No. 16 seed Syracuse (7-6-4, 1-4-3 Atlantic Coast) plays Akron (11-6-2, 1-2-1 Mid-American) at Beyer-Small ’76 Field in Hamilton, N.Y. at 2 p.m. on Sunday. The Orange enter the game after falling to Virginia Tech 3-1 in the first round of the ACC tournament nearly three weeks ago. The Zips are riding a five-game winning streak that includes its 15th MAC tournament title as well as a first-round NCAA Tournament victory over Rider. The two teams met earlier this season on Oct. 1 in Akron, when Syracuse defeated Akron 3-1 thanks to a hat trick by Jonathan Hagman.

Here’s what to know before Sunday’s matchup.

All-time series: Akron leads, 2-1

Last time they played: In October, Hagman’s three goals propelled the Orange past Akron and snapped SU’s three-game winless streak. His goals came consecutively in the 29th, 52nd and 66th minutes before the Zips’ Colin Biros scored late to give the contest its final score. Prior to this season’s game, the teams had met just twice, in 1987 and 2017. In the first meeting, Akron defeated Syracuse 2-1 in SU’s second game of the season. Last year, a goal by Ezana Kahsay was the difference in a 1-0 win by the Zips.

The Akron report: Akron comes into Sunday’s game as one of the hottest teams in the country, having won five straight games after opening the season 6-6-2. The Zips have played seven games against ranked opponents this season and gone 3-3-1 in those matches, with the most recent being a win against then-No. 12 West Virginia a week ago in the midst of its conference tournament run.

They entered the NCAA Tournament ranked No. 14 in the country in RPI and have since defeated Rider, while Syracuse was No. 19 at the start of the tournament. The Zips have the 20th-best scoring offense in the country at 1.95 goals per game, two spots ahead of the Orange. Defensively they allow 1.127 goals on average, a mark that places them 76th in the nation. Their offense features five different players with 10 points or more, led by David Egbo, with 27. Six-foot-six goalkeeper Ben Lundt leads the defense in his third year as a starter and has saved 69.7 percent off shots he’s faced this season.

The NCAA Tournament is familiar territory for Akron, which is participating in the tournament for the 29th time in school history. That’s the 11th-most appearances in NCAA history but includes just one championship, won in 2010 when the Zips defeated Louisville, 1-0. On Friday, SU head coach Ian McIntyre called Akron “one of the benchmark programs in college soccer” and made sure to point out its experience in the tournament as an important part of the matchup.

How Syracuse beats Akron: The Orange need to start fast against the Zips and prevent themselves from falling behind early. Syracuse hasn’t played a game since Halloween, allowing the team to recover from nagging injuries but also build up “nervous energy,” which McIntyre explained the team has been experiencing the past few weeks during practice.

Akron, meanwhile, has played in four matches since Halloween and has won all but one by multiple goals. That includes its most recent match against Rider in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday, in which the Zips dispatched the MAAC champions, 3-1.

“It’ll be very important for us to play our brand of soccer,” McIntyre said on Friday. “Try to impose our style on a very technical Akron team that likes to dictate the rhythm of the game.”

Syracuse is 9-1 in games in which it’s scored first this season. A hot start against Akron on Sunday would release some of the jitters that the Orange have been accumulating during its longest gap between games this season and go a long way towards pushing SU into the elite eight of the tournament.

Stat to know: Five – The number of times Akron has made the NCAA Tournament final four, including twice in the past three years. The Zips have been one of the best programs in college soccer over the past ten years, and their experience playing in big games is something to note heading into Sunday’s contest.

Player to watch: David Egbo, forward, No. 9

A sophomore out of Nigeria, Egbo was recently named to the All-MAC First Team. After scoring just one goal and starting just once as a freshman, Egbo has scored a conference-leading 12 goals this year, three more than the second-most in the MAC. That total places him 15th in the country for most goals scored and 24th in total points. He has upped his performance in postseason play, scoring a goal in the conference championship against Western Michigan and pouring in two scores in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament versus Rider.

Published on November 17, 2018 at 7:52 pm

Contact Eric: erblack@syr.edu | @esblack34