“We saw fresh legs tonight, good movement and, in the end, it was a big victory for us,” Biello said after the match. “I think we played well defensively. We were very compact and were able to counter-attack several times. We saw a little of everything."

And this is where Kinnear got it wrong — he left his best defender on crosses — Canadian Andre Hainault — out of the starting lineup. If you’re willing to yield the wide positions, you need to have your best options out there when it comes to dealing with crosses.

It’s rare for Caleb Porter to take a break from his passion. The University of Akron head coach is a self-professed soccer junkie, constantly watching, reading about and developing tactics for the game so it was a strange thing for him to put everything aside for a month following his Zips’ 1-0 win over Louisville in the NCAA title match on Dec. 12. The championship was Akron’s first as a school. But given the stamp the 35-year-old Porter has put on the program in his five years in charge, it might not be the last.