AKRON, Ohio – Western Michigan men's soccer faced its toughest competition of 2025 in a 4-0 loss to the #3 Akron Zips on Tuesday night.
The Broncos struggled to find a rhythm against one of the nation's top teams to start the week. WMU had a slim stat line with two shots, one corner kick, and one save as the Zips held Western Michigan off entirely in the first half.
The lone corner kick of the game for the Broncos came in the final minute of the first half. WMU was already trailing by two after goals from Akron midfielder Jack Roman when they moved deep into the Zips defensive territory. The corner for Western was the final play of the first half, and the ball did find its way into the net during the scrum after the corner. But a whistle during the play giving possession to the Zips nullified the potential goal.
The Broncos did find their offensive zone a bit more often in the second half, recording their first shot of the night in the 57
th minute. Now down by three goals after Akron made a successful penalty kick, sophomore midfielder
Braden Stevanovic found himself ahead of the Zips defense to the left of the six. Stevanovic quickly fired off a shot that missed wide right to end Western Michigan's attack.
The Broncos added one more shot as midfielder
Gabe Villagomez put one on target in the 83
rd minute of the match. But Akron goalkeeper Mitch Budler made the save down low to keep WMU off the board.
Western Michigan wraps up its three-game road trip over the weekend at another ranked opponent. On Saturday, Sept. 13 the Broncos visit #23 Cornell for their first match with the Big Red in program history. Kick-off from Ithaca is set for 1 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.
