Destiny Achieved By Porter

Coach Caleb Porter talked throughout the weekend about how the journey to Akron's NCAA championship win began on Dec. 14, 2009.

After his team's College Cup final triumph, Porter reminisced about losing the final a year prior.

"Painful loss last year where we were the best team in the country but it ended on one kick," the coach said Sunday about the penalty shootout loss to Virginia. "For these guys to work harder, recover, and move on from that - it is an absolute credit to these guys' character."

It was a journey with a fitting ending, with Akron winning College Cup through a 1-0 win over Louisville.

“I am so proud of this team. It has been a long journey."

The journey for Porter has been an even longer time coming.

Porter left his position as an assistant coach at Indiana in 2005 to take over an up-and-coming Akron program. In his first official game in charge of the Zips, Porter lost 5-0 to UCSB.

It was poetic justice for the coach to win the national championship on the field of the team that gave him a tremendous thrashing on his debut.

"I thought about it," Porter said of his first loss as a head coach. "My wife reminded me that the last time I was in a College Cup in California I won with Indiana. California has been good to me."

His previous success in the Golden State came as an assistant; he lifted the title over UCSB in 2004 in penalty kicks.

The season after, he took over the head-coaching role at the Ohio-based Akron. The now 35-year-old said the first challenge for him was selling his vision to recruits.

"People said we would not get the top talent. Anthony [Ampaipitakwong] was really my first blue chip recruit."

That first chip fell into place as Ampaipitakwong bought into the program that Porter was selling without even knowing where Akron was located, but that was the major moment for Porter and the Akron program.

"I am not sure we would have got the next player or the next player if it wasn’t for him taking that leap of faith."

For Ampaipitakwong, it was an emotional victory. Last year, he battled through injuries during the College Cup, but was forced to watch the final from the sidelines as his team fell to Virginia.

"It is unbelievable to know that I helped these guys win a national championship," Ampaipitakwong said.