TennZip

When I look at the Akron vs. Notre Dame box score...and compare it to other Notre Dame box scores.....ND was missing two key players when they played Akron. Forward Matthew Roou did not play against Akron. He was tied for ND's lead in goal scoring this year as he had 10 goals and 3 assists this year in 15 games. Midfielder Bryce Boneue did not play against Akron. He was tied for ND's lead in assists this year as Boneue had 3 goals and 6 assists in the 12 games that he played.

Former Zip Ryan Kingsford played 84 minutes last night for Loyola Marymount. Kingsford scored the first goal of the game and LMU advanced with a 4-2 win.

Kentucky is really playing well right now. Kentucky at Notre Dame ......will be a very good game on Sunday.

absolute great information. I am so glad that you have joined the board. I was not aware of the US Soccer collective. I will definitely pay the $5 for the USMNT prospects. I am so excited to read what was said about the great LB prospect. Thank you again . No need to apologize for the long post. I have obviously done a few long posts in my time.

NYC Zip, welcome to the board. It is good to see an optimistic poster on the board. What do you know about the 2024 recruiting class? I only follow top drawer soccer(TDS) and they do not have the 2024 recruiting class ranked highly. For 2023, the zips recruiting class was ranked #7 by TDS. The highlights of the claas were Caleb Borneo (#38 nationally) ; Josh Hardin (#82 nationally) and Nathan Ferguson (#188 nationally. ) Borneo and Hardin were both rated 4 stars by TDS. Of course, zips fans really did not get to see the 3 top 200 recruits this past year. Caleb got injured during the summer and was not able to play this year. Nathan got hurt on the first day of practice and was out all year. Joshua Hardin is an outside back so he got stuck behind Will Jackson and Malik and barely played. I am excited to see what Caleb, Nathan and Josh Hardin can do in spring and fall 2024. Also, Caleb Borneo's Columbus Crew academy teammate, Joshua Bartels , was listed as a 2023 recruit but Bartels will not join the zips until spring 2024. TDS does not have the zips 2024 recruiting class ranked in the top 10 and they have no Akron recruits rated as 4 stars. James Buebendorf from St. Louis SC is rated #153 in the country. Kamden Held from the Chicago Fire Academy is rated as #180 in the country. We all know that it is very hard to accurately rate all of the young players that are playing academy and high school soccer. In 2022, TDS had outside defensive Levi Stephens rated in the top 100 and rated as a 4 star recruit. Levi transferred from Akron after one year. Levi went to George Mason and barely played this year. TDS did not have Ashton Kamdem rated in their top 200 and Ashton has been an outstanding outside back for Akron. Again, I look forward to your contributions to this forum. I am just curious as to what makes you optimistic about the 2024 recruting class. I am super pumped to see what a healthy 2023 recruiting class can do in the fall of 2024.

I agree that playing Big 10 teams....might help with attendance. However, it could also hurt the zips for RPI. The Big Ten this year has 1 lonely team in the 48 team field. Ohio State and Michigan have both had many losing seasons in the past several years. Akron's tie this year against Michigan (a 5-6-7 record) did not help the zips in RPI.

Pitt is hosting a first round game. The committee felt that Pitt was one of the best 32 teams in the country. At large selections....that are having to play on the road....are Seattle, James Madison and Kentucky. Those 3 at large teams were probably the last 3 teams. As mentioned by Big Greent Truck and others, how a team finishes the year...matters to the committee. Kentucky had wins over Marshall and West Virginia late in the season. Akron finished the year 0-2-3. A win against either Butler or Marquetts probably would have earned the zips a spot in the tournament. Pitt also had a head to head win over Denver. Denver is also an at large team and they are hosting a home game.. Denver was probably one of the last 4 in. The Big East really had a down year this year. That hurt the Zips in RPI. Also, the zips had 9 wins. However, 3 of the wins were over 3 of the 17 lowest ranked teams in college soccer 211 teams in Div. 1. Akron had wins over N. KY (206) ; SIU (199) and Niagara (195). Cleveland State was 166 so that also did not help the zips. Depaul was 118. So, the zips had 9 wins...but only 4 wins over teams in top 87. The loss to #99 Creighton crushed the zips in RPI. SB Zip fan, Big Green Truck and I have tried to show why the committee liked Kentucky and Pitt. Just to be Slightly contrary....Akron and Pitt had one common opponent...Notre Dame. As YipaZip pointed out, the Zips completely dominated Notre Dame in a 0-0 tie. Pitt played Notre Dame in Pitt's last regular season game. Notre Dame beat Pitt 6-0. I suspect that the Zips will have a much tougher out of league schedule next year in case that the Big East has another down year.

speaking of power 5.....the Big Ten got 1 team into the tournament Indiana, the tournament champion

The committee went almost completely by RPI.....to determine the last teams in. VCU was the only team above the cut line....that did not get in. James Madison was the only team below the cut line....that got in.

Gaucho Dan of Big Soccer.com.....is predicting that the zips get in.... He thinks that Pitt, Kentucky and VCU will be left out of the tournament field. Gaucho Dan predicts that James Madison, Penn State and Akron....will be the 3 teams that get in....despite being below the theoretical RPI cut line. Akron actually has an RPI that is higher than 11 teams that won their league. Guacho Dan predicts that the zips will have to play at Memphis on Thursday night. Selection show at 1 pm.... Let's hope that NYC Zip and Gaucho Dan are both correct. Go, Zips

Thank you for the college choice update for Hannah Pachan. Sounds like Virginia Tech will be getting a super player. Hannah is ranked 14th regionally by Top Drawer Soccer not in their top 200 ranking https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/club-player-profile/hannah-pachan/pid-150513 One of the best players in the area this year....did not play high school soccer. Grace Jackson is ranked #57 overall in the class of 2024 by Top Drawer Soccer (TDS)....(yes, she is Will's younger sister) Grace plays Academy soccer for Internationals SC (run by the Nanchoff family) Grace had originally committed to play college soccer for Purdue Purdue fired their coach so Grace is now showing as going to Michigan State Grace is a midfielder and is rated 4 stars out of 5 https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/club-player-profile/grace-jackson/pid-138745 Michigan State has done well in recruiting Ohio players #62 in TDS is Julia Belli from Dublin, OH....has also committed to be a spartan she plays academy ball for Ohio Premier https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/club-player-profile/julia-belli/pid-1029063 in the class of 2024, Internationals SC has a player that is rated even higher than Grace Jackson her name is Katie Scott in the case of it's a small world...Katie is from Fairview, PA she is the sister of Nick Scott, who played for Akron men in 2020 and 2021 Nick tranferred to Charlotte after his sophomore year. He started 11 games for them in 2022. this year, Nick played in 14 games for Charlotte and started 5 of them. Charlotte beat SMU today to win the AAC. Nick's Charlotte's team is 14 in RPI Nick was a good player with the zips. I was sorry to see him transfer she is rated #31 by TDS and she has committed to Penn State https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/club-player-profile/katie-scott/pid-133141 amazingly, the #1 ranked player in the class of 2025....also trains at International SC the #1 player in the country has committed to play for Stanford https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/club-player-profile/eleanor-klinger/pid-131610 also in the class of 2025....is another player from Internationals SC she is ranked #37 in the country and has committed to play for Notre Dame https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/club-player-profile/tessa-knapp/pid-140745 I was amazed at the caliber of young female players coming out of Internationals SC.

It is 5:30....I have been typing and analyzing since 4:10 time to rustle up some dinner...... I will let another poster on this board......do a similar analysis for Akron........as to why Akron should jump ahead of the last 3 out.......and at least 1 of the last 4 in..... Go, Zips !!!

VCU....currently 34....pros and cons record of 7-6-5 started their season with 1-1 tie against #7 RPI New Hampshire 2nd game ...lost badly 4-0 to #29 FIU....Akron defeated FIU early in season sep. 1 - 2-2 tie with American (American...ended the year with RPI of 108) sept. 4.....4-1 loss to #7 rpi...North Carolina sept. 9....1-0 loss to #16 rpi Missouri....state....they played a very tough non league schedule to start their season sept. 15 ...0-0 tie with #39 RPI St. Louis sept. 19 ...1-1 tie with Old Dominion (old Dominion ended the year 5-7-5 with an RPI of 111) did not get their first win until sept. 23...1-0 over U Mass (UMass ended the year 7-6-6 with an RPI of 105) sept. 27....they lost 1-0 to #1 RPI Marshall at that point of the year, VCU had a record of 1-4-4 ended the year 6-2-1....in their last 9 1-1 tie with league tournament winner Dayton (Dayton ended the year with RPI of 61) October 7 ...1-0 loss to Davidson (Davidson finished the year 10-5-1 with an RPI of 57) A10 tourney beat Fordham 1-0 in quarters...Fordham ended the year at 50 RPI) beat U Mass 3-1 in semis...again.....rpi of 105 lost 2-1 to Dayton in final.....again rpi of 61 other wins over loyola Chicago, George Mason, Rhode Island and St. Bonaventure Loyola chicago is their signature win...rpi of 47 no signature wins their strength of schedule is #2 in the country

Denver....currently 31...pros and cons record of 11-2-5 biggest win of the season ...is a huge win 3-1 on Sept. 1 ...over rpi #4 SMU 2 losses are to a top 10 team...and a bubble team 4-2 loss on sept. 15 to #10 rpi Portland 3-1 loss on sept. 25 at #30 RPI Pitt ties with aug 24 season opener with san diego st 0-0 (san Diego State ended year with rpi of 78) sept 4....2-2 tie with Creighton (Creighton has win over Akron).....if they compare common opponents for Akron and Denver Creighton ended the year with RPI of 99 2-2 tie with Seattle (Seattle is 26 rpi) 1-1 tie with 65 rpi Oral Roberts nov. 9 conference tournament...tie with #130 RPI Kansas City...lost on PK's

this is final RPI...according to Gaucho Dan SMU stayed at 4.... Charlotte jumped up to 14 Bryant defeated New Hampshire....1-0 in 110 Bryant jumped to 11 New Hampshire fell back to 7 Denver and Pitt swapped spots Denver from 30 to 31 Pitt from 31 to 30 SIU-E..improved from 38 to 36 UIC went from 36 to 37 james madison went from 39 to 38....now 2nd team out st. louis went from 37 to 39...now 3rd team out yale,ivy winner stayed at 40 akron is still ...41....4th team out..if only rpi is used https://rpiupdatemenssoccer.blogspot.com/search/label/RPI Rank

Pros and Cons for bubble teams Pitt at 31.....might look like a likely candidate to be dropped as they are 6-6-4 However, they have wins over Wake Forest and Denver 6 losses are all totournament teams lost to Louisville in double overtime in conference tourney other losses - Marshall, Georgetown, Notre Dame , Vriginia (all 4 in top 10 RPI) 6th loss was to Virginia Kentucky at 35 .......has record of 7-7-4 they got healthy late in the year and have wins over Marshall and West Virginia they also beat James Madison, a bubble team in conference tourney.... lost to Marshall in conference semis other 6 losses September 1 to Wisconsin September 5 to Louisville September 15 to South Carolina September 19 to Ohio State September 24 to Old Dominion Sept. 29 to Central Florida they were 3-6-0 after losing to Central Florida they ended the season 4-1-2 in their last 7....including wins over #1 Marshall and #7 West Virginia

As I am typing this, New Hampshire and Bryant are starting Overtime New Hampshire is currently 6 in RPI...Bryant is 20 both teams in ...no matter the results, both teams in scoreless ...8 minutes into first overtime #25 Charlotte leads #4 SMU with 4 minutes left ...both teams in (as I tyoe....Charlotte jsut won) for this purpose, I assume that Charlotte and UNH win.... using RPI rankings as of 4:15 23 league winners (current RPI shown to left for teams above 45) 1. Marshall 6. New Hampshire 8. Hofstra 12 Western Michigan 15 Clemson 16 UCLA 21 Indiana 25 Charlotte 32 San Diego 33 Xavier 38 SIUE 40 Yale 45 Lipscomb 10 teams get automatic bids from the smaller league their RPI's are irrelevant since they got automatic bid Boston U Omaha Green Bay High Point Cal Baptist UC Irvine Mercer Rider Long Island U. Dayton 25 at large selections current RPI shown to the right 1. Georgetown (RPI of 2) 2. Notre Dame (RPI of 3) 3. SMU rpi 4 4. N. Carolina rpi 5 5. West Virginia rpi 7 6. Virginia rpi 9 7. Portland rpi 10 8. Central Florida rpi 11 9. Wake Forest rpi 13 10 Missouri State rpi 14 11. Duke rpi 17 12. Stanford rpi 18 13. Louisville rpi 19 14. Bryant rpi 20 15. Memphis rpi 22 16. Vermont rpi 23 17. Loyola Marymount rpi 24 18. Fla Intl rpi 26 19. Seattle rpi 27 20. Syracuse rpi 28 21. Oregon State rpi 29 last 4 in (if only RPI is used) 22. Dever rpi 30 23. Pitt rpi 31 24. VCU rpi 34 25. Kentucky rpi 35 last 7 out (if only RPI is used) UIC 36 St. Louis 37 James Madison 39 Akron Zips 41 Cal 43 Penn State 46 Loyola Chicago 47

I posted this article on all state selections under the women's soccer topic. It is also probably appropriate to post here under 2024 recruits. A young man from Revere was selected as Div. 2 player of the year. Dylan Halm had 33 goals and 11 assists as a senior. I do not know if he is good enough to play for Akron and if he has committed to a college. Cole Turchyn from Medina was selected first team all state. Again, I do not know if he is good enough to play for Akron and if he has committed to a college. St. Ignatius won its fifth straight state title yesterday in Division 1. They are traditionally a super power in Ohio High school soccer. When was the last time that the zips had a player from St. Ignatius on their men's soccer team? Nick Mikulec from St. Ignatius was selected as first team All State. St. Ignatius beat Cincinnati Moeller in yesterday's final (5-4 on PK's). Cincinnati Moeller was the #1 ranked team in all of America. Moeller had an incredible year. They were 24-0-0 and had not given up a goal in their last 23 games. The goal they gave up in the first game was on a PK. 24 games and they gave up no goals from the run of the play. I am sure that the zips had some coaches down in Columbus yesterday I am certainly not an expert on Northeast Ohio High school soccer. A name that I hope ....is on the zips radar for 2025 recruiting....is Revere Midfielder AJ Catlett. First team all state as a junior. 11 goals and 26 assists as a junior. From the little I know about NE Ohio HS soccer, I think that Catlett might be able to help in fall 2025. Revere obviously had a great team this year...with the Div. 2 player of the year - Dylan Halm and the talented junior - AJ Catlett. Revere lost in the state final 2-0 to a team from Tipp City (Tippecanoe). Tippecanoe had a junior on the team named Landon Haas. The Junior had an amazing year...33 goals and 26 assists...Amazingly, Landon Haas was only voted 2nd team all state. I hope that some of the young men on the All State teams are good enough to play for Akron and that they choose to play college soccer at Cub Cadet field. https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/sports/high-school/soccer/2023/11/11/ohsaa-all-ohio-boys-and-girls-soccer-walsh-jesuits-hannah-pachan-reveres-dylan-halm-nick-depompei/71518167007/

From what I can tell, the 2 best players on Walsh's teams this year are not seniors. The first article is from a few years ago. The 2nd link is an article from this morning's beacon...showing the all state teams for both boys and girls Walsh Junior Hannah Pachan was selected as the best player in the state for division 1. Ms. Pachan is a junior and she had 33 goals and 11 assists this year. Walsh had one other player selected to the second team all state. That player is also a junior. Her name is Reagan Pentz. Yes, that last name is familiar. Reagan's older sister , Morgan played for both Walsh Jesuit and the Akron zips. https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/sports/high-school/soccer/2022/09/03/ohsaa-walsh-jesuit-girls-soccer-reagan-pentz-hannah-pachan-look-to-lead-warriors-back-to-state-final/65411144007/ https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/sports/high-school/soccer/2023/11/11/ohsaa-all-ohio-boys-and-girls-soccer-walsh-jesuits-hannah-pachan-reveres-dylan-halm-nick-depompei/71518167007/

the other day, fknbuflobo directed the group to read Gaucho Dan's Analysis on Big Soccer.com Gaucho Dan is the great Cal Santa Barbara fan...that created a real time RPI measurement page....that soccer fans from all colleges use.... Gaucho Dan has forgotten more about Soccer than I will ever know Gaucho Dan did a great post this morning....showing that the cut line....is currently at 36.....and he also shows the finals that could lower the cut line... he mentions Akron a few times in his post TennZip update to his post...only 1 game completed so far today...Yale won its Ivy league semifinal game. As I predicted on Monday, that helped Yale move up in RPI Yale moves up from 49 to 44.....This causes Akron to drop from 44 to 45 this would mean that Akron is the 6th team out of the mix....if there are no more upsets , Penn wins the Ivy League and if the committee strictly follows RPI Gaucho Dan post on big soccer.com Friday morning update Syracuse (rpi 28, 8-4-7) -- lost in ACC semifinals Oregon State (29, 7-5-5) -- will finish 2nd in Pac-12 Denver (rpi 30, 11-2-5) -- lost in Summit semifinals Pittsburgh (rpi 32, 6-6-4) -- lost in ACC 1st round San Diego (rpi 33, 10-4-3) -- host Gonzaga, tied for WCC lead UIC (rpi 34, 11-5-3) -- lost in MVC semifinals Kentucky (rpi 35, 7-7-4) -- lost in SBC semifinals Saint Louis (rpi 36, 7-4-5) -- lost in A10 1st quarterfinals James Madison (rpi 37, 8-4-5) -- lost in SBC quarterfinals California (rpi 38, 7-5-5) -- visit Stanford, will finish 3rd or 4th in Pac-12 Xavier (rpi 39, 9-3-5) -- meet Georgetown in BEC championship Penn State (rpi 42, 10-3-5) -- meet Indiana in B10 championship Akron (rpi 44, 9-2-7) -- lost in BEC quarterfinals Fordham (rpi 46, 6-4-7) -- lost in A10 quarterfinals Loyola Chicago (rpi 48, 8-2-5) -- lost in A10 quarterfinals Yale (49, 8-5-3) -- meet Harvard in Ivy semifinals For every team below the cut line, a team above the cut line must be dropped. So if you believe Akron, for instance, deserves to be in the NCAA Tournament, make a case for someone else NOT to make the Tournament. I think Saint Louis will probably get bypassed. Kentucky is probably in based on their October play and significant wins vs. SBC powers. UIC is really good, but they may not have the resume of the others. USD can win its way into the field, but that just pushes sure-thing Portland onto this list. Pitt could be snubbed...they played a tough schedule but performed poorly against it. Denver, OSU and Syracuse are in. Below the line, Cal, Xavier, Penn State and Yale still have opportunities to improve their fate and/or grab their conference's auto bid. James Madison has a strong conference resume but questionable out-of-conference defeats. Akron chose to play a weak non-conference schedule this season and it may cost them an at-large bid. Fordham and Loyola Chicago will not move up after losing in the A10 quarters. There are still 3 potential bid stealers out there, all in conference championship matches: A10: Dayton (69) at VCU (25) CAA: Monmouth (61) at Hofstra (9) OVC: UIW (165) at SIUE (41)

In late night action, #40 Washington played at Oregon State Washington and Oregon State played to a 2-2 tie. Washington stayed at 40 in RPI after a tie at #29 RPI Washington. Even though Washington is ahead of Akron (44) in RPI, Washington can not make the NCAA tourney as they ended the year sub .500 (5-6-7)

There have been upsets in conference tournaments and that is not good news for teams like Akron (that are ranked in the mid 40's for RPI) As of this past Monday morning, if there were no upsets and if the selection committee followed RPI exactly, the last team in the tournament would be #38 in RPI. Akron was #43 at the beginning of the week The Summit league was a league where every bubble team wanted Denver to win the title I wrote on Monday: Summit - Semis Nov. 9 #19 Denver 11-2-4 vs 134 Kansas City 60 Oral Roberts vs 151 Omaha Denver will be in tourney ...win or lose....an upset of Denver....would lower the last team in RPI Well, Denver lost this afternoon on PK's to #134 Kansas City Denver is now #30 in RPI so this is now a 2 bid league...Denver and the tournament winner The WAC was a league where every bubble team wanted Seattle to win the title. I wrote on Monday: WAC - semis on Nov. 8 17 Seattle 12-2-3 vs 136 UNLV 114 Utah Tech vs 73 Cal Baptist similar to Summit league, Seattle is in tourney...if they are upset, the #38 and #37 teams in RPI are in trouble Seattle lost yesterday to #136 UNLV Seattle is now #28 in RPI......so this is now a 2 bid league...Seattle and the Tournament winner. In the first big big East semis, Xavier defeated Providence 1-0 With today's win, Xavier's RPI improves from 49 up to 39 Akron RPI drops from 43 down to 44 In Big East games, Xavier now has a 6-1-3 record....only league loss was to Georgetown Akron record in Big East games is 2-2-5 Xavier had a 1-0-1 record head to head against the Zips If there are no more upsets , the last RPI team to get in....would be #36

Top Drawer soccer is showing that Akron women's soccer has added a new commitment for 2025 If I go back to a post that I did on October 9th, it looks like the most recent commitment is Addison Hall, a midfielder from Connecticut FC https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer/college-soccer-details/women/akron/clgid-128/tab-commitments#sectionblock

wow, he did a lot more typing and work than I did.... this criteria is the one that will really help Xavier and really hurt Akron (0-2-3 in last 5 games) Late-season performance in last eight games (strength and results).

https://www.bigeast.com/news/2023/11/7/big-east-announces-2023-mens-soccer-regular-season-awards.aspx