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Top Drawer soccer (TDS) is showing that the Zips have landed their first recruit for 2025. https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/club-player-profile/christian-hodges/pid-148197 They show that Christian Hodges is a goal keeper from Westlake, Ohio. They show that he is associated with the Columbus Crew academy. TDS has Christian Hodges ranked as the #100 rated recruit in the class of 2025. Over the past few years, most of the players ranked in the TDS top 50 players....decide to go pro...... Getting a player ranked in the top 100 ...(with so many recruits turning pro)....is now the equivalent of signing a top 50 or top 60 player in 2011 or 2012. This is a very quality recruit to start the 2025 recruiting class. Well done to all of the coaches involved in getting this young man to announce his intentions to attend the finest soccer university in Ohio. In 2022, this young man was selected to be part of the Under 16 Boys National Team https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/club-soccer-articles/twenty-three-players-called-to-u16-bnt_aid51102

Let's compare scores.... Marshall did beat Oakland 4-0 Akron tied Michigan 1-1.......Michigan has a 1-3-3 record now and Michigan is picked to finish last in the big Ten Oakland defeated Michigan 2-1 this week You reference Wright State in your comment.....On Tuesday night, Wright State defeated Bowling Green 3-0. Bowling Green also defeated Michigan earlier in the year. Providence came into the game against Akron with a 2-3-0 record. In the game before they played Akron, Providence lost to UMass 3-2. Since their win over Providence, Umass has tied Dartmouth and lost to Duquesne and Holy Cross. UMass also lost to Hofstra. Hofstra lost to Fairleigh Dickinson earlier in the year. Monday, Fairleigh Dickinson lost 5-1 to Pitt. Marshall scored 3 goals in each of these 3 games...against Xavier (#58 in RPI) ; James Madison (#9 in coaches poll when Marshall played them and 3 against Pittsburgh. As a zip fan, I am not happy with ties against a weak Michigan team, a Providence team with weak results....and a 0-0 team against a toothless Notre Dame team. I have applauded the Zips for their win against a very good Vermont team...and did a bravo, bravo post for their excellent performance against a good FIU team.

All of the feels. *Think about how not only did these four seniors adamantly want to stay, but Ali Ali wanted to come back (and for the record, I think it's great Groce welcomed him back with open arms rather than being petulant and prideful about it). It demonstrates how much Groce creates an environment that players WANT to stay in, and that's worth its weight in gold. Yes, we will still lose players, including good ones who have a place on this team, to the transfer portal. But if we are doing that at a rate that's markedly less than other schools, how valuable is that? *I'm a sucker for weird/random trivia, and "Enrique Freeman worked in HR at the Rock and Roll HOF" is a great one. *Can't find anything about his Topps deal. Where can I get some Topps Freeman cards/merch? I'd rather support them than Barstool.

I have to think that it's a home and home contract. How else would the Zips have a chance of getting them here?

11/6 @ South Dakota State 11/11 SOUTHERN MISS 11/14 HEIDELBERG 11/19 FIU, Cayman Islands Classic 11/20, Marshall or Utah State, Cayman Islands Classic 11/21, Oakland, Drake, Loyola Marymount, or Stephen F. Austin, Cayman Islands Classic 11/28 @ UNLV 12/5, BRADLEY 12/9, @ Northern Kentucky 12/17, MIAMI-HAMILTON 12/21, GARDNER-WEBB 12/30, St. Bonaventure, in Cleveland While I too would've liked them to have swapped one of the non-D1s for a P5, this schedule is damn solid. I know some of this (like the returns of home-and-homes) shakes out to luck, the only D1 team out of the barttorvik.com top 200 on this schedule is FIU at 205...and we didn't schedule them, we were assigned them in the Cayman Island Classic. Besides that, everyone else (unless we play Oakland on the last day of Cayman) is ranked #176 or higher. In other words, ALL of them are ranked in the top half of the D1 ranks (362 teams).

Some random thoughts on the ND tie soccer match: The Zips were the better team. Flat out, no discussion. The Zips were prepared and the coaching staff selected a good team to put on the pitch. UA suffered a disgusting tie because they did not capitalize on numerous scoring chances in the first half. ND pressed hard, but so also did the Zips. Akron repeatedly won the ball back with its press. The transition from press to attack was beautiful in the first half. The crowd was a thing of beauty. I was disappointed at its size at kickoff, but it just kept growing and growing. The students did a nice job of eventually filling the hill. The second half started like ND wanted to play. They attacked and had the better part of possession for the first 5 minutes. Akron counter-attacked after that and ND parked the bus in front of its goal. ND hoped to play for the rare counter that would catch the Zips by surprise and yield a goal. That wasn't going to happen. A friend of mine said at 7:00 in the second half "they are playing for a tie." I replied that can't be, they are supposed to be better than that. I was wrong. Shame on the ND coaching staff for hunkering down. The are supposed to respect the game more than that. They clearly wanted to protect their under-achieving record and bloated reputation. I couldn't agree more with the opinions offered earlier that the Zips should have taken more chances on attack and taken more shots. They seemed to want the perfect opportunity rather than taking what was given. The ball takes weird bounces in the box and Akron will not get them if they don't shoot. This was a good game to show the Zips they are an exceptional team if they come to play. We have the potential to go deep in the playoffs and the better competition in the Big East will get us ready for it. It's OK to believe. This team can get better and it can do it.

I was actually up from Georgia and was in Akron for the last 2 games. Notre Dame lost last week to Michigan State...so Notre Dame dropped from 10 to number 15 in the coaches rankings. Based on what I saw last night, Notre Dame is not a top 25 team. Vermont was a much better team than Notre Dame I sat at last night's game with a Notre Dame Graduate. The Notre Dame graduate said this is the worst Notre Dame team that he has ever seen. The Notre Dame grad predicts that Notre Dame will not make the NCAA tournament. My friend has been following Notre Dame soccer since the early 80's. Some of the comments make it sound like the Notre Dame goal keeper stood on his head and made some fabulous saves. Many of his 12 saves were on headers when the zips player was a good distance from the goal. The GK easily handled the headers from a far distance. The Zips probably had 4 very good shots. 1) Jonas Buechte fired off a rocket from a great distance and the GK got a hand on it before it went in the top of the goal. The GK punched it over the top of the goal. ; 2) Fitz made a great run and fired off a shot that the Gk punched out into the field ; 3) Malik cut inside and fired off a strong left footed shot that the GK could only punch back into the field. ; There was a 4th but I have been driving all day...so, I am drawing a blank. I think it was probably a Shooky opportunity in the first half. The GK did not stand on his head. Hopefully, if the zips keep firing strong shots like 2 and 3 above , the zips will be able to get a lot of goals off rebounds. Both 2 and 3 were almost direct shots at the GK but the zips were not ready to pounce on the rebound. I do like the 3 man back line. Daragh Reilly played well last night. However, I also really like Ashton Kamdem. Ashton got no minutes last night(I do not know if he was injured). Joel, Jonas and Daragh have done well as a 3 man back line . Perhaps, Ashton can get some minutes as a left outside midfielder. Like all Zips fans, I am really hoping that Dyson Clapier can return very soon. Gyuwon Chong is working very hard to fill some very big shoes but Gyuwon is probably better as a distributor in the middle of the field. The zips sense of urgency was much stronger in the first half....than it was in the 2nd half. I kept waiting for a zip to be daring in the 2nd half.....and make a challenging run into the middle of the field and draw 2 defenders to him....but the zips more often opted for the safe pass backward. After Friday night's very slow start, it was very encouraging to see the bossing the game in the first half. The 2nd half was played at Notre Dame's pace. The number 1 team in the country....Marshall is winning games like this 4 -0 ...or 5-0......Based on Notre Dame's skill level, the zips should have won this game 2-0 or 3-0. Zips should not be happy tieing a team that is inferior to them

November 14th circled on my calendar!

No, but I’ll see what I can find out. Been swamped lately and haven’t had a chance to speak with many recruits since the season started.

6'2" JUCO DB

6'5" 300 lbs OL. @catdaddyp Do you have more info on him?

Former Missouri enrollee. 6'2" DB. Previously held offers from FIU, FAU, Iowa State, Miss. State, and Texas State.

IIRC, the game in February will be scheduled against a SB opponent of similar rank. Almost like the old Bracket Buster games.

Jared Embick is very happy in the press conference

Don't love the Heidelberg/Brick U Hamilton combo. Otherwise, solid schedule.

Nice analysis. I agree with it all. I am glad it's not all doom and gloom and full of the same old boring heads on this forum who are nothing but negative about this team.

Come join the Boosters Club for the Homecoming game vs N Illinois on October 7th. Limited seating is available. https://www.facebook.com/groups/428797733911493/permalink/5352905138167370/?ref=share&mibextid=NOb6eG https://www.zipsfootballboosters.com/events/

Pretty good listen this week. - 14-3 score late into the 3rd quarter. Not the same situation in the two P5 games last year. - Knows the team has to push the ball downfield, but OL needs to block better and receivers have to get open. (I’d add the QB has to throw the deep ball accurately). - Not enough explosive plays on offense. - Still trying to find the right combination along the OL, but helps having K. Davis and N. Williams back. - Too many penalties and coach takes the blame for that. - Gathings had his best game. - Wants to get Golden and Walker involved more on offense. - Defense is playing physically and has a lot of depth on that side of the ball. - Nunnally has been the biggest surprise on defense. - Outside of the obvious performances, K. Thomas, McCoy, and Cooper had solid games. - Knows the team is outalented against a team like UK. Wanted to see the team compete and give themselves a chance. - Freshman Adrian Norton is going to be really good. - Some talented OL are being redshirted and some really good ones committed for next year. - Local guys Lewis and Durant played well. Wants as many local players as possible but they have to be able to play at this level and want to come here (he’s said this before).

"Guthrie mentioned how Freeman used his business experience from school and the MBA program to set up some NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) deals. Freeman said he has a shirt deal with Barstool and also a deal with Topps." Dunk shirt