The men’s soccer team made the trip to East Lansing, Mich. for a match against Michigan State Wednesday, Sept. 17.
The men could not score yet again and left Michigan with a 1-0 loss, bringing their record to 1-3-2.
“It was a disappointing game, we didn’t show up with the same mentality we had in the past,” head soccer coach Eric Nichols said. “If you’re going to a team of Michigan State’s caliber and you don’t bring your best, you won’t get a result.”
The Falcons are in a bit of a scoring slump, not scoring in their last four games. They focus on bringing the ball up the field as a team from the defenders all the way to the offensive players Ryan James said. In these four scoreless games the Falcons have played team who are nationally and regionally ranked in Marquette, Milwaukee, Ohio State and Michigan State.
“We haven’t scored a goal in a while, but if we focus on defense we will be able to move up as a group,” James said. “I feel like the last four games we haven’t been focusing really hard on picking our spots.”
The team is working to forget that rule with the quick turnaround for another away game, but this time it will be at Akron. Saturday at 1 p.m. they will face off against the number seven ranked Zips. Akron has been an elite soccer program for years and is always a tough game to travel to for any team in the country. It is one of the best college venues in the nation against one of the best teams in the nation, Nichols said.
“Akron plays arguably the best brand of soccer in the country. Some of the most talented players in the country come through Akron,” Nichols said.
This will open Mid-American Conference play for the Falcons this year as they can leave behind some of the tough losses against those elite conference teams.
“The MAC is a whole different monster,” forward Ryan Comisky said. “You get in the MAC and any team can knock off any team any given day, we are just ready for it to start.”
Akron won both last season’s meetings against the Falcons, both being with the score of 2-0 one at Cochrane Field and one in the MAC Tournament semifinal round. The Falcons last win against Akron came 11 years ago in a 1-0 victory at Cochrane Field and their last road win came in 1997.
“This is one of the top teams you get to play,” James said. “You should be happy to play one of the top teams in the nation.”
The Falcons marking around the field will be tested more in this game than they have been all season with Akron’s skill and talent, Nichols said.
“They rotate so much and they are so fluid in their movement,” Nichols said. “We will need to raise our game in those areas come Saturday.”
The Falcons will need to improve on their performance from Wednesday if they plan to beat one of the best programs in the country in Akron.
“I want a performance. Any kind of result would be good but I want a performance,” Nichols said. “I want to be able to walk off the field knowing that we performed well, were prepared and left everything we had on the field.”
