In a battle for conference supremacy, the University of Kentucky men’s soccer team defeated Akron, 2-1, for its second-consecutive Mid-American Conference Championship on Saturday, Nov. 3. With the win, UK (11-5-1, 6-0-0 MAC) takes its first outright league title and earns the No. 1 seed in next week’s MAC Tournament.
On senior night when the Kentucky faithful bid farewell to Ilkka Jantti, the Finland native took a pass from fellow countryman Antti Peltonen and served the ball to Olli Lehtimaki, also from Finland, for the game-winning goal in the 58th minute.
“I feel great for the players,” Coach Ian Collins said after being doused with a cooler of water. “They are the ones who have dedicated themselves to winning. The second half was unbelievable. The way we played, we could have beaten anyone in the country. We definitely looked like the team we can be.”
The Cats turned the tables on the Zips (8-5-1, 5-1-0 MAC), winning for only the second time in the series. UK also prevented Akron from winning its fifth consecutive league crown after finishing as the MAC runner-up for three years before sharing the championship last season.
UK jumped out on top early when Peltonen took a Chris McDaniel pass and blasted a 15-yard shot past Zip goalkeeper Kyle Milligan at the 8:41 mark. However, Akron responded a minute later when Tim Cooper knocked the ball past an outstretched Greg Raber to knot the game at one.
On the night, Kentucky outshot Akron 10-8 while holding an 8-7 corner-kick advantage. Raber needed just two saves to collect his seventh win in eight starts.
As the No. 1 seed in the MAC Tournament, the Cats earn a bye into the semifinals on Sunday, Nov. 11 at Akron, Ohio. A win in the semis will give UK one last home game this season as they would host the MAC Tournament Championship.
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Attendance: 1,376
Scoring: Kentucky – Antti Peltonen (Chris McDaniel) 8:41, Olli Lehtimaki (Ilkka Jantti, Antti Peltonen) 57:55, Akron – Tim Cooper (unassisted) 9:53
Shots: Kentucky 10, Akron 8
Corner Kicks: Kentucky 8, Akron 7
Goalkeeper Saves: Kentucky – Greg Raber 2, Akron – Kyle Milligan 4
