Men's soccer
The Zips lost today 1-0 in Evanston despite doubling the Wildcats' shots on goal (14 to seven).
The game-winning goal came on a defensive slip-up.
Northwestern's Jack Hillgard received a pass from the sideline. He lobbed it over Akron's defense to Geoff Fallon, who did not have a defender between himself and Akron goalie Evan Bush. It was the 61st minute when Fallon pumped the ball into the right corner of the net.
I really thought Akron would have enough motivation heading into today's game to carry it back to Lee Jackson Field for the Elite Eight. The Zips just never got a good enough look on those 14 shots.
It's sad that such a great season would end with the taint of impropriety — that a higher seed loses its home-field advantage because of speculation about field conditions four days ahead of the fact.
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
Can someone PLEASE tell me why the OSU or NW games were not played in the gigantic fieldhouse on campus? Weather should never be allowed to play a role in playoff locations, and this fine facility would've (should've) been the common sense answer. Playing at St. V? No wonder the NCAA reacted so negatively. As great as Akron's soccer program has been for decades, the fact that an indoor option is not available is pretty short-sighted and reprehensible. Credit the Zips' heirarchy for contributing to this loss.
Like I've always said, it's never good to have something come to an end due to a taint.
Jason, I don't think the dimensions or height of the structure are adequate.
If that indoor facility was designed without the ability to play a soccer game in a pinch, then there's something BAD WRONG with the UA planners. What, is a football field smaller than a soccer field? If not, why couldn't proper soccer dimensions be marked off inside? And I doubt that height would be an issue…that ceiling is way, way up there. In short, finding a way at Stiles would keep playoff games in Akron which are now being moved states away…leading to losses. Can someone from UA please explain? Did you really leave the soccer program out-in-the-cold when designing that monstrosity, all for the sake of a losing football program? I really wanna know…
jason, a soccer field is 60 yards wide and 100 yards long. a football field, while covering the 100 yards in length, is only 53.3 yards wide.
And they built that facility sans the needed 6.7 extra yards to play a friggin soccer game? I'd really, really like an explanation from the administration on that blunder.
Having just returned from the game, the whole excuse of the weather being the reason for the move is utter crap.
The win was blowing wildly at 50mph the whole game, frozen pellets of surf coming off the 5-foot waves of Lake Michigan pelted everyone until they were raw, and whenever the ball left the ground, there was a chance of it getting caught up in the freaking jet stream and being blown half way back to Akron.
It's too bad UA doesn't really have the money to re-do Lee Jackson's field right now.
It wasn't the weather that was the issue; it was the condition of Lee Jackson Field. Even if it had been sunny and 70 today in Akron, the field's condition is what the NCAA cited as their reason to move the game, not the weather; the weather is simply what caused the field to be in such poor shape (along with poor drainage). Now, whether the NCAA's decision was fair or right is obviously a different story, but that was their basic reasoning. I don't quite understand why they couldn't play at St. V/St. M again.
As for using Stiles Field House, a field house really isn't designed to be a home field for anything besides indoor track and maybe basketball; it's not a domed stadium, so while it can (and should) be used for practices for more than just football, it is not suitable to be used for an actual game.
I don't understand why the Rubber Bowl couldn't have been used. It wouldn't have been ideal but still the field would not have been an issue.
Instead of looking for excuses why Stiles Fieldhouse canNOT be used in a pinch for an indoor soccer game (you know…cuz it's like, WINTER when the soccer playoffs roll around), wouldn't it be more prudent and forward-thinking to investigate how it CAN be re-tooled for such an event. You know…since the UA program seems to be in the Top 10 every year, and such disasters (as we just witnessed) are BOUND to come up again??!!
Also, I know for a FACT that UA has played soccer games at the Rubber Bowl before. They used to have "double-headers," with the soccer game prior to a football game. So why THAT option wasn't explored, instead of traipsing across the country to a non-seeded team's field….is just mind-boggling. Does the UA athletic dept. even CARE about the soccer program?
The Rubber Bowl has a curve in the middle of the field. It wouldn't work, from what I hear.
Utter disgrace and disrespect from the NCAA. Would this EVER happen in football? **** NO! It is absurd to make a higher seed play an away game, no matter the conditions. Make this the second major screw job the NCAA handed out in less than 2 weeks when they seeded Michigan State ahead of Akron in the initial seedings to begin with. Big Ten=NCAA? sounds like it. What a joke. This is why soccer will always be regarded as a joke. As for options, St V was a perfect setting with a perfect field and over a thousand fans rocking the aluminum bleachers for the OSU game. The NCAA didnt hesitate to waive their 50 foot banner over the bleachers or make their stupid NCAA announcements every 5 minutes over the loudspeakers. Total crap! As for the rubber bowl option, it is feasible and was used plenty before for soccer but it really does suck as a field and is as hard as a rock.
The Rubber Bowl can't be used for soccer since the new field got put in. The double headers were all prior to the new turf.
In terms of moving the game away from Akron, a neutral site could have been selected. Yes, it would be a little more work to find a NCAA school who wouldn't mind allowing the use of their field, but it would have been 1)more fair to the supposed home team and 2)better weather conditions. The game could have been played in Columbus.
Now, for the question being posed by everyone else here: What is UA going to do to make sure that this doesn't happen again?
Notre Dame would have been a good compromise. Anywhere but a 7 hour drive to the opponent's home field would have been fair.
BTW – Why hasn't the ABJ interviewed Mack about this? What did the guy do when the decision was announced? Was it in fact a decision he ok'd? Did the Zips somehow get some "under the table" money to agree to such an absurd ruling? Why was the St V field suitable for the OSU game, but not for Northwestern? Would the NCAA have moved a Zips/Wake Forest match to Akron if Wake Forest's field was deemed unplayable due to rain? Or, does this stuff only happen to non-BCS schools? Was there precedent in this instance? Weather HAD to come into play in the past.
The ABJ had a chance to do some nice reporting, and blew it.
If I'm mistaken, please provide a link. I'll be happy to apologize.