The second-ranked Zips say they won't be overconfident in facing the Wolverines, whom they beat, 7-1, earlier this season.
View full sizeAkron midfielder Perry Kitchen (5) and the rest of the Zips are playing for a second consecutive trip to the national championship game when they face Michigan on Friday night in Santa Barbara, Calif.AKRON, Ohio -- On Oct. 19, Akron routed Michigan, 7-1, in a men's soccer game.
On Friday night, Akron and Michigan will play in a College Cup national semifinal. Those two facts don't seem to make sense when considered together, unless one knows how well the Zips played in the matchup at Lee Jackson Field seven weeks ago.
"We were really clicking in that game. We were finishing," Akron junior defender Kofi Sarkodie said Tuesday after a Zips practice. "We know if we play the way we did against them then, we could have another day like that some day.
"Michigan is a good team. Their strength is their attacking group. Their front five is very talented."
Michigan (17-4-3) has won nine straight since the embarrassing loss at Akron. The Wolverines have not allowed more than two goals in any other game this season.
Akron, the nation's second-ranked team and 2009 national runner-up, will bring a 20-1-2 record into the 11 p.m. EST game at the University of California-Santa Barbara. The Zips and Maryland lead the nation in scoring with 2.65 goals per game. Akron's goals-against average of 0.63 is tied for sixth-best with North Carolina.
No. 19 Michigan is eighth in scoring at 2.17 goals. The Wolverines, with junior Chris Blais usually in goal, have given up 1.42 goals per match. Blais played the entire game in the 7-1 loss at Akron.
Rooting section: Junior midfielder Michael Nanchoff feels almost as comfortable on the road as at home. That's because his dad, George, and mother, Marian, along with his brother, George, and sister, Nicole, have attended every match this season.
"The support means everything, knowing your family is there, knowing how much they love you," Nanchoff said. "You look up at them during the national anthem, during player introductions, and see them smiling at you ... you know you want to do well."
The family, which has built a brilliant soccer legacy in northeast Ohio, has watched Nanchoff tally 10 goals and eight assists this fall.
Nanchoff's father, and his uncle, Louie, were both standouts for the Cleveland Force. Michael wasn't sure if Louie, who sees numerous Zips matches, will accompany the family to the College Cup.
Thanks, Vikings: Akron has lost one regular-season match in the last two years, dropping a 2-1 contest at Cleveland State on Oct. 30.
Porter enjoys that the Zips, as he said Tuesday, have a "swagger ... unlike what you see on most college teams."
But, occasionally, swagger needs to be tempered.
"We needed that," Porter said of the loss. "The guys always think they'll win, but they also needed to know that they're right just most of the time.
"I think the way the season has gone has been good for the team, to keep it grounded. We've given up some goals in the tournament, and have been reminded that you can be punished in this sport."
Kitchen favorite: While Sarkodie and junior forward Darlington Nagbe are among 15 semifinalists for the Hermann Trophy -- soccer's equivalent of football's Heisman Trophy -- and other Zips enjoy high profiles, freshman midfielder Perry Kitchen has emerged as a star.
Kitchen, of Indianapolis, was one of the nation's top-ranked recruits out of Bradenton (Fla.) Preparatory Academy.
"He allows us to play the adventurous way we do," Akron coach Caleb Porter said of Kitchen, who has scored five goals. "At times, it seems he's playing the role of two or three defenders.
"He does a lot of the dirty work, a lot of the ball-winning. Even as a freshman, he's one of the best in the country at what he does."