The University of Akron men’s soccer team will play Villanova in front of its home crowd on Thursday at 5 p.m. in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Zips enter the game with a record of 12-5-3 while Villanova is 10-7-3.
The Wildcats hail from the Big East Conference, and they fell to Butler in the Big East Tournament semifinals, 1-0, in double-overtime. The Zips are champions of the Mid-American Conference for the fifth straight season after they defeated Western Michigan and Buffalo this past weekend.
Akron has a lot of hope coming into the tournament, as the team has a 4-1-2 record in the tournament under current head coach Jared Embick.