In front of over 2,500 fans Tuesday night at First Energy Stadium-Cub Cadet Field, the #6 Akron Zips (4-2-1) fell 2-1 to #8 Wake Forest (7-1-0, 2-0-0 ACC) on a second-half penalty. The Zips got their goal from Canadian midfielder Richie Laryea, his third of the year, while the Demon Deacons’ goalscorers were Jon Bakero, also his third of the year, and a penalty from Michael Gamble, who leads the team with six tallies.
“Disappointing performance from us tonight,” Akron head coach Jared Embick admitted. “We knew it was going to be a tough game and we did not perform up to their level. We have to move on, but we saw how good Wake is and they’re a team that can win the ACC.”
Wake Forest had never won in Akron, previously going 0-2-1, but has now won the last two meetings in this series after a 2-1 win last year in North Carolina. They also hold an impressive stat of 19 goals for and 5 against in 2015.
“I think it was more of us,” Embick replied when asked about only a goal. “We didn’t look to run the ball quickly, we allowed them to get behind the ball.”
The slow-paced Zips also committed 20 fouls and had two of the five yellow cards.
“(The cards) showed how late we were to some of the plays,” the coach noted. “More of it was us being late and not being proactive as we were put in some tough situations.”
Wake Forest took the lead at the 20:54 mark as Bakero was played a nice give-and-go from midfielder Jack Harrison, who leads the team in assists. Defender Kris Reaves also played a huge part of the buildup and was also accredited with an assist. The freshman Harrison, who calls Darwen, England his hometown, but played his high school at Berkshire School in Massachusetts, is the reigning Gatorade National Boys’ Soccer Player of the Year.
The Zips were able to equalize less than ten minutes later with a magical bit of play from Laryea. Laryea played a great ball through the box, beat his defender and slid in the goal.
“Adam (Najem) played me the ball when I was out wide,” the Zips sole goalscorer said. “I took my man on, got around him and got a shot off.
Despite the half ending in a deadlock, Wake Forest led the shots on goal tally, 4-1.
Wake Forest drew a penalty early in the second half when a Zips defender hit the ball with this hand. Freshman Michael Gamble step up and rocketed the ball into the top part of the net and Wake Forest again led just six minutes into the half. Zips’ keeper Jake Fenlason guessed correctly, to his right, but was unable to get a hand to the shot. Wake led 2-1 at the 50:39 mark.
“It was a bang-bang play, sometimes you get the call and sometimes it goes against you,” the coach said about the infraction that led to the game-winner. “We were at scrambling mode at that point, can’t really complain though, I don’t think we deserved a result.”
The Zips nearly had their equalizer, as defender Andrew Souders had his header off a corner excellently tipped over the crossbar by Wake’s redshirt junior and Westlake, OH native Alec Ferrell with just over 10 minutes left in the half to preserve their 2-1 lead. Akron would have some key attempts in the last few minutes, but were unable to tie the game.
“This is a moment as a team that we have to pick each other up and move forward,” Embick concluded. “We can’t put our heads down.”
The Zips next head west to face #25 UC Santa Barbara on Friday, Sept 25, while Wake Forest take on conference foe Clemson the following night.
