AKRON, Ohio – The top-seeded University of Akron men's soccer team defeated eighth-seeded Tulsa, 1-0, before 4,254 fans Saturday night at Lee Jackson Field to advance to the College Cup for the second time in school history and for the first time in 23 years.

With the win, the Zips (23-0-0) not only earned the right to face fifth-seeded North Carolina (16-2-3) in Friday's NCAA semifinal in Cary, N.C., but matched the longest, single-season win streak in NCAA history and kept their hopes alive of becoming the first team in 35 years to win a national championship with a perfect record.

It all starts this weekend at the College Cup, where the Zips will be the only non-ACC school represented – joining the Tar Heels, No. 3 Wake Forest (17-3-3) and No. 2 Virginia (17-3-3).

"I am proud that we get to go and showcase our program," said UA head coach Caleb Porter.  "I am excited to play quality opponents and some that we have never played before. It starts with North Carolina, who plays in one of the top conferences in the country, on Friday.

"It is important to not forget what we are in the College Cup to do and that is to win a national championship. We are not satisfied with where we are at now. We went into this year wanting to win a national championship. We will enjoy this experience, but we are there to win a national championship."

Kofi Sarkodie scored the game's lone goal in the 17th minute by putting the finishing touch on a perfectly-placed through ball from Blair Gavin near mid field. Sarkodie took the pass in-stride, made a strong run to the right post and slipped the ball over the goalkeeper's' right shoulder into the upper-left corner of the net.

"All wins are rewarding in their own way," Porter said. "When we go through the year and dominate as much as we have, a 1-0 game may not feel as dominate as some of the other wins. But I thought we made some very good plays in the first half and Kofi Sarkodie's goal was incredible. At the end of the day, the one goal was all we needed."

The early goal highlighted an opening half that was all Akron from the get-go as the Zips owned a 9-1 shots advantage over the Golden Hurricane (15-5-2), who entered play ranked third in the nation in scoring. Akron dictated the game with its precision on the attack and signature swarming defense while limiting Tulsa to just one shot through the first 74 minutes of the contest.

When TU finally got some scoring chances, UA goalkeeper David Meves was up to the task as the true freshman made a pair of outstanding saves – denying two close-range shots by Justin Chavez – in the game's final minutes. Meves, who broke Evan Bush's school record (2005) with his 15th shutout of the year, finished with three saves while logging all 90 minutes between the pipes.   

As a team, the Zips added to their school-record total with their 17th shutout in 23 games. Overall, the Zips out-shot Tulsa, 12-6, and survived four second-half corner kick opportunities by TU.

Sophomore Teal Bunbury, who leads the nation with 17 goals on the year, was a force all game with five shots; including three on-goal.

The Zips made their one and only appearance in the NCAA seminfinals in 1986 when they defeated Fresno State, 1-0, to advance to the national championship game where they suffered a 1-0 loss to Duke.

The game time for Friday's semifinal game against North Carolina has yet to be announced.

"North Carolina is a very good team with talented individuals," Porter said. "But so are we. We have very explosive players and while we're going to respect their attack, they will have to respect us as well. We are looking forward to what is going to be an exciting soccer game."