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Excellent points, Zip_ME87! Folks are calling for Embick's job? No soccer coach worth his salt would ever suffer the insult of any team practicing on his pitch. Dowdy likely would not. Parker would not. Lolla would not. Porter definitely would not. Embick absolutely should not! I am a lifelong Browns fan. I love the Cleveland Browns. But renting out FACC to them for practice is unconscionable! Should any Athletic Director or University President acquiesce to such idiocy, I will enthusiastically and vociferously campaign for their ouster.

Ken Lolla left mostly because the powers that be would not upgrade our soccer facility. Thus, he felt that he couldn't lure the best soccer players to Akron and consequently he would never win an NCAA championship at UA. When Caleb Porter was hired, he told the powers that be if they upgraded the facilities, he would bring UA an NCAA Men's Soccer National Championship. He almost did it before the upgrade, but the facility we have now only dates back to 2010, the year the Zips were National Champions. You cannot maintain the Mens Soccer Program at the level that Caleb Porter had it without keeping the competition field pristine and ensuring your Head Coach that his team is important. Caleb would have slept on that field if he had to in order to protect it. Any Head Coach that has the passion it takes to win a National Championship is not going to come to Akron or stay at Akron if his sport is disrespected by allowing another team in another sport, especially an outside team, to damage their facility. Although it is not why he left, Caleb was frustrated with the lack of support when he left. Yes, he had a great contract, which I still think was driven by Dr. Proenza, but there was no marketing whatseover for Zips Mens Soccer in 2011 and 2012. Not that marketing of UA sports is good for any sport, but it was mostly limited to Football with some to Basketball. He felt unimportant in the eyes of our AD and his staff. There is no way he would have stayed if UA allowed the Browns on Cub Cadet Field. Why would another dedicated coach allow it? I wasn't close friends with Caleb, but I traveled to numerous away matches and talked with him after games at home and on the road. I knew him well enough to understand the mentality of a truly dedicated and focused head coach. That's why I'm sensitive to even the mere mention of using our pitch for other than competition soccer matches. Having the Columbus Crew come to Akron for a USOC match was awesome. They're a professional soccer team playing in a competitive match. That kind of activity promotes soccer and Akron's standing as a premier NCAA soccer team that an MLS Club would be interested in coming to our campus.

Going into this weekend and another round of games I wanted to look back at some of the stats over the last couple of years it is very apparent this team is lacking both on offense and defense. Just looking at some of the defensive stats its very apparent this team is at a different caliber then the privous years. Most of that might be because of the lack of veterans on this team. Here is a quick look at what I am talking about. 2014 - Shots against: 55 Saves: 20 Save%: .833% = 3 games 2013 - I could not find stats 2012 - Shots against: ? Saves: 53 Save%: .869% = 22 games 2011 - Shots against: 199 Saves: 57 Save%: .770% = 22 games 2010 - Shots against: 123 Saves: 54 Save%: .771% = 25 games 2009 - Shots against: 130 Saves: 48 Save%: .877% = 25 games There has been only 3 games so far this year and already we are at almost half the amount of saves as any of the previous 5 years season totals. That is an alarming stat. Not only that, Fenlason is tied for #9 in all of D1 for # of saves and #6 in saves per game. These are stats and achievements this team should not be proud of. The reasons why we are giving up more shots, which we all know more shots lead to more goals, starts with the lack of possession and the giveaways in our own half. Its crazy to think that if Fenlason stays on this path he will have close to 150 saves this year.

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2024518529_soundersyedlin16xml.html Even though I've become friends with Ira and Vicki, I've always been hesitant to ask about how they came to be DeAndre's guardians and to raise him. This is a tremendous story of some really awesome people.

gotta look close

Some folks forget our school is a school. Sacrifice a couple possible divots for the chance to have tens of thousands of people seeing our campus for the first time. Seems like a no brainer.

It is alarming, but it is a young team. We lost recruiting ability in 2012 when Caleb announced prior to the season that he was leaving, and we didn't know for half the season who the new coach would be. Then we lost Gallego, Brenes, Quinn, Stevenson, and Dershang, and a number of last years' recruits didn't work out. Add to that, Souto's suspension and Seremba's 2nd season-ending injury. Consequently, we have a lot of Freshmen, and this team needs time to recoup and gel. Hopefully, Victor will help immensely. I wish fans could be a little more patient and supportive, and see how it plays out.