Photo by ISIPhotos.com

By JOHN BOSCHINI

A single penalty kick shootout separated Akron from a national title last season and for Caleb Porter and the returning members of the Zips, the journey back to the College Cup started on Dec. 14, 2009, one day after the final.

"We had a team meeting in the locker room and they players that were going to be returning talked about the fact that as good as 2009 was competing for national championships is going to be the standard at Akron," Porter said. "We said we were knocking on the door, we fell one kick short but in the end we're going to turn it around and we're going to do it again and it's going to start today."

It was a task easier said than done. The Zips lost 17-goal scorer Teal Bunbury and Blair Gavin to the pros and would need replacements. 

"We had to reload," Porter said. "We lost three pros and it wasn't just the talent but the leadership we needed to replace. We, as a staff, had to figure out where we were going to find 17 goals and where were you going to find the intangible qualities that Ben (Zemanski) and Blair brought."

Porter found them in a couple of freshman, Darren Mattocks, a striker from Jamaica who has scored 18 goals, and Perry Kitchen, who has evolved into one of the top defensive midfielders in the country.

"We knew Perry was a great defensive midfielder but we didn't think he'd be as much of a leader as a freshman as he has been," Porter said. "So I think we hit the jackpot as far as filling the voids that were left after last season."

Akron was untouchable early in the season. A 13-game unbeaten streak, which included wins over North Carolina, Wake Forest and Tulsa, opened the season with the retooled Zips' offense averaging 3.45 goals per game. Then Akron, who hadn't lost a game in precisely 23 months, fell 2-1 to Cleveland State, a team ranked 85th in the RPI.

"I honestly think that game was probably the best thing that happened," Porter said. "It was a game where we weren't at our best, we weren't focused and we stumbled. I think this team needed a little bit of grounding and when you win as much as we have you start to think that things come automatically and that you don't have to work to win. That game allowed us to make the run we as last year maybe it was too easy."

The Zips flew the remainder of the season, finishing with a plus 44 goal differential and a Mid-American conference title. But despite the strength of their non-conference schedule and having more wins than any other team in Division 1, Akron received the third seed in the NCAA tournament behind Louisville and Maryland.

"We were a bit disappointed and shocked," Porter said. "We did everything we could of in scheduling the teams we could find and we got results against all the top teams. Where we got hurt was playing games in conference and even if you win games against low RPI teams it drops your RPI. I thought that that would be taken into account a little more but I think our guys used it as a little bit of an extra chip.

Akron's return route to the College Cup has been far from easy, winning its first two games by a single goal and needing a penalty kick shootout to get past California. The Akron defense, which allowed only nine goals during the course of the season has surrendered six in just two games.

Now the Zips must travel to Santa Barbara and leave the friendly confines of Lee R. Jackson Field, where attendance has averaged around 3000 a game, and focus on the hurdle that tripped them up last year. In the first semifinal, Akron takes on Michigan, a team they throttled 7-1. Porter says that anything other than raising the trophy on Sunday will be a failure.

"You're not going to win it unless you look at it that way," Porter said. "That standard is something you have to create within your players and it takes time to create that. Raising the bar that high is something you can't be scared to do. I think a lot of coaches and programs are scared to set the bar that high but the ones that do are the ones that end up winning it."