TennZip

that was one very awesome goal by Coach Michael

Since I grew up in Stow, I obviously love the Zemanski jersey behind Coach Embick in this video. and I always love to hear @fknbuflobo tell the story about how Caleb Porter's first action as Akron U. head coach was to travel to Stow, Ohio. Ben Zemanski had committed to play soccer for Akron when Lolla was the coach. Caleb went to sit down with Ben Zemanski and Dan Zemanski to convince them that Akron was still the best choice for Ben's college career. Ben Zemanski was a great midfielder and he was a building block on those excellent teams from 2006-2009.

I think that this paper.....is very near Jared's home town (Granite City) https://www.thetelegraph.com/sports/article/slu-akron-elite-eight-ncaa-soccer-embick-kalish-21219014.php

St. Louis men's soccer page...is previewing the big matchup.... it is cool that there are 3 watch parties that Billiken fans can attend. St. Louis and Furman are currently tied for having the longest current unbeaten streaks. Amazing that St. Louis won 10 national titles between 1959 and 1973. https://slubillikens.com/news/2025/12/4/mens-soccer-msoc-preview-billikens-zips-clash-for-college-cup-berth.aspx SERIES HISTORY -- SLU leads 8-5-1 in a series that dates back to 1960, though Akron is 4-0-1 in the last five meetings. -- The squads met earlier this year in Akron, with the Zips coming away with a 3-0 victory. Akron opened the scoring with a goal on a penalty kick at the 33:11 mark. The Zips tacked on two more in the second half, scoring in the 62nd and 67th minute for the 3-0 final. -- The last SLU win in the series came on Aug. 29, 2003, a 1-0 victory on a neutral field in Charlottesville, Va. -- The Billikens' last win against the Zips in Akron was in 1989, 1-0 on a game-winner by John Johnson.

Excellent observations.... A few random observations.... The first game was on September 23. That means that Saturday's game...will be almost 2.5 months since the first game. As Zips fans, we have seen great improvement from Thomas O' Rourke and Matthew Paiva during the season. I am sure that St. Louisd has also had many players improve during the season. Since that first game, St. Louis has not lost a single game. Since the first game, the Zips have a record of 7-2-2. The Billikens have a record of 8-0-5. St. Louis has only lost 2 games all year...A regular season game at Indiana and the game at Akron. As we all know, St. Louis avenged their regular season loss to IU with a huge round of 32 road win at IU. as @Zip_ME87 pointed out, SLU is finding ways to not lose. They have not lost in their last 13 games. Against IU in the NCAA round of 32, St. Louis was dominated on the statistical front but they found a way to win. In the tournament game against St. Louis, IU led 16-3 in shots, 3-1 in shots on goal and 8-0 in corner kicks. St. Louis did not have a single corner kick and they were outshot by more than 5 to 1. Yet, St. Louis found a way to win. Again, that first game(St. Louis at Akron) was a lifetime ago....2.5 months. How did the Zips and Billikens do against teams in the NCAA tounament? St. Louis has 4-2-2 record against teams that made the tournament. 1-0 win over eventual 5 seed SMU. 1-0 win over Seton Hall. 1-0 regular season loss to eventual 6 seed Indiana. 0-0 tie against eventual 8 seed Portland. Portland is still alive in the tournament. 3-0 loss at Akron. 2-1 tournament win over Kentucky (Kentucky was regular season Sun Belt champ (league includes Marshall and West Virginia) ; 1-0 win over 6 seed Indiana. 2-2 PK win over 11 seed Bryant (#6 in final RPI). In that PK win, the St. Louis players were absolutely clutch. 4 spectacular, professional penalty kicks. the zips were 4-4-3 against tournament teams. 0-0 tie with WVA ; 4-0 win over W. Michigan ; 1-0 loss at Vermont ; 3-1 home loss to U Conn ; 3-0 win over St. L ; 2-1 home loss to St. John's ; 0-0 tie at Cornell ; 1-1 tie against Seton Hall. 2-1 neutral field loss to UConn; 1-0 win over Notre Dame ; 2-0 win over the Dukies. The Zips were brutally efficient in the first St. Louis game. The zips had 4 shots on goal and scored 3 goals (75% conversion rate). The zips have scored 31 goals and they have had 97 shots on goal. (closer to a 32% conversion rate). Another observation about the first St. Louis game. The Zips earned 147 corner kicks during the year (about 6.7 per game). In the game against St. Louis, the Zips had 1 corner kick. That was the season low for the Zips. During the season, teams committed 212 fouls against the zips (about 9.6 per game). St. Louis only committed 6 fouls against the Zips. Again, that was a season low for a zip opponent. Based on the first game, the Zips are not going to get many dead ball/free kick opportunities. The weather on Saturday is going to be much different than the September 23 game. The September 23 game had a very experienced referee (Chico Grajeda). Who knows...whehter Saturday's referee will be as solid as Chico Grajeda. Saturday is going to be a battle. The Zips should be favored due to being at home and the fact that they are in good form. However, I do not expect an easy 3-0 win. The Zips need to come out ready.......and win this game in Regulation. I am sure that Indiana was very, very confident against St. Louis since they had won during the regular season. The Zips are hungry and they can beat the Billikens two times this year....but it is going to be a knock down battle. Go, ZIPS !!! https://gozips.com/sports/mens-soccer/stats/2025/saint-louis/boxscore/10933

late night drama seems likely??? Did the writer not notice that the game will start at 1 pm? https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/article/?categoryId=0&articleId=55436&articleTitle=mens-ncaa-tournament-elite-eight-preview No. 4 Akron (13-4-3) vs. No. 5 Saint Louis (12-2-8) - Saturday, December 6th, 1 PM Eastern Akron may be at home against a Saint Louis squad they beat 3-0 in the regular season, but the Zips remain wary. The Billikens, after all, are the toughest out in the country, surviving overtime, upsetting Indiana, and most recently advancing on penalties in the Sweet Sixteen. With 18 of their 22 games decided by a goal or less, another late-night drama seems likely.

Congratulations to Remi Agunbiade and Jack Roman for making the team of the week. The leader,,,,,the Captain....Daragh ...was honorable mention. (come on, top drawer soccer !!!....no shots on goal !!!!.....the whole Akron back 4 defensemen need to be recognized) https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer-articles/mens-team-of-the-week:-dec-2_aid55426 F: Remi Agunbiade, Akron(m) - The Canadian sophomore saved the best performance of his career for when it mattered most, scoring both goals to defeat Duke and move on to the Elite Eight. M: Jack Roman, Akron(m) - Roman was a headache for Duke as he assisted one and played all 90 minutes in the 2-0 victory.

Article from the Duke Student newspaper.... (I like the vivid description....of what the restless Akron fans were wearing 😁).....(ps...did anyone get a photo of Fknbuflobo in his pom-pom hat? 😁) https://www.dukechronicle.com/article/duke-mens-soccer-ncaa-tournament-akron-zips-ncaa-quarterfinal-john-kerr-acc-mac-ulfur-bjornsson-championship-20251201 “They had a lot of great weapons,” Duke head coach John Kerr said. “They had determination. They were strong in the backfield and on our heels throughout the match.” The restless Zips fans — bundled in puffy coats and pom-pom hats to fend off the below-freezing temperatures — leapt to their feet to celebrate the score. Thick snow gloves diluted their clapping, so they took to stomping on the metal bleachers to show support.

I don't want to create a new topic called womens soccer recruits.... so, I will just post this here.

https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/sports/college/2025/12/01/akron-zips-soccer-will-play-saint-louis-next-in-ncaa-tournament/87548451007/?tbref=hp

Top Drawer soccer (TDS) predicts that a zip 2027 recruit will do well this weekend in ECNL tournament. https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/article/?categoryId=0&articleId=55414&articleTitle=ecnl-boys-sc:-under-19-players-to-know Lazar Ivanis, Cleveland Force FC – The success of local talent Jack Roman at Akron suggests that a 2027 grad like Ivanis could hit the Big East program and make a difference. Ivanis is a midfielder with the profile and quality to change games for the Force U19s.

The Duke coach was very complimentary of Akron soccer in the post game press conference.

Tremendous article from the Cleveland Plain Dealer (this is currently not a subscriber only article...hopefully, all can access?) I have not yet seen the press conferences....but this has quotes from several zips players, Coach Embick and the Duke coach https://www.cleveland.com/sports/college/2025/12/akron-zips-mens-soccer-gives-duke-the-cold-shoulder-moves-into-ncaa-elite-eight-with-2-0-victory.html “The crowd drove us through that game,” Daragh Reilly said. “You could see in the last 10-15 minutes, we were getting tired. We were trying to push each other, but every time we got a play, we made a tackle, the momentum kept swinging back to us. “Big shoutout to the fans tonight. I don’t think we could have been anywhere near without that tonight.” “Awesome performance not only from our team, but from the fans and community that packed this place in this weather and were behind us the whole game,” Coach Embick said. “We fed off that energy, and I think that really helped us through some moments where maybe we weren’t playing as well as we wanted.”

credit to the 1,344 great fans.......that showed up in 30 degree weather...with 20 mph winds... https://goduke.com/documents/2025/11/30/Duke_at_Akron_MSOC_Final_Game_Book.PDF

Every Zip coach and every Zip player should be very proud. Phenomenal effort....especially with the injury of Stefan Dobrijevic ...early in the game Thinking good thoughts for Stefan Duke did not have a single shot on goal. Zips were the much more skilled soccer team and the much classier, professional soccer team. I don't slight any zip by mentioning names......as all of the starters were outstanding..... and every single sub....starting with Ignacio Alem and Jack Sullivan....ending with Jamai Royer, Nathan Ferguson and Braxton Hayes.....played outstanding fundament soccer. Thorough beat down of an ACC Powerhouse...... For the zips fans living far from Akron, I also want to compliment Chad Welker and womens asst soccer Josh Kay. Josh and Chad were outstanding on commentary.

phenomenal work by Jack Sullivan and Remi

Go, Zips !!!

https://www.cleveland.com/sports/college/2025/11/akron-zips-mens-soccer-will-play-host-to-duke-on-sunday-in-ncaa-sweet-16-match.html