Sophomore Teal Bunbury and junior Blair Gavin each scored a goal to lead the top ranked University of Akron men’s soccer team to a 2-0 victory over host Virginia Tech Tuesday night at Thompson Field in Blacksburg, Va.
UA, the No. 1 team in the country in all five national polls under coach Caleb Porter, has a 12-0-0 overall record. The perfect record through 12 games is the best start to a season in program history.
The win over the Hokies (3-7-2) is also the Zips’ tenth shutout in 12 matches. UA held an advantage in shots (18-9), shots on goal (8-3) and corner kicks (8-3).
Sophomore Kofi Sarkodie assisted on Bunbury’s goal in the 37th minute and Gavin scored on a penalty kick in the 80th minute. This season, Bunbury leads UA with 10 goals and Gavin is 3-for-3 in penalty kick situations.
Zips freshman goalkeeper David Meves recorded his eighth shutout of the season with the assistance of starting defenders junior Chris Korb, Sarkodie and freshmen Zarek Valentin and Chad Barson.
UA hosts Northern Illinois Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Lee Jackson Field.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
8th shutout?!!! I thought only 2/12 teams scored against the zips. Are you sure this is not the 10th?
Only High Point and Illinois-Chicago have scored versus the team this season. I believe the scoring differential is 35-2. I'm sure my friends from ZNO will correct me if I'm w-w-w-rong.
Now, I truly believe that the expectations for this team have been far too high. They have a load of freshmen — and sophomores, who are still becoming acclimated to the college game of football. How can anyone expect such a young team to be a contender in the rough and tumble world of MAC football? No, it'll take a couple more years before anyone would expect this team to be a contender. I think they shall be relatively sucessfully, however. But don't expect them to be more than a .500 team.
Whoops! Sorry, I forgot which football team I was writing about. Sheesh.
It is only his 8th recorded shutout because he split time with Josh Pantazelos in the Florida Atlantic and Bowling Green games. The Zips as a team have 10 shutouts.
Has the University done anything to improve the field this year so Caleb and crew can enjoy home field advantage during the NCAA tournament???
Zinger – I heard after last season the NCAA paseed the "Akron rule" that would allow a team with homefield advantage the ability to choose another local site (such as St V) if the field were deemed unplayable. Hopefully they were able to improve the field as well, but I'm not aware of any changes.
Pictures of the VaTech venue are very nice. Perhaps UA can find the resources needed to build a first class stadium for our first class team.