BigGreenTruck

The 3rd place and Championship game will be streamed on YouTube.

Or you could look 4 hours south of I-77. As a Marshall fan I would support a long term H/H with Akron. It could only benefit both programs. I think it would be some pretty entertaining games.

Face it outside of scheduling Indiana and Maryland most years anyone else is usually an RPI drain on any school looking to have an NCAA run. Men's soccer is probably the worst sport at Ohio State and probably one of the least funded. Just going back to 2008, 15 years, Ohio State, has 10 losing seasons and one NCAA. Just 3 years ago in 2020 (Spring of 2021) the B10 had only two programs with a winning record that being Indiana and Penn State.

Pitt was a mid to low level ACC team this who couldn't hang with the upper half of the Top 25 this year. Marshall manhandled them back on Sept 5th in a 3-1 win. With about 75% possession and a lucky goal by Pitt when GK Perrota tripped on a save attempt. If JMU plays like they did against Marshall in the regular season they can beat this Pitt team on Thursday.

Kentucky has a win over #1 Marshall and #2 WVU. Once Johan Cedergren started coaching this years team and not trying to do what he done last year Kentucky started to actually play decent. Pitt is in solely on ACC bias, has to be.

That's all they deserved. If the power structure existed in soccer like it does in football and basketball then the B10 would be the MAC equivalent. It seems to always be Indiana and seven midgets. That may change somewhat with UCLA and Washington joining next year. Even Maryland was better off as an ACC school for soccer. I was hoping to see Akron pop up but it wasn't to be. Is Jared Embrick's seat getting a lil warm I wonder. Akron made the NCAAs the past two years but the two before that were lackluster. From a few games I seen of Akron this year it always looked like the back line was getting beat over the top. Way to many runs where the Akron back line was chasing the ball.

Some of the coaches on rankings have been brutal this year. Dropping Pitt from 8 out of the top 25, Wake Forest from 9 to 21 earlier this year.

Oct 9 2023 Top Drawer Soccer Top 25 #5 Akron https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer-national-rankings/men Oct 9 2020 College Soccer News Top 30 #4 Akron Akron holds steady at #5 in TDS ans moves up one spot in CSN. I don't know how much movement we see in the Top 5 in the coaches poll but I suspect there will be some Both #1 and #2 (Marshall and UCF) won 2-0 in their only game. #3 WVU had a 2-2 draw with JMU and #4 SMU beat Charlotte 1-0 and had a 2-2 draw with FIU. Akron's 3-0 win over DePaul could bring them up a spot but Im more inclined to think if anything happens its WVU and SMU trading places.

Oct 3 2023 United Soccer Coaches Top 25 #5 Akron https://unitedsoccercoaches.org/rankings/college-rankings/ncaa-di-men/ One, Two and Three are the Sun Belt again this week with #1 Marshall, #2 UCF and #3 WVU. The top three are a combined 23-1-4. And the one loss is UCF at the hands of Marshall.

Akron a lil more stable in this weeks rankings unlike the last few weeks. Oct 1st 2023 Top Drawer Soccer Top 25 #9 Akron https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer-national-rankings/men Oct 1st 2023 College News Soccer Top 30 #4 Akron https://collegesoccernews.com/college-soccer-news-mens-top-30-national-poll-week-ending-october-1-2023/

As long as Chris Grassie and Marshall win they will most likely hold the top spot for both. Marshall travels to Richmond VA tomorrow to take on the 1-4-4 VCU Ram's. As bad a their record is, their RPI is 71. That is how it played out for Kentucky last year anyway.

Again Akron is all over the map with wild swing of where they are ranked this week. Sept 25 2023 Top Drawer Soccer Top 25 #17 Akron https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer-national-rankings/men Sept 25 2023 College Soccer News Top 30 #5 Akron https://collegesoccernews.com/college-soccer-news-mens-top-30-national-poll-week-ending-september-23-2023/ Marshall still holds the top spot for both polls but SMU now in at #2.

Top Drawer Top 25 and College Soccer News Top 30 are all over the map with Akron this week. Sept 18 2023 Top Drawer Soccer Top 25 #11 Akron https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer-national-rankings/men Sept 18 College Soccer News Top 30 #2 Akron https://collegesoccernews.com/college-soccer-news-mens-top-30-poll-week-ending-september-17-2023/ Marshall #1 in both polls and after last nights results with #1 Stanford and unranked Oregon State: #1 Stanford 1 Oregon State 2 there is no doubt come tomorrow Marshall will also be ranked #1 in the United Soccer Coaches Poll. And since Top Drawer and College Soccer News is all over the map with Akron it will be interesting to see where they have Akron. With a tie with Providence (2-3-1) my guess it's somewhere in the middle, I'd say the 5-8 range.

Sept 11 Top Drawer Soccer Top 25 #5 Akron https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer-national-rankings/men Sept 10 College Soccer News Top 30 #5 Akron https://collegesoccernews.com/college-soccer-news-mens-top-30-poll-week-ending-september-10-2023/ Both have Akron at #5. Will be interesting to see if Akron goes up a spot or even jumps Syracuse to 3 after the brutal #3 Portland loss to WVU when they were 5 seconds from a tie. That's right WVU scored at the 89:55 mark.

Sept 4th 2023 Top Drawer Soccer Top 25 #16 Akron https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer-national-rankings/men Sept 3rd 2023 College Soccer News Top 30 #9 Akron https://collegesoccernews.com/college-soccer-news-mens-top-30-national-poll-week-ending-september-3-2023/ The United Soccer Coaches Poll will be out tomorrow.

That does seem harsh for a 1-0 loss. I could see it if Vermont had been demolished something like 5-0. But then again that is life outside of the blue bloods. Somehow Marshall has stayed in the Top 15 since week 9 of the 2019 season. Thankfully only 2 of our losses since then have been to non ranked teams. Marshall plays Xavier at home on Friday and then they travel to #8 Pitt next Tuesday which should be the game with the 2 highest ranked teams going at it this year. On opening day we had #8 Creighton vs #7 Stanford. Last year #11 Marshall 2 #2 Pitt 1 in Huntington. Good Luck to Akron on the week ahead.

Congratz on the Top 10 ranking. Akron has been MIA far to long. Just one thing left to say:

It just came out today. Good Luck to Akron on their new journey in the Big East. I hope that Marshall can get Akron back on the schedule. I believe this could be a great OOC battle for both schools.

Akron starts their new chapter as a BE soccer program at #22 in the United Coaches Preseason Poll. https://unitedsoccercoaches.org/rankings/college-rankings/ncaa-di-men/ Hadn't seen the poll posted here so I didn't know if anyone had seen it yet. I almost nailed where I thought Marshall would start. I told someone a few weeks ago I expected Marshall to start at around 12. The preseason poll puts them starting at 11, just right outside the Top 10. Marshall has been ranked in the Top 15 since week 9 of 2019. I see a few schools that are probably ranked to high. One being Kentucky, they probably earned their preseason ranking from last year, they were the #1 seed in the tournament but they have to replace 79% of their scoring and 2 of 3 of their best defenders. I still have them high in the Sun Belt but at 3. I think both Duke and Clemson are ranked to high also.

Yes, Marshall become a Sun Belt member on July 1, 2022. The 22-23 season is Marshall's first year in the Sun Belt. Marshall is getting ready to ramp up construction on a new stadium, that is going to be about 50 years overdue. Jack Cook who coached at Marshall from 1967 to 1990 was promised a stadium when he took over. Even Marshall has their detractors. Some still ask why Marshall actually needs a stadium. I just point to Hoops Family field, Marshall's soccer stadium and say "Thats why". Those same people thought giving a program who had 12 winning seasons from 1979 to 2012 was dumb. Well in 8 years that stadium with the right coach produced a national championship. Im not saying baseball can do the same with a title but with a coach that knows what they are doing plus a new facility to do it with then Im positive Marshall can have more than one winning season in 16 years.

Beals isn't listed on Marshall's website. He hasn't even been approved yet by the BOG. There is a special meeting 1/5/23 at 9AM though, most likely to address this and probably approve a contract. I hate this is happening to Akron. If you've ever seen my posts I post 99% of the soccer portion of the board and should know Ive always rooted for the Zips in soccer except for when playing the Herd. I do hope all of those who have committed to Akron stays a commit. Ive always hated seeing someone follow a coach somewhere when a coach moves even though most kids commit to the coach and not the school. You should be in good hands with Coach Donnelly he was at Marshall as an asst for 10 years from 2006 TO 2016 and recruited a lot of Marshall's best players in that time.

Well this aged like 2 week old milk Marshall 46 36 82 Duquesne 27 44 71 Marshall now 8-1 and has only trailed for 7 min and 42 seconds this year so far.

Dan in his press conference said while in man there was an effort to bring help side defense on the weak side to double Castaneda. Having Handlogten, 7'1 in the paint and rotating either Curfman or Anachili-Killen over really disrupted Castaneda. He was held to 4 points and 5 rebounds. Hankerson had 11 points but he had to work for each of them. I could be wrong but I only counted 3 break downs in defense where Marshall didn't rotate that gave Akron a wide open shot. If you are constantly having to shoot contested shots then your shooting % is going to go down.

The announcers are Mark Martin who was WCHS Channel 8 in Charleston sport's anchor for 20+ years, now he does freelance work around the state including Marshall basketball and football games. And Coach Bob Bolen, Bolen spent 19 years at NAIA Mountain State (Closed after the 2012 year) as the AD and basketball coach. He guided the Cougars to the NAIA Championship game in 2003 as runner ups and then won the NAIA Title in 2004. They also made it to the Final 4 in MSUs last year. And it was Bolen that said "He can't shoot when he smells popcorn", I think Im'a have to steal that line.

This should be Marshall's starting line up: PG Andrew Taylor SG Taevion Kinsey SG Kamdyn Curfman PF/C Micah Handlogten PF Obinna Anochilli-Killen Through 6 games both Taylor and Kinsey are avging over 20 points a game. Kurfman is a transfer from VMI and had 116 3 pointers last season, 2nd most in the NCAA. Handlogten is the smoothest freshman Ive seen since Jon Elmore and the smoothest big man Ive seen since JR Vanhoose (1998-02) in a Marshall uniform. OAK is starting to come into his own now. Off the bench: G/F Jacob Connor SF Wyatt Fricks G/F Aymeric Toussaint SG David Early G/F Marko Sarenac SG Kyle Braun PF/C Goran Miladinovic Marshall only went 8 deep against Morehead State. The only player you will not see is PF Chase McKey who had knee surgery right before the start of the season and will miss the 22-23 season. The future of the team will center around two true freshman in Micah Handlogten and Jacob Conner and Redshirt freshman Wyatt Fricks. Fricks was hurt in the 2nd game last year and didn't play anymore. I really don't understand how Handlogten was so over looked, his only other DI offers was Youngstown State, American, Jacksonville and Presbyterian. Marshall is avging 86.5 points per game through 6 games, the lowest out put has been 82. And is allowing 68.8 points per game. Here is hoping for a good injury free game.