Akron men's soccer team passes final test before its Big East debut later this week

There’s purpose in how Akron men’s soccer coach Jared Embick constructs his soccer schedule heading into league play and, so far, the Zips have passed with flying colors.

Consider Monday’s 2-0 win over No. 11 Florida International University the final dress rehearsal before Akron introduces itself to the Big East.

That comes Friday at home when the fifth-ranked Zips (5-0-1) welcome Providence to FirstEnergy Stadium.

"I think we've built some good momentum here," Embick said. "We're in a really good position going into Big East play with some confidence. ... I think it's very important that we feel that because we're going to go and play a lot of teams we don't play all the time. We're going to go to places we don't go all the time, and it's going to be a little bit anxious trying to navigate some of that. I think the momentum and confidence that we've gotten from the start is going to really help us."

During their time in the Mid-American Conference, the Zips won 21 regular-season titles and 15 tournament titles.

The Big East, which is currently ranked in the top 10 in conference RPI, is an entirely different beast.

Fans need to only go back as far as 2019 to find the last time a soccer title was won in the league (Georgetown).

The Big East has a solid resume men's soccer

Last season, Creighton, Georgetown and Seton Hall made the national tournament.

Creighton made it all the way to the College Cup before losing 3-2 to eventual national champion Syracuse in the round of four.

Incidentally, Akron debuts in the Midwest Division with Butler, Creighton, DePaul, Marquette and Xavier.

That’s how tough the Big East is, which is why Akron’s nonleague start is cause for celebration.

"Each game is a new lesson we've had to learn," Zips forward Jason Shokalook said. "We've just started learning more and more throughout each game. We've just developed a momentum to become the team that we are now. We're a strong team because everyone on this team looks to learn new things every time that we get the opportunity to. Everyone's in a good spot."

It doesn’t get any easier after Friday’s match with Providence with unbeaten Notre Dame (4-0-1) as the precursor to a crossover Big East game at St. John’s.

Win over FIU showed Akron coach Jared Embick what he wanted to see

The game with FIU (2-2-2) was just what Embick was looking for with Akron answering the challenge at every turn.

The Panthers brought high energy throughout, but the Zips showed patience in their counterattack early.

"We showed we can stay together as a team, work through it, and still find goals at the end of the day," Embick said. "Whether teams let us have the ball or they don't let us have the ball, we can be as dangerous in the moment. I think we showed a little bit of that today.

"I think what you saw today, more than previous years, a maturity to close out games against a very talented team where we really never got too much under pressure and never really gave up too many good chances. I think that's a huge difference that we can build off of."

Shokalook put Akron up very early when he intercepted an attempted clear by Joackim Betina and buried it just 3:02 into things.

He was at it again at the 9:07 mark of the first when he slotted a pass from Johnny Fitzgerald into the right corner past Vihelm Sigurjonsson.

It's the second year in a row the junior scored two goals against the Panthers and the second time he notched the game-winner.

After that it was a show of strong defense as FIU peppered Akron with 14 shots — four of them on frame. The Zips walked out with their fourth clean slate of the season and turned their attention toward the Friars.

"I think we have a great combination of experience and youth and we're hungry before it," Fitzgerald said. "We've been through the ringer the past couple of years. We're not satisfied. I think all that just leads into hopefully a great opening to the Big East."

Contact Brad Bournival at bbournival@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter at @bbournival

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Big East play begins Friday for Akron soccer; Zips come in on a roll