After notching quarter-final and semi-finals wins, the NIU men’s soccer team dropped the MAC Championship to No. 4 Akron in a 1-0 double-overtime loss.

The Zips entered the match ranked No. 4 in the country, owned the third best goals against average in the nation at .45 and showcased the NCAA’s lead scorer in Steve Zakuani.

It was Zakuani who ended the game in the 104th minute with his 20th goal of the season.

“Everything about the game is what we wanted it to be,” said NIU head coach Steve Simmons. “Our attitude, our spirit and our work rate were just superb. The guys worked so hard and they really had a chance to win this thing.”

Up until the end of the game, the Huskies refused to go down without a fight. The Zips out-shot NIU by a 20-5 margin, putting seven shots on goal compared to the Huskies’ one. The scorecard, however, did not mention the goal scored by NIU’s Ben Thomas. Thomas put a ball past Evan Bush only to see the goal wiped away after a Huskie handball was called.

Thomas’ bad break wasn’t the only inconvenience of the day. By the second half, the entire field was covered with snow, making it hard to get a grip on the ball. The reduced visibility also made it hard for NIU goalkeeper Joe Zimka to see.

“It affects you and it doesn’t,” Zimka said. “In the first half the wind was coming at me, and I was blinking every second. The field conditions were the worst part.”

Despite the bad weather conditions, Zimka played hard in front of the net. The senior ended his collegiate career notching two postseason shutouts, and held the Zips scoreless for 103 minutes.

In the championship game, Zimka made six big saves to keep the game tied at zero. Still, the senior was not happy with the way his career ended.

“The defense played really well today keeping the ball in front of them and not letting the ball go over the top,” he said. “It was just unfortunate that the one ball that did go over the top slipped through.”

Zimka and the Huskies made it to the Championship finale after a 2-0 quarter-final win against Bowling Green and with a 1-0 semi-final victory over Buffalo.

In the most recent win over the Bulls, Josh Karsten put his team ahead late in the second half. After a corner kick by sophomore Engebreth Faerden in the 72nd minute, the senior defender lost all regard for his body, and threw his head out in front of the ball, Simmons said. The goal was a good representation of how the Huskies battled for their bid at the Championship game.

Sunday’s championship game was the second one played by NIU in the last three years. In the team’s 2006 performance, the Huskies stole the title from Akron on their home field. This year however, Akron claimed the MAC and ended the Huskies’ run for a bid to the NCAA tournament.

“The disappointing thing is in the way we lost the game,” Simmons said. “I didn’t feel like our guys deserved to lose that way. It was kind of like it was unfair, but the game is cruel. We honestly believe we should have won that game.”