Christian Lautenschleger/The LanternJoshua Breto (21) and Matt Gold (6) in the second half against Akron.
The Ohio State men’s soccer team cannot catch a break.
Despite holding two leads and scoring three goals in the second half, the Buckeyes (9-7-2) could not hold off the offensive talent of No. 4 Akron, falling to the Zips (15-1-3) in its regular season finale 4-3 on Friday night.
“The ball is just not bouncing our way,” coach John Bluem said.
Zips forward Steve Zakuani scored on a 25-yard blast that beat junior goalkeeper Byron Neal and put Akron on the board early in the 13th minute. The Buckeyes outshot the Zips 8-4 in the first half but played more defense than offense.
Trailing Akron 1-0 at halftime, the Buckeyes stormed out in the second half, scoring two goals in a little more than a minute to go ahead 2-1.
The goals, scored by sophomore forward Konrad Warzycha and freshman Dave Tiemstra in the 49th and 50th minutes, shifted the momentum toward the Buckeyes. Joshua Breto assisted on both goals, giving the freshman forward three for the season.
The Buckeyes had only held the lead for six minutes when Zips midfielder Ben Zemanski slipped past the Buckeyes defense and tied the game 2-2.
A mere 39 seconds later, Buckeye sophomore midfielder Sam Scales found junior defender Doug Verhoff wide open in the box, who finished his shot into the right corner putting the Buckeyes ahead 3-2.
Zakuani struck again in the 69th minute, netting his 19th goal of the season and pulling the teams even 3-3. The Zips forward leads the nation in goals scored and total points.
The game-winning goal came in the 83rd minute when Zakuani fled midfielder Blair Gavin and fired a close-range shot under the crossbar.
The Zips displayed their offensive dominance and speedy play, which gave the Buckeyes’ defense fits all night.
“We didn’t take care of business on the defensive end when we had leads,” Bluem said.
The Zips had not conceded more than one goal in any game this season. Senior defender and tri-captain Tim Gabel credited his team for battling Akron the entire game.
“This proved to our guys that we could play with anybody in the country,” he said.
The No. 6-seeded Buckeyes will open the Big Ten tournament on Thursday against No. 3-seeded Indiana.
“We got unlucky and that’s been the story of our season so far, but we’re looking to change that going into the Big Ten tournament,” Gabel said.
Tyler Gillespie can be reached at [email protected].
