In their final home match before the No. 7 Akron Zips (8-2-1) start their 2015 Mid-American Conference schedule, the Zips beat the Santa Clara Broncos (5-6-0) 2-0 at FirstEnergy Stadium-Cub Cadet Field in Akron, OH.
“I’m pleased with the overall effort,” Zips third-year head coach Jared Embick said of his team’s performance. “We won 2-0 and had 20 shots to 7 and I felt like we could have scored more. We may have made some tired plays, but there was always someone there at the end to make the play.”
The Zips were led by a pair of goals by junior midfielder Richie Laryea. Assists were collected by Stuart Holthusen and Adam Najem. It is the fourth clean sheet held by the Zips in 2015 and their fourth straight win since falling to Wake Forest at home.
“It is very important to go into the conference schedule and get the momentum,” Embick added. “With each win you get a fear of losing from the other teams when they play us. They really have to concentrate on how they’ll beat us. I think the confidence our guys get from putting victories together is also big.”
It was just the second meeting between the two schools, with the Broncos beating the Zips 4-2 in overtime in September, 1992. It was the fourth-straight Zips win and their third 1-0 score line of the year.
At the 37:38 mark, Santa Clara got an early chance as Carlos Delgadillo was fouled in the box. With the penalty kick, Delgadillo went to the goalie’s right and Zips keeper Jake Fenlason guessed currently and pushed away the freshman forward’s shot out of bounds.
“We wanted to get off to fast start,” the coach remarked. “We knew that it was going to take some time to settle in, so that save was huge for us.”
On the counterattack from the corner kick, Akron’s Victor Souto slipped in the box, got up, then was fouled for Akron’s turn from the penalty spot. Zips’ leading scorer and points Adam Najem stood at the spot, lined up the kick, went down the middle and chipped it over the crossbar. Broncos’ junior goalie Kendall McIntosh dove to his left, but was saved by the wayward penalty. After two penalty chances in the first ten minutes, the game was scoreless.
Akron possessed most of the ball throughout the half as the Broncos were more than willing to sit-back and absorb the pressure. The Zips, averaging just a goal per game in their last three matches finally broke the deadlock, with just over five minutes until the half. Toronto native Richie Laryea was in the right place, as a one of the seven Zips’ first half shots bounced off a Bronco defender, and Laryea slid to hit the back of the net off the deflection, as the Broncos keeper McIntosh was out of position. Stuart Holthusen got the assist, as his shot fell to Laryea.
“I cannot take credit for the first goal,” the Canadian honestly said. “I was lucky to get a foot on it. On the first goal, I didn’t see anything. Ball was in the box, I took a swing at it and it went in.”
With 7:51 left in the game, Laryea finished off the Broncos with his second of the night. Najem assisted on the second goal as Richie’s shot curled around the Broncos’ keeper after a flurry of Akron shots.
Laryea’s goals are his fifth and sixth goals of the year, tying him with Najem for top scorer in Akron. Sam Gainford has the second most on the year with five. Akron continues their streak of scoring in every match this year, outscoring their opponents 20-16.
“We have been working hard as a front four,” the goal scorer said. “On the second one, I saw him (McIntosh) cheating so I hit it hard and past him.”
Akron will now pack up and head east to face Buffalo (5-4-3) for their first MAC Conference game of the year as they look to get their fourth-straight MAC title. They will play their first home conference match next Saturday (Oct 17) at 7 p.m. against Northern Illinois (6-2-0; 1-0-0).
