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Wake Forest - #9 in the country vs. #15 in the country


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Agreed, very disappointing game. The first 45 minutes were dominated by Wake and it seemed like only with 30 minutes left in the game did the Zips play with a sense of urgency. The final pass into the box was just not good enough. Possession seemed to be lost quickly and it was a sloppy game. That being said the Zips were very close to scoring in the final 20 minutes (so was Wake though). I didn't think it helped that the overall refereeing was horrible. All that being said, looking at the entire game as a whole the Zips were outplayed and Wake deserved the win. Does anyone disagree with that statement?

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Disappointing to say the least. Wake Forest showed up to play, and the Zips were missing much of the first half. Our midfield looked horrible, making errant passes, allowing too much penetration into our backfield, not switching the field, giving the ball away, and then becoming overly aggressive as frustration set in. When the Zips get the ball wide, there's often no runs into the box...oftentimes there's no one there to send the ball into. I don't understand the lack of switching the field. Oftentimes, the Zips try to press through the ball through multiple defenders up the line when there are open guys on the opposite side of the field. One would think with the great teams we've had in the recent past, studying film from 2009 and 2010 would be a requirement. If it is, there seems to be few, if any, lessons learned from it. I thought this team had been showing greatness early. (I didn't see the ODU game.) We seem to be regressing, and it doesn't get any easier. Wake Forest absolutely deserved the win last night. They were the better team, and congrats to them for being ready to come into Akron and get the W. There's a lot for these Zips to work on starting with how in the H@ll to stop giving up so many goals. I think last season's goals against average was <0.70. These guys have more experience and some added help. What's going on? I think our midfield is as much to blame as anyone for giving up all of these goals, and they need to take a hard look at fixing their play.

With all of that said, I still love this team and believe they have the talent to go far. But, they have to find the desire, the drive.

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I love this year's tough schedule. The one thing that I did not like when the schedule came out....was the team flying out to La-La land.....and playing a game 3 nights after a super tough home game....and then flying all the way back after one game....to host a tough Penn State team.

Cal Santa Barbara has not played a game recently in Akron. I can understand the 2011 game out there....but going out there again in a short turnaround after playing Wake Forest.....does not make sense.

If the zips come out flat and listless at Cal Santa Barbara, they will drop out of the top 25. Like ZIPME87, I know this team has the talent and work ethic to go out to La-la land and put a loss on the taco throwing Gaucho team. The good news for the zips in the rankings....is that #8 Elon went to S. Carolina last night and lost 3-1 and #10 Oregon State lost last night to an unranked Gonzaga team. If the zips play like they did in the last 20 minutes last night, I am confident that this team can post "w's" against Cal Santa Barbara and Penn State. This is a solid group of high character kids and I am confident they will flip the switch completely.

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To unlock the apparent sieve on giving up goals look at 1:40 and the first goal. http://www.gozips.com/sports/msoc/2015-16/videos/20150922-pevsbppm?list=%2Fvideo%2Findex

It is a poster child for goals given this year, per game or SA%age or whatever measure. This clip almost looks like a walk thru, way too easy.

- lack of direct pressure on the ball once it enters the final third

- poor marking

- GK out of position again, too tight to the near post

After 7 games of the same excepting perhaps Georgetown, and standing at 175th out of 202 teams listed in GAA by NCAA stats it's becoming a hallmark of this group. Nobody in the top 25 I noticed is anywhere near that.

It is true that the DM has not shown up at times to help thereby exposing the back line, and sloppy play from mids corps in general in turn exposed the Zips to counters, but in the end when a team is habitually giving goals and many are rather routine you have to look at the back line, especially the CBs and then the GK. You have last year's co-captain in Souders and this year's in Ruhaak both in their 4th year and a 5th year senior in goal. Either you stay the course and expect to change the way those players play or you challenge their playing time and prepare your future and/or prod them into performing by lost minutes. De vera (Usually starts) and Soares subs were earlier than usual for this staff so maybe there is some urgency in the air.

Could be let down game for UCSB and bounce back after 2 disappointments for Zips so I expect a win, albeit high scoring....

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Ok, lets be honest here. If you ask the players, do you think they have a problem with playing UCSB 3 days after Wake Forest, and then having another 5 days until they play Penn State?

These are 18-21 year old kids who love to play Soccer. I realize there's a 3-4 hr. flight involved, but that's 2 games in 8 days.

Actually, yes. I overheard one of them talking to his parents about a potential issue with a test he had scheduled today I think, and he had found out they were leaving earlier than originally planned due to some issue with the flight(s). I was happy to hear they were going to get to Cali earlier than planned to regenerate after the long flight, but forgot about the potential issue(s) with class work. Point is that it is an unnecessarily long trip to be taking sandwiched between 2 other games. Pick a midwest or east coast school, a bus ride or short plane trip away.

EDIT: By the way, it's 3 games in 8 days. (edit2) + 4.5 hour plane flight + a 2-hour bus ride from LAX to Galeta, CA + a 2-hr bus ride back to LAX + 4 hour plane flight home, assuming non-stop flights (+ bus rides to and from CLE).

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To unlock the apparent sieve on giving up goals look at 1:40 and the first goal. http://www.gozips.com/sports/msoc/2015-16/videos/20150922-pevsbppm?list=%2Fvideo%2Findex

It is a poster child for goals given this year, per game or SA%age or whatever measure. This clip almost looks like a walk thru, way too easy.

- lack of direct pressure on the ball once it enters the final third

- poor marking

- GK out of position again, too tight to the near post

After 7 games of the same excepting perhaps Georgetown, and standing at 175th out of 202 teams listed in GAA by NCAA stats it's becoming a hallmark of this group. Nobody in the top 25 I noticed is anywhere near that.

It is true that the DM has not shown up at times to help thereby exposing the back line, and sloppy play from mids corps in general in turn exposed the Zips to counters, but in the end when a team is habitually giving goals and many are rather routine you have to look at the back line, especially the CBs and then the GK. You have last year's co-captain in Souders and this year's in Ruhaak both in their 4th year and a 5th year senior in goal. Either you stay the course and expect to change the way those players play or you challenge their playing time and prepare your future and/or prod them into performing by lost minutes. De vera (Usually starts) and Soares subs were earlier than usual for this staff so maybe there is some urgency in the air.

Could be let down game for UCSB and bounce back after 2 disappointments for Zips so I expect a win, albeit high scoring....

It's not just the defending of the midfield. It's the way that the midfield transitions the play from the back line forward to build up the attack. It's sloppy and the errant passes and poor choices of where to go are enabling too many easy counterattacks.

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I agree that was a real issue in last night's game as the first pass forward from the MF was uncharacteristically poor, but the WAY the defensive group plays (DM, Back line, GK) has been poor 6 out of 7 games this season and you see that in the routine nature of the goals given and the stats, which are an outlier by themselves.

Let's look at the team as a whole this year by group:

- Forwards are really now just 2, Sepe and Gainford, plus one AM pushed up, usually Laryea. The points are concentrated to 3 of them and Sepe has started all 7 games but has one goal and one assist to show for it (after a good pre season). Outstanding play of Laryea the highlight.

- In the MF you are really playing 4 and it's usually the engine for the team's play. If it breaks down as with last night scoring suffers from lack of good balls and spreading the other team out and falling in to help defend with Souto and Balena. Souto has looked off last several games.

- Defenders and GK are playing well below average for a top 25 team and other than playing Dambrot in for De vera at times, it's a fairly set mold and those players seem pretty comfortable with their spots. You do want stability in the back and will naturally sub less than up top, but this often raised point of ugly GAA probably won't go away by itself and to other's suggestion pretty much eliminates you from getting deep in post season play.

The choices are changes that work, changes that don't, or status quo that will likely get you the same sort of results that are catching up with the team. I expect high scorelines to continue as staff is not one for change compared to most programs (heavy concentration starts and minutes, almost always slower to sub than opponents) and high scoring nail biters as a fan, which is more entertaining than defensive/counter affairs so I'll take it!

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When former players like Wil Trapp attend a match like last night, I would hope the coaches ask for their thoughts on what they see. Perhaps they do. Wil Trapp's would definitely be well worth getting.

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ME87....Since you want to be technical, you're counting the previous game, which then makes it 9 days.

School issues are understandable. But, I think you were going after a scenario where this was some kind of brutal timeline from a playing standpoint.

It's actually funny how it similarly compares to the road trip that the basketball team took last season, right before they played Penn State. Having those two games 5 days apart would have felt like a vacation to them.

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SwitchIt,

Your analysis is spot on, especially astute regarding the poor play of our CBs. Some of my favorite players on the squad play there, so it pains me to agree with you that they have not been up to snuff. Souders and Ruhaak have been slow to diagnos opposing offense, and they do not anticipate well enough.

The DM needs more teeth, and Souto lacks the range to do it by himself. I suggest Souders move to DM instead of Belana. Perhaps Cregan or Clarke can man the other CB.

Soares also showed flashes at DM vs. WF.

Bottom line is that the lineup needs some new blood, something different. Giving up 2.5 GPM (or whatever it is) is not championship football. Not by large margin!

And what is going on with Stuart Holthusen? After not playing for several matches, he seemingly did his best to get ejected during 15 minutes of spot duty in the second half.

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ME87....Since you want to be technical, you're counting the previous game, which then makes it 9 days.

School issues are understandable. But, I think you were going after a scenario where this was some kind of brutal timeline from a playing standpoint.

It's actually funny how it similarly compares to the road trip that the basketball team took last season, right before they played Penn State. Having those two games 5 days apart would have felt like a vacation to them.

Ok 3 games in 9 days. If we played UCSB in a multi-game trip to Cali, ok, but it's stupid to travel to UCSB for 1 game especially when the panzies won't come to Akron. There are teams much closer to us that would be of more value on our schedule. I'll always have a special place in my heart for UCSB since we won our National Championship there, but that doesn't keep me wanting to go there for a 1 game trip during the regular season.

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...It's actually funny how it similarly compares to the road trip that the basketball team took last season, right before they played Penn State. Having those two games 5 days apart would have felt like a vacation to them.

I know a lot more about basketball than I do about soccer. But I don't think the comparison of so many games in so many days carries across all sports. For example, football teams never, ever play more than one game per week. College basketball games are 40 minutes long with frequent subbing. Soccer games are 90 minutes long plus stoppage time with much less subbing. I'm not sure if a scientific study has ever been done about recovery time in various sports, but I'd be hesitant to equate the relevancy of time off between soccer and basketball games.

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A trip to Santa Barbara would be fine during one of those weeks with only one match.

Much, much more valuable a fixture (on several levels) would be vs. Indiana. We should play Hoosiers every single year.

Tradition, proximity, recruiting, Big10 - the factors abound.

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Dave In Green,

Soccer and Basketball were the two sports I played consistently, well into adulthood, in organized leagues. I love both, and I miss playing both.

Soccer is more physically taxing than Basketball. Soccer is rougher, and the substituting is much less frequent, because of the rules. There are repeated, maybe too many, stoppages in hoops. Just the nature of the two sports. I do not place any particular value on this observation.

I reference no scientific data whatsover outside my own experience, but I would hazard a guess that Soccer requires 30% - 40% more recovery time than does Basketball.

Both are great sports, the two best sports, IMO. I have always considered the training for each complimentary, one to the other.

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