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I didn't notice this before, but Akron is the highest rated team in the state of Ohio. Below is where the traditional contenders for that title are currently ranked. Ohio State - 63 Dayton -88 Xavier - 102 Cincinnati - 154

I really don't understand what you all are hoping for (those wanting JoeMo gone). Everyone in the country knows this is a s%#t job. Pay is not good, you won't be able to staff, no NIL, horrible attendance, school with debt and bad reputation, bad weather, empty stadium, no training table. But somehow you think we are going to do better than JoeMo.

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.

Chatgpt is going to leave @clarkwgriswold jobless with his game preview write-ups.

I don't condone fighting or destruction of property, and I don't particularly like seeing an away team heckle the home fans and players. However, if I condone home fans getting in the heads of players for 90+ minutes, then I don't feel that I can be a snowflake when it's over and the away team does a little jawing when they prevail. Curious, where was this discussion at the end of our game at Creighton?

I'm still cold two hours later but it was worth it!

GOOOOOAAAAAALLLL! 1-0 Zips.

TJ McConnell rocking an Akron Soccer sweatshirt

If the NCAA really cared, they would force bigger schools to pay restitution or kickbacks for poaching players. Something like 15-25% of the NIL deal paid back to the former school. Not a lot, but it's better than nothing and would provide resources to replace outgoing athletes.

That's fine, all the good analytical people who could offer insight and breakdown match-ups have long been chased off. It's mainly just now loud mouth clowns who think whoever screams louder has the better argument.

The most criminal part is - they can steal your best players with zero restitution. In any professional sport you need to pay, or make a trade to land a coveted player from another team. In college football you just take them for free. We are a free minor league for the P5 programs...must be nice.

Match is scheduled for Saturday at 1 pm.

And the Billikens will come to Akron!

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.”

Great crowd for a pretty cold night tonight. Late in the game a large plastic bag blew down the field and ended up in the Zips goal. We remarked it was the best shot on goal Duke had in the match.

This is a hilarious Wentz Financial Group promo. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DRNi583ku8Y/?igsh=MWRzaWt5YW41OHZ5dA==

Should have had four winners ... Steve Zakuani in 2008 as well as Emil last year. Still angry about both! In 2008, Zakuani scored 20 goals and 7 assists over 23 games to become a finalist for the Hermann Trophy Marcus Tracy: He won the 2008 Hermann Trophy for the nation's most outstanding college player while at Wake Forest University where he scored 13 goals and 10 assists in 24 games. 2024 Emil Jaaskelainen: Started all 21 games for Akron in 2024 en route to recording an NCAA-best 23 goals and 54 points, while also leading the nation in game-winning goals (6), goals per game (1.10) and points per tilt (2.57)... Michael Adedokun: Led Ohio State with 11 goals, 11 assists and 33 points

Yale shot 14 of 19 (73.7%) from the line against Green Bay and 11 of 18 (61.1%) against Charleston. They’re good, but we caught them on the wrong night. And there is a little bush league in that ivy. The fact that the refs let them get away with that hook and hold crap was driving me crazy. We do need better defense. There is still a lot of season left for everyone to improve, including hopefully Barre.

We didn't even get 20 minutes! 16 total minutes for the season he was here!

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.

I believe we’re recruiting him as a DB.

If Akron hadn't been screwed by the NCAA with the Northwestern game, Zakuani wins the Hermann Trophy that year. Emil last year was inexcusable as well.

Most insane OT ever.

I had to got back to August 2nd....to find this topic.... Zips have added a forward from Atlanta United ....to the class that will start in Fall 2027. This young man will turn 17 in January 2026. I like how he writes....and how appreciative that he is...for those that have helped in his development https://www.instagram.com/p/DRfq03kiQYL/?hl=en&img_index=1 In April 2024, Ivory Covington was called up to the U15YMNT https://www.instagram.com/p/C5zD7sJpmla/?hl=en At the Generation Adidas Cup in April 2024. the top drawer soccer writer was impressed by 9 players Below is what the writer had to say about the newest Zips commit https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/club-soccer-articles/under-the-radar-u15-prospects-at-ga-cup_aid53237 Ivory Covington, Atlanta United – While there’s an argument that Covington’s imminent call-up to the U.S. Under-15 team makes him ineligible for this list. But his performances caught the eye for Atlanta in the 09 age group. A dynamic right winger, he presses well and can finish. His goal against Manchester United helped set the tone for Atlanta’s performance at the tournament.

Is this the real Clark, or ClarkGPT?

I'll miss his 3.5 GPA.

Here is an awesome page showing our history in the NCAAT. Enjoy! Interestingly, our 66 total tournament games is approximately in the Top 10 of all programs. https://mcubed.net/ncaa/soccmd1/akron.shtml

It could be like VCU in the old Bracket Buster. We could play them tight every year, and lose. Maddening to see us leave sharpshooters wide open for corner for 3's down the stretch. But the play that killed me the most was the inbounds play towards the end with only 4 seconds on the clock. The pass pulled the Yale player away from the hoop, so he's down to 3 seconds. He nonchalantly drives baseline and banks in a 2 footer. Soft D and no backside help, even though everyone in the building knew he had to shoot. How many bunnies did Eric Mahaffey smoke? Just as I talk the guy up, he has his most underwhelming showing of the young season. Scott and Tavari were absolutely awesome. Cheese/Banks, LCJ/Castenada, Buford/McLaughlin great. All-time Zips offensive performances. Yale played fantastic. Sliced and diced us all night long. Kudos to them. We definitely need to get better if we're to win anything beyond the MAC this year. Kenpom, SchmenPom.

My man the other team making every shot was in fact not good for us

I would think the majority of it would go toward retaining players. That’s what most of the successful “have-nots” at the P4 level are doing anyway. I also think that approach would serve us best, as identifying, landing, and developing talent hasn’t been an issue for this staff.

At-large was never going to happen anyway. Biggest issue is it's likely Yale will make the field of 68 and this could keep them seeded ahead of us. Could be the difference between an 11th or 12th seed.

Dumb shot.

And much of ESPN.

With all due respect to Milwaukee, if we can't beat them at home, our team isn't what we're hoping.

I think he could still develop into a solid linebacker wherever he lands, but he was leapfrogged by both Boswell and Hocker this year.

You said persnickety. 😀

This is an amazing resource!

That's the sad reality of college sports. It's no different than Major League Baseball and why I freaking HATE P5 and major conference schools. You have two tiers of teams and we're just the farm system for bigger schools now. We develop the athletes and they have the money to poach them away. Maybe every few years a small school can make a run in the CFP or March Madness. But by the next year that program will be completely gutted and will have to start from scratch.

Ohio lost by 23 to George Mason. If anyone is sad about the loss to Yale, go get a pick-me-up by reading BobcatAttack. They're in shambles. Rumor has it Athens isn't sure if it has enough beer to endure the season. Buffalo beat VMI to remain undefeated. Bowling Green beat our future opponent Bucknell 71-66. EMU got plastered by Louisville.

One last thought - the score was high in numbers, but it wasn't fast paced. I was worried if Yale slowed us down, we'd have issues scoring in a half court offense if we weren't running. Our half court offense was great actually, so that is good to see we have a variety of ways to score going forward. Just need a way to at least slow down post scorers going forward

I know Yale played a perfect game but I'm sure their fans are saying the same about us. We had an answer for just about everything they had. Just one bucket short

Props to Yale. They played perfect basketball for an entire 40 minutes. 🤯 They made tough, contested shots, always found the open man out of a double-team, never cooled off from 3, made all 21 of their free throw attempts... ... and we still only lost by 3. Great game.

Which is fine and expected, but Yale still had to make their shots and they did. Easy to fault Akron's defense and as a coach he should, but it was just one of those nights where the opponent was perfect.

In the post-game, Groce was critical of the Zips defense.

Unless it's Virginia - then it's fine.

Milwaukee, Murray St, and Tulane will all be solid opportunities, plus the 2nd SBC game. If we only have a few losses come March and 2 of them are this game vs Yale and the Purdue game, that's a heck of a resume.

Yes, most teams don't have Jokic on their roster.

Look at Tavari...he was pretty underwhelming his first 2 seasons, and he's been lights-out ever since. Lyles was a 5 mpg & 5 fouls per game center. Now he's dominant. Lots of examples of guys who get better every season.