game.
Lucas Baldin connected in the 40th minute from the top right corner of the box to give the Bulls a 1-0 lead heading into the half.
After making no substitutions in the first half, the Zips came out of the half with four new players on the pitch and took two shots on goal in the first seven minutes, one by freshman Anthony Macchione and the second by sophomore Adam Najem.
Freshman Stuart Holthusen, who entered the game in the 66th minute to replace Macchione, took a penalty shot after being fouled in the box in the 72nd minute that passed by South Florida goalkeeper Spasoje Stefanovic to tie the game up at one a piece.
Neither team came through with a go-ahead goal as both teams took five shots a piece and committed nine fouls in the second half of play.
While each team took one shot in the first overtime period, neither found the back of the net until the second overtime period. Despite starting the period with three straight corner kicks, Akron conceded the winning goal to the Bulls with just 30 seconds remaining in the match when Baldin took a loose ball at the top of the box box off of a scrambled header and turned to put it past junior goalkeeper Jake Fenlason.
Despite drawing four yellow cards in regulation, Robby Dambrot was shown a fifth and final yellow for the Zips in overtime, the first of his career. South Florida (1-1) garnered three yellow cards of their own as well as one red card at the conclusion of the match, handed down to their team after an incident involving head coach George Kiefer.
Akron (0-2) was outshot in their second straight game 14-11 while the Zips took nine total corners on the night, compared to just three for the Bulls.
Fenlason played all 109 minutes and 30 seconds in net for Akron, totalling four saves.
The Zips return to action in Florida in less than 48 hours as they will take on Florida Gulf Coast on Saturday evening beginning at 7 p.m.
