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NCAA Division I men's soccer championship game

Harder Stadium hosted the final
Event	2018 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament
Maryland Akron Big Ten Mid-American 1 0
Date	December 9, 2018
Venue	Harder Stadium, Santa Barbara, California
Referee	Chris Penso
Attendance	4,858
Weather	Party Cloudy and 62 °F (17 °C)
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The 2018 NCAA Division I men's soccer championship game was the final game of the 2018 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament, determining the national champion for the 2018 NCAA Division I men's soccer season. The match was played on December 9, 2018 at Harder Stadium in Santa Barbara, California, a soccer-specific stadium that is home to UC Santa Barbara Gauchos men's and women's soccer programs.

The match was contested between the 2018 MAC Men's Soccer Tournament champions, Akron, and the Big Ten Tournament, semifinalists, Maryland. Maryland ultimately won the match 1-0 thanks to a penalty kick goal from Amar Sejdić in the 57th minute of play. Sejdić was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player for his performance. Maryland went through the entire tournament without conceding a single goal.

Marked by the media as a "redemption final", the final features two men's soccer heavyweights: Akron and Maryland. Both teams, while regularly successful over the last two decades, have not won an NCAA title in nearly a decade each. During the 2018 campaign, both programs had a slump early on in the season that nearly saw both teams miss out on the NCAA Tournament. A late season resurgence by both programs allowed both to reach the NCAA final.

The three-time defending champions, Stanford, were eliminated in the quarterfinals by Akron. The match was broadcast on ESPN2.

Road to the final

The NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament, sometimes known as the College Cup, is an American intercollegiate soccer tournament conducted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and determines the Division I men's national champion. The tournament has been formally held since 1959, when it was an eight-team tournament. Since then, the tournament has expanded to 48 teams, in which every Division I conference tournament champion is allocated a berth. The tournament was the first final since 2014 to not feature Stanford in the match. It was Akron's first appearance since 2010, which they won their lone NCAA title against Louisville, and Maryland's first appearance since 2013, where they lost to Notre Dame. Maryland has won the NCAA Tournament on three previous occasions: 1968, 2005, and 2008.

Akron

Akron entered the championship match on a nine-match winning streak, with their last defeat coming on October 20 at Northern Illinois. The program began the season ranked fourth in the nation in the United Soccer Coaches poll and second in the nation in the TopDrawer Soccer poll. A slow start to the season saw the Zips fall to a 1–3–1 record and slip out of the national rankings. Following the early skid, the Zips rebounded to win their next three straight matches. This was hallmarked by a 10–0 victory of Canisius, making it the program's largest win in history. Akron earned a pair of subsequent road wins at Grand Canyon and at VCU.

Akron began conference play with a scoreless draw at Bowling Green. A chain of inconsistent performances saw the Zips lose at home to West Virginia and Syracuse, but nab victories against Michigan State and Creighton, who were both ranked in the USC Top 10 at the time.

The Zips finished the Mid-American Conference regular season in fourth place, making it the programs poorest regular season performance in MAC play since joining the conference. In the MAC Tournament, the Zips had a season resurgence, winning all of their tournament matches in regulation, en route to their 7th straight Mid-American Conference Men's Soccer Tournament title, and their 11th MAC title in the last 14 years. The championship was a rematch of last year's championship, where the Zips took on Western Michigan. The win guaranteed that the Zips would return to the NCAA Tournament, where their chances prior to the tournament had been on the bubble.

The Zips did not earn a seed in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2013. In the first round, Akron hosted Rider, where they won 3–1. The victory led to a rematch against Syracuse. The match, played at nearby Colgate University, was a triumph for Akron, as they won by the same 3–1 score. The Zips then took on top-seed Wake Forest in the Sweet Sixteen, and earned a 1–0 away victory. In the Elite Eight, Akron took on Stanford, the three-time defending NCAA champions. Akron had been eliminated in penalties for the last 2 tournaments by Stanford. In the match, Akron avenged their losses, and won 3–2 at Stanford booking their spot in the College Cup. There, the Zips prevailed 5–1 against Michigan State, making it the most lopsided semifinal match in nearly 20 years.

Maryland

Pre-match

Venue selection

The National Collegiate Athletic Association determined the host of the final on April 18, 2017. The announcement of Meredith Field at Harder Stadium was in conjunction with WakeMed Soccer Park being announced as the 2019 and 2021 College Cup venue, while Harder Stadium would host the College Cup again in 2020.

Analysis

Ahead of the match, both programs had a similar storyline of having a late season resurgence. Akron was considered by some to be the favorite given their longer run of form, and their emphatic win over Michigan State.

Match

Details

Maryland	1–0	Akron
Sejdič 57' (pen.)	Report

Maryland

Akron

GK 99 Dayne St. Clair RB 25 Ben Di Rosa CB 2 Donovan Pines CB 5 Johannes Bergmann LB 28 Chase Gasper  10' RM 20 Eli Crognale  77' AM 10 Amar Sejdic 57' (pen.) LM 13 Andrew Samuels (c) RW 18 Paul Bin  60' LW 8 William James Herve  61' CF 9 Sebastian Elney  81' Substitutes: FW 11 D. J. Reeves  61' FW 15 Eric Matzelevich  81' FW 21 Vinicius Lansade  77' MF 27 Matt Di Rosa  61' Manager: Sasho Cirovski

GK 1 Ben Lundt  75' RB 26 Abdi Mohamed CB 3 Carlo Ritaccio (c)  80' CB 25 Daniel Strachan LB 4 Marco Milanese  61' DM 6 Skye Harter  88' CM 12 Colin Biros  78' CM 16 Sam Tojaga AM 8 Morgan Hackworth  61' ST 9 David Egbo ST 10 Marcel Zajac Substitutes: DF 2 Pol Hernández  61'  87' FW 7 Ezana Kahsay  78'  81'  81' MF 10 Marco Micaletto  61' MF 14 Diogo Pacheco  87' DF 27 Declan Watters  81' Manager: Jared Embick

Statistics

References

1. Sitrn, Josh (December 7, 2018). "UMD Soccer's "Redemption Story" Continues in College Cup Tonight". 247Sports.com. CBS Interactive. Retrieved December 7, 2018.
2. Mercado, Jorge (December 8, 2018). "Maryland soccer is taking its redemption tour to the NCAA championship game". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 8, 2018.
3. "Maryland Soccer Relishing Opportunity for Redemption Ahead of College Cup". WMUC-FM. December 6, 2018. Retrieved December 8, 2018.
4. Eskilson, J. R. (December 7, 2018). "Akron, Maryland advance to the Championship". TopDrawer Soccer. Retrieved December 8, 2018.
5. Ridenour, Marla (December 7, 2018). "University of Akron men's soccer: Second championship in school history within UA's grasp after Zips rout Michigan State 5-1 at College Cup". Akron Beacon Journal. GateHouse Media. Retrieved December 8, 2018.
6. Alexander, Elton (November 27, 2018). "Akron men's soccer once again must get by Stanford to advance in NCAA Tournament". The Plain Dealer. cleveland.com. Retrieved December 8, 2018.
7. "Zips End Stanford's Reign With 3-2 Victory to Advance to Sixth College Cup". gozips.com. University of Akron Athletics. November 30, 2018. Retrieved December 8, 2018.
8. Natalizi Baldi, Didier (December 5, 2018). "Stanford men's soccer season cut short by Zips". Stanford Daily. Retrieved December 8, 2018.
9. "Stanford Cardinal vs. Akron Zips Recap". ESPN. November 30, 2018. Retrieved December 8, 2018.
10. Crawford, Kirkland (December 7, 2018). "Game recap: MSU men's soccer falls to Akron, 5-1, in national semis". Detroit Free Press. freep.com. Retrieved December 8, 2018.
11. Punzal, Barry (December 7, 2018). "College Cup: Akron routs Michigan State, 5–1, in NCAA tournament national semifinals". Lansing State Journal. Retrieved December 8, 2018.
12. Klan, Mike (April 17, 2018). "UCSB selected to host the NCAA College Cup in 2018 and 2020 for men's soccer". KEYT-TV. NPG of California. Retrieved December 8, 2018.
13. "2019 - 2026 Future DI NCAA Championship Sites". NCAA. April 17, 2017. Retrieved December 8, 2018.
14. "Box Score: Maryland vs. Akron (December 9, 2018)". University of Maryland Athletics. December 9, 2018. Retrieved December 10, 2018.

• 2018 NCAA Division I men's soccer season
• NCAA Division I men's soccer championship games
• Akron Zips men's soccer
• Maryland Terrapins men's soccer
• 2018 in sports in California
• December 2018 sports events in the United States