NYC ZIP

Gotta finish some of these chances.

link for Saturday’s game Akron vs Louisville - April 13, 2024

1 goal total in the run of play this spring.

Sources report a 6-1 victory for the Zips in game one.

Let’s get some team chemistry going and hit the fall with a vengeance. Load those chips on those shoulders. Zips got work to do!

Looks like Michigan State replaced Oakland in the spring league. I’m ok with that.

Looks like these are the 2024 spring opponents for the Zips. Good competition to get the guys going and try to put it together. The other division is Butler, Xavier, Louisville, Ohio State, and Marshall.

Agree. You try to get one of their new conference mates, UCLA and Washington, both generally top 20 teams, to play at Cub Cadet while they are in “the neighborhood”. If we need to do a home and home, so be it. Akron picks up another game out west early in the season between 2024 -2027.

Happy to join in the conversation. I recently started follow several “pundits” that scout and rate youth players, most from MLS academies and their pro and national team potential. I believe these guys watch a lot more games and put a lot more time into their craft than TDS and Prep Soccer. The US Soccer Collective is very informative and in depth coverage of US prospects (@chai_asc on Twitter). He has published positive info on Buebendorf and Held. Another example, USMNT Prospects puts a lot of information out there based on watching a ton of games. He recently went to a pay walled Patreon site (well worth the $5 a month)but his Twitter is still very informative @prospectsusmnt. Specific to our 2024 class, here some of what he has said about James Buebendorf in his evaluations. He recently ranked him as the #10 2006 prospect. ”10. James Buebendorf (St. Louis City)-LB: Buebendorf has a few things to work on, but has very high upside, and I would say as of now is the clear best of the ‘06 LB prospects for me” He also listed him as a potential call up for the 2025 U20 World Cup. There are other commits on Instagram that from a very small bit of research, look solid as well. A GK from Inter Miami academy, a MF from NYCFC and the local MF from Cleveland. I’m also optimistic about healthy Henry, Clapier and like you mentioned Ferguson, Borneo, and Bartels getting their chance to debut for the Zips. I also think there will be a new hunger in the team. Players don’t pick Akron to be home for Thanksgiving. If you were paying attention to the last game at Xavier, their students did the “I believe that we just won” chant. I think angry and disrespected Zips are dangerous Zips. My apologies for the lengthy post. Looking forward to the conversations.

There are opportunities for the AD to get creative and take advantage of the NCAA conference realignment and get some meaningful non conference games. Hey Washington / UCLA coming to Ohio State on Friday? How about playing us on Tuesday and make a week of it. Same for Stanford, Cal and SMU playing ACC games against Pitt. Increases opportunities for SOS improvement, meaningful wins far more than beating up on Niagara does.

I think losing Malik to injury had a huge impact on that dynamic attacking piece. He was having his best year as a Zip prior to getting hurt. I also suspect that Clapier had a nagging injury that limited his effectiveness all year. Also, it’s always bad to depend on other teams to win their conference tournaments, rather than just taking care of your own business in season. Zips have some experience coming back, some good, young players waiting to step up and a good recruiting class coming in. I’m optimistic for 2024.

Probably need to ditch Niagara, Southern Indiana and Northern Kentucky for some better teams.

Well that’s a shame. A goal against ND probably would have been enough. Onward to 2024.

Here’s my biased homer prediction. The A10 ends up a one bid league leaving VCU and St Louis out. The MVC doesn’t get 3 teams in so UIC is left out. A 7 loss Kentucky team is left out. Akron slides in at #48 and plays Indiana on the road in round 1. Go Zips!

Xavier may have very well just ended the Zips tournament hopes…

I think the only miracle we can hope for is the committee isn’t comfortable putting a 6 loss Pitt, a 6 loss Kentucky, and a 5 loss Cal in the field. Fingers crossed.

It does not. You’ll get an error message that someone else is watching

Prep Soccer currently has Akron’s 2024 class at #12. They are missing a couple commits, but they talk about Held and Buebendorf in their evaluation. This was included in their subscriber content on Aug 24. 12. Akron Verbal commitments (as of August 22): #15 James Buebendorf (St. Louis City SC), #99 Kamden Held (Chicago Fire) Buebendorf is going to end up as one of the top players from this class who plays college soccer. And he is headed to Akron where they have a proven track record for developing professional players. Buebendorf is an outside back and offers a well-rounded game for the position. He has the technique and confidence on the ball to play out of pressure. He has the vision to pick out runs from his teammates. He showed last season how he can hit a variety of passes with accuracy – from the cross field switch to the grass-cutter to the full spring cross. The left back has among the highest ceilings in this class. Kamden Held is an attacking midfielder from Chicago Fire. He was a standout for that academy last season. He has a clean first touch and excellent feel for the game. He should shine in the Akron style of play.