KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Corey Baird connected in the tenth round of penalty kicks for Stanford, Nate Shultz had his attempt blocked for Akron and the Cardinal outlasted the Zips 8-7 in penalty kicks after 110 scoreless minutes in the NCAA College Cup semifinals.
Less than a minute into the first overtime frame, Stanford's Foster Langsdorf booted a shot that would have gone in, but Akron's goalkeeper Jake Fenlason threw up his hands to deflect the ball for his fourth save of the match. Four other shots were attempted in the first overtime, but nothing went in.
Earlier, Clemson beat Syracuse 4-1 in penalty kicks. The last time both semifinal games went to PKs was in 2011 when North Carolina outlasted UCLA and Charlotte upset Creighton.
There wasn't a shot attempted by either team until the 26th minute in the first half, and Baird missed wide right on that attempt. Langsdorf had shots in both the 32nd and 34th minutes. Fenlason saved both of Langsdorf's shots. Akron didn't have a shot the entire first half.
Akron's first shot of the match came in the 58th minute on an attempt from Stuart Holthusen, but it was blocked. The second half had much more striking than the first. In total, the second half resulted in 11 shots, Akron with six and Stanford with five.
Stanford squares off with Clemson in the national championship game on Sunday, Dec. 13 at 3 p.m. EDT.
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