SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA – Drama in the last minute of a game, drama in the first minute of the other.

That’s how day one of the 2010 NCAA Men’s College Cup can be summarized.

Third time wasn’t the charm for North Carolina after falling short of lifting the title with a 2-1 loss to Louisville. Later in the second semifinal, Akron had to come from behind to beat Michigan with the same 2-1 score, and put itself in its second consecutive College Cup final.

However, neither win came without a scare.

Louisville 2 – 1 North Carolina

Once again, the Cardinals waited till the last possible moment to find a game-winner. In the 90th minute, and with the scoreboard reading 1-1, Aaron Horton sent Louisville to its first College Cup final appearance.

A play that started with a bad pass in North Carolina’s back third was the golden ticket that kept Louisville’s undefeated streak alive.

With the intention of switching the point of attack, a slow rolling ball landed to the feet of Ryan Smith. With plenty of space and the pressure of a ticking clock, instead of shooting, Smith dribbled down the center of the field, drawing the attention of the off-balanced UNC defense.

Once at the top of the 18-yard box, he found a seam and laid the ball of to Horton, who was streaking from the left side. Facing only the goalkeeper and with the angle getting tighter, Horton chipped the ball past the Tar Heel goalkeeper Scott Godwin for the game-winner, setting off a euphoric celebration.

“Basically Ron was the one who made the play happen,” Horton said. “He got the ball and started dribbling and took it out wide and slipped it through and I was able to put it away.”

It would be unfair to say that either team had full control of the action from beginning to end. But Louisville definitely had the better opportunities throughout.

Early on, both teams pressed the goals very hard.

In the 12th minute, UNC’s Enzo Martinez’s free kick was almost redirected to the back of the net after Stephen McCarthy’s header went slightly wide.

Five minutes later, it was Louisville trying to do some damage. Charlie Campbell beat Goodwin to the far post for a clear goal but North Carolina’s Drew McKinney cleared it off the line. Campbell got a second crack but his shot was deflected by Goodwin’s fist.

In the second half, after a scoreless first, Louisville stepped the gas and attacked North Carolina from the opening whistle. In the 50th minute Collin Rolfe had a look at goal, but his shot went past goalie and post.
 
Few minutes later, Nick Deleon drove down to the baseline but instead of laying it off to a streaking Dylan Mares, who was crashing the goal, Deleon called his own number, but his shot also went wide of goal.

Finally, in the 58th minute, the Cardinals broke through. Austin Berry climbed his marker to redirect Mares’ corner kick and sent it flying past Goodwin.

Even though North Carolina was playing some lackluster soccer in the latter part of the first half, it still had heart. And four minutes later, Alex Dixon drove through several players, zigzagging his way deep into the right side of the 18-yard box. With room running out, his only option was to send a cross. From there a wide open Stephen McCarthy headed into the back of the net.

It would seem that UNC would have its fourth straight game go into overtime. Still, Louisville had that killer instinct and repeatedly kept keeping Goodwin busy. The Cardinals could have increased its lead several times if not for the Tar Heel goalkeeper keeping them in contention.

But the 90th minute rolled in, Louisville found the back of the net, and another two-day stay in Santa Barbara.

“It is exciting to be playing for the national championship. It is where we expected to be all season. We are excited at this point to be able to compete for it,” Louisville Head Coach Ken Lolla said. “For this group and this team, it’s a goal we set at the beginning of the season. We polished each step every step of the way. I am very proud of this team because they faced a lot of adversity.”

Louisville remains undefeated entering Sunday’s final while North Carolina ended its season 16-4-4.

Louisville Lineup
GK: Andre Boudreaux
D: Chase Rodgers, Brock Granger, J.T. Murray, Austin Berry
M: Charlie Campbell, Paolo Delpiccolo, Andrew Farrell, Nick Deleon
F: Colin Rolfe, Dylan Mares,
Subs: Ryan Smith, Aaron Horton, Josh Lipka

North Carolina Lineup
GK: Scott Goodwin
D: Jalil Anibaba, Eddie Ababio, Drew McKinney, Matt Rose
M: Kirk Urso, Dustin McCarty, Stephen McCarthy, Enzo Martinez
F: Alex Dixon, Michael Farfan


Akron 2 – 1 Michigan

Kofi Sarkodie and his 74th minute game-winner sent Akron to another College Cup final in hopes to capture what they left behind in last year’s loss.

A corner kick sent in by Michael Nanchoff found Sarkodie just couple of feet from the goal line at the back post. With no much pressure on him, Sarkodie just snapped his head to redirect the ball past the hands of Michigan goalkeeper Chris Blais.

“Throughout the match, they were kind of leaving me open,” Sarkodie said. “We had been running a few different plays and I found myself open. I wasn’t too much surprised. It was the result of good movement and Michael (Nanchoff) found me and I just finished it.”

It wasn’t all giggles for Akron. Establishing a new definition of what it means to be cold, just 62 seconds into the match, Michigan’s Justin Meram already had the Wolverines up 1-0.

Meram found space in the middle of the park and took to the Akron backline. Catching them frozen and ball watching, he cracked a shot from the top of the circle and flew past Akron’s goalkeeper David Meves.

Waking up from the shock, Akron had its gears rolling and ten minutes after falling down a goal, Sarkdoie sent a cross to Darren Mattocks, whose header went wide as he had Blais going to other way.

Slowly Michigan started looking tired and a little sloppy. With so much space the team was giving Akron, the way the Zips got its equalizer wasn’t much of a surprised.

Perry Kitchen took advantage of the open space and dribbled 15 yards before launching a 30-yard missile. The ball found the top right corner of the goal and zipped passed a surprised Blais.

The second half saw a more composed Michigan team to start, and in the 64th minute, it got its best look since the goal.

Soony Saad found himself outside the 18-yard box with the Akron defense collapsing on him. In between traffic, he sent a low bending ball that beat Meves, put just kissed the inside post and ricocheted out.

If that wasn’t enough to sting the men in blue, ten minutes later the Michigan defense against stands dormant and Sarkodie found the back of the net.

Akron plan was very direct: shut down Meram and Saad. Aside from the lone goal, both forwards, who account for more than 30 goals this season, were taken out of their element. An offense will never succeed if the team’s two top goal scorers are receiving the ball in the midfield or further back.

Much credit has to be given for what Michigan has done with its young soccer program. This program has the potential to become a mover and shaker of college soccer. For now, Michigan ends the season 17-5-3.

Akron will play Louisville in the 2010 NCAA Men’s College Cup final Sunday and try to bring home the university first NCAA National Championship in any sport.

Akron Lineup
GK: David Meves
D: Zarek Valentin, Chad Barson, Kofi Sarkodie, Chris Korb.
M: Perry Kitchen, Michael Nanchoff, Anthony Ampaipitakwong
F: Darlington Nagbe, Darren Mattocks
Subs: Michael Balogun, Ben Speas

Michigan Lineup
GK: Chris Blais
D: Kofi Opare, Chase Tennet, Jeff Quijano, Brian Klemczak
M: Shaw Adam, Hamoody Saad, Alex Wood, Alashe Latif
F: Soony Saad, Justin Meram
Subs: Fabio Pereira, Ezekiel Harris, Matt Schmitt