Wright State v.s Western Michigan Men’s Soccer Exhibition Game | Photo by Diana Jaber | The Wright State Guardian
Wright State University (WSU) Men’s Soccer started off the regular season on Thursday against the Akron Zips after their preseason exhibition matches against Xavier, Indiana and Western Michigan.
WSU finished the shortened spring season on a 5-3-1 mark, with the Zips finishing 4-4-2 but beating Marshall, the eventual NCAA Champions, in the regular season.
WSU tied against Xavier and Western Michigan in the preseason and lost to Indiana, last season’s NCAA runner-up, 2-4. The Zips also tied against Xavier after beating Niagra 3-2 and later tied VCU.
The Raider goals in the preseason came from Harvey Slade (1), John Lynam (2) and Presten Manthey (1) with excellent saves from goalkeeper Bryson Najarian across all three games.
Before Thursday’s game, the Zips led the overall series against the Raiders 10-1, with their last meeting being an 8-0 win for Akron back in 2008.
The game
Akron proved they were a top-tier team all night, beating the Raiders with constant aggression.
Akron eventually won the dominant game 7-1, beating the Raiders in every statisitc except for corner kicks.
Six zips placed a ball into the back of the net, with Ryan Kingsford leading the pack with two.
Both teams tried to focus their attack to the corner and cross the ball into the middle, but Akron was more successful in the second part where Raider attacks ended up crossing the end line.
Akron scored four goals off of attacks from the corner, whereas the single bright spot for the Raiders, a 60th-minute goal from Joe Kouadio, came from a give-and-go straight down the middle.
Future matches
The Raiders were back in action on Monday, Aug. 30 against Northern Kentucky in a game streamed on ESPN+.
Northern Kentucky drew their season opener against #25 Coastal Carolina, in a match that went 110 minutes with no goals from either side.
Bradley won their first season-opening match against Omaha 1-0, off of a free kick taken by Jack Douglas 30 yards out bounced off the crossbar to be scored by freshman Jake Schoffstall.
The Raiders will look to work on their possession from the back and their defense during these matches in order to perform in Horizon League play.
