Lopes battle Akron to a 3-2 loss to close out the season

Wednesday, November 2

Akron, Ohio

1:00 p.m.

Grand Canyon

7-9-3

Akron

9-5-3

OT 1

OT 2

Grand Canyon

Akron

Lopes battle Akron to a 3-2 loss to close out the season

11/2/2016 4:14:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

By: Steven Gonzalez

AKRON, Ohio – To conclude the 2016 season, the Grand Canyon men's soccer team faced the Akron Zips on the road at FirstEnergy Stadium. The Zips went into the season ranked No. 2 in the NSCAA Preseason Poll and the Lopes held their own, taking them into double overtime. GCU came back to tie the game twice but fell to the Zips 3-2 to end the season with a 7-9-3 record.

The Lopes had to battle from behind early as the Zips struck early, scoring in the 8th minute, as Jonathan Lewis scored to give Akron the 1-0 lead. GCU struggled to generate an offensive attack for the first 30 minutes of the first half but the Lopes would turn the corner to close out the half.

After Alejandro Radilla made a nice run, catching Akron off the counter, Radilla was able to go down the left side of the flank and send the ball to the far-right post. Charles Keating would find the end of Radilla's pass where he placed the ball right in front of goal for an easy chip-in for Niki Jackson. Jackson's goal would tie the game headed into halftime.

In the last game of the season, Jackson proved himself as one of the best scorer's in the country, ending the season with 16 goals and two assists for a total of 34 points. For his career, Jackson now has 30 goals.

After Akron jumped out to a 2-1 lead in the 61st minute, GCU continued to fight and show no quit as they would tie the match at 2-2 in the 67th minute. In his final match wearing the purple and white, senior Jaime Olabarria would tie match, scoring his first goal of the season.

Olabarria's goal would send the match into overtime where GCU was the only team to record a shot in the first overtime. As the match went into the final overtime, it looked like the match would result in a tie but Akron's Stuart Holthusen would score with six minutes left in the match to give Akron the 3-2 win.