Akron falls to Western Michigan in MAC men's soccer title game

Western Michigan has the No. 1 goalie in the country. The Broncos are physical and imposing. Their top-rated defense is about as harsh and unforgiving as the freezing, wintry conditions that swept across Akron Saturday afternoon.

As University of Akron men's soccer coach Jared Embick sees it, the Zips played with the kind of heart and aggressiveness needed to overcome those rigid defenses for the final 35 minutes of Saturday's match. The problem is that by the time the Broncos already had a commanding 2-0 lead, and Akron was down a man after a red card.

Facing an uphill battle effectively the entire day, the 12th-ranked nationally and top-seeded Zips fell 2-1 to No. 2 seed Western Michigan in Saturday's Mid-American Conference title game.

Zips win 21st MAC regular-season title:Akron, Western Michigan men's soccer play to draw

Three minutes into the game, Western Michigan's Jaylen Shannon put the Broncos up 1-0 with a one-timer off a cross from Charlie Sharp. In the 50th minute, Sharp made it 2-0 with a goal of his own, a header past Akron goalie Mitch Budler.

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Facing a two-goal deficit and Broncos goalie Hunter Morse, who's first in the nation in goals against average (.412) and save percentage (.883), the Zips and their top-ranked offense (47 goals entering Saturday) were put in a significant disadvantage. That was exacerbated in the 55th minute when forward Jason Shokalook received a red card after a free kick into the box that led to Sharp remaining down on the ground.

Sharp exited the game for a few minutes, while Shokalook was done for the day, leaving the Zips two goals and one man down.

"I think it's frustrating. It's a very intense game. And a play where there's a mosh pit in the box, I just don't understand why there's a red card," Embick said. "It's not clear to everybody. That kind of changed the game, but I think the start of the game, we allowed that early goal, allowed them to build momentum, and it's pretty tough getting back in it."

"He [the referee] said it wasn't all the guys that fell down on the play, it wasn't the play, it was after that. But there's really no evidence of that."

It was from that point, in how the Zips responded, that Embick hopes Akron can find something upon which to build moving forward.

With the win, Western Michigan earned the MAC's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. The Zips are now forced to wait for the NCAA Tournament Selection Show at 1 p.m. Monday. They're expected to be one of the at-large entries in the 48-team field. Tournament first-round games are set to begin Thursday.

The Zips are now tasked with responding to Saturday's loss, in which a chance to earn a MAC championship slipped through their fingers in the snow and the sleet, by preparing for the tournament with an at-large bid. But that will wait a few days.

"Right now, everybody's pretty emotional," Embick said. "They're obviously down. The message was to move on. We gotta prepare for Thursday, and we'll address issues on Monday. I think doing a lot now when guys are hurt can make things worse. I think everybody needs time to process and get their mind right. We gotta be ready for next week."

After the red card, the Zips continued their attack and finally broke through Western Michigan's last line of defense. In the 77th minute, Johnny Fitzgerald cut the Broncos' lead in half with a header past Morse. The Zips had several other close calls in the final 35 minutes, but the momentum built by Western Michigan was too much to overcome.

"I think in the final 30 minutes, guys played with a lot of heart to try and do whatever they can to give us a chance to get the game to overtime," Embick said. "Maybe you need that in beginning, but the early goal, the emotions early, we just seemed a little tight."

If there a lesson to be found from Saturday's loss, it's that the Zips' competitiveness over the final 35 minutes must be expanded to a 90-minute effort in the NCAA Tournament.

"I just think you can build off, down 2-0 and down a man and you get a goal back and you kept fighting until the end," Embick said. "That's the kind of heart it takes. We gotta make that kind of effort for 90 minutes."

Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ByRyanLewis.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Akron drops MAC men's soccer title game, NCAA tournament next