“When the University of Akron men’s soccer team takes the field Dec. 5, they will be pinned against a familiar foe. The Zips (22-0-0) have already defeated the Tulsa Golden Hurricane (15-4-2) during the second game of the year by a count of 1-0. Midfielder Anthony Ampaipitakwong, who has scored three goals in two NCAA tournament games, scored the lone goal in the meeting at the beginning of the campaign.”
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When the University of Akron men’s soccer team takes the field Dec. 5, they will be pinned against a familiar foe.

The Zips (22-0-0) have already defeated the Tulsa Golden Hurricane (15-4-2) during the second game of the year by a count of 1-0.

Midfielder Anthony Ampaipitakwong, who has scored three goals in two NCAA tournament games, scored the lone goal in the meeting at the beginning of the campaign.

Tulsa is a very good team and I have a lot of respect for Tom McIntosh, UA head coach Caleb Porter said. They have been in the tournament consistently and that is a credit to his leadership. It will be a quality soccer game. They like to play and attack. It was a tight match at their place in our second game of the year.

The Golden Hurricane is led by sophomore forward Austin Neil who has posted 13 goals in 20 games.

Neil also has three assists during the season, giving him 29 points for the year.

As a team, Tulsa has posted a 2.33 goals per game average and held opponents to 1.19 goals per game.

On the other side of the ball, the Zips have done a little better than Tulsa posting a 2.59 goals per game average and holding opponents to a mere .32 goals per game.

Akron has also tallied 17 shots per game on their relentless attack.

However, these teams have not seen each other since a warm day in September and will now be placed in a chilled Akron climate, nearly three months later.

We are a different team and they are a different team. We will need to be at our best, Porter said. As much as we are confident in what we can do, it comes down to who is the better team on the day not the better team going in.

The Zips have one goal in mind as they take the field and that is to win and advance to the College Cup.

We need to stay focused on that and winning each and every moment, one play at a time, Porter said. If we do that, then we should win the game.

Game time for the match is set for 4 p.m.

The game is expected to be another sellout.

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