Disastrous plays doom Akron

by Laurie Duffy
For The Post

Lots of big plays, few positive results.

That was the story on Saturday as the Ohio State Buckeyes defeated the Akron Zips 28-14 in front of a packed house of 102,602 fans at Ohio Stadium. OSU controlled the first half with two touchdowns by running back Chris Vance. What led to those scoring opportunities, however, was not the product of Ohio State domination.

A botched punt return by the Zips' Brandon Payne and a near-interception by free safety John Fuller both led to unanswered scores from OSU.

"Those two plays were the ballgame," Akron coach Lee Owen said in an

Associated Press story. "In both cases, they lost the ball in the sky."

The game was the first meeting between the two teams in over 100 years.

They played six times from 1890-1895, with Akron winning the contest in

1894. Akron's most recent connection to Ohio State is Buckeye coach Jim Tressel, who was the graduate assistant at Akron from 1975-1978.

This year's loss to OSU leaves the Zips with a record of 1-1. In week one of the season, they defeated Ohio 31-29 with a last-second field goal. Next week, Akron takes on Eastern Michigan at the Rubber Bowl.

BGSU goalkeeper named to national "team of the week"

Bowling Green's women's soccer goalkeeper, Erika Flanders, became the first women's soccer player in the school's history to be named to Soccer Buzz magazine's Team of the Week and Soccer America magazine's National Elite Team of the Week for the week of Aug. 27.

Flanders, a junior from Mason, posted a school record of 17 saves against Michigan State that surpassed her own record of 14 from 1999. Her save percentage of .963 last week, in addition to the school single-game-saves record, also helped her to secure MAC Player of the Week for Sept. 3.

The Falcons currently hold a record of 2-0-2 that includes a victory over

Wisconsin Green Bay and a tie with Michigan State and conference rival Toledo.