Zips1991

Zips up to 11th in the coaches poll. Ohio State is not even receiving votes going into the big matchup on Friday. Looking ahead to next week, Vermont is currently 9th. https://unitedsoccercoaches.org/rankings/college-rankings/ncaa-di-men/

Finally in their top 25!

Probably just want to do it while the weather is nice so the players' families can enjoy it.

I know right now it's too early. But when is the "right" time to start looking at RPI? Currently we're at 91, but it isn't based on much right now with such a small sample.

Zips are now ahead of both Dayton and Ohio State, making them the top ranked team in Ohio. 💪

I hate that they don't list "others receiving votes" or anything like that. Makes it hard to tell if you're getting close. 😆 Also, I don't have the link but I saw Akron was up to 26th (first in "others receiving votes" section) in the College Soccer News poll today.

"What did he do to encourage attendance?" is another valid question.

WMU off to a bad start puts a damper on our OOC schedule...

Yeah, I graduated in 2015 and have had it (still do) for the past 4-5 years. They just never really advertised it previously. It used to include women's soccer and volleyball too, but it looks like they don't offer season ticket packages for those sports at all anymore -- only single game tickets.

They have no say in the conference schedule, it's determined by the MAC office.

He's looked very good since coming in at half. Good movement and touches. Should've had a 2nd goal a few minutes ago, but still very good!

First half was very sloppy especially early. Thankful to get the PK and take the lead into the half. Much improved in the 2nd half.

I don't think I realized until the press release on GoZips.com that the Big East tournament appears to be only 4 teams this year instead of 8. Has anyone seen this anywhere else?

Last night was a 2-1 win for the Zips. A first half goal (maybe 30 or 35 minutes in, I don't remember) was scored off a free kick. Not sure who was credited with the goal, it was just kinda knocked in from a scrum on the back post. The 2nd goal was fairly early in the 2nd half scored by Ferguson, a header from a nice cross. Detroit got a penalty with about 10 minutes left. Kaminski was in goal for the Zips, I heard rumors that Budler has a minor injury. Bahur and Alem started for Akron (in for Filsinger and Borneo, I think?), with the rest of the Starting XI the same as last match, I believe. In my opinion, the Zips were not as good as the match against St Bonaventure, but it could be fatigue after 3 matches in very hot weather.

Thanks to you and nice person at the game for the updates! Glad to see that Bahur and Alem were involved in the goals as I thought both played well on Saturday. Based on the starting XI being the same for both matches (other than GK), it seems like that may be set, but as we know, subs are important in college soccer. While we may not have as many clear cut stars as last year (Emil, Dyson, Malik, etc.), hopefully the overall depth is better and that can balance things out.

Thank you! Any idea of who played in the first half?

I suspect this match will mostly be newer players and those further down the "depth chart", as there is another match on Friday. Those going to the match tonight, please share updates as I will not be attending. Midweek preseason matches against NAIA teams do not make it appealing for a 45 minute drive each way. 😄

Ironically, according to archived stories on GoZips.com, last year the non-conference schedule was released on August 12th. And then the conference schedule was released on August 14th.

This feels more useful than the Coaches poll that just copied the final rankings from last season. Also, interestingly, Akron is #30 (receiving votes) and this used to be a Top 30 poll until this year, as noted in their intro.

They generally don't publish the score or a game summary for exhibition games, probably at the coaches' request. It's strange considering the games are open to the public, but it's been that way the last few years at least. Anyways, the Zips won 2-0. Two goals from Ferguson in the first 22 minutes. The starters mostly came out at halftime and the 2nd half was a little disjointed as you may expect.

It's becoming harder to not believe that Akron's days as a soccer powerhouse are limited, given the increasing importance of money in college athletic success and Akron's obvious lack of resources.

Vermont's schedule is now listed on their site and it confirms Akron travels to Vermont on September 13th (6 pm on ESPN+): https://uvmathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule

We may need him to step up the goal scoring this fall, so it's nice to see him hot coming into the season!

I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere yet, but big congratulations to Malik on making his MLS debut last night!

To my untrained eyes, there's an 8th Big East game (as you mentioned) that I would think is October 10 or 11. Plus, I think there will be a game on Labor Day at home, as that's pretty common. Then, the other two would just be guesses based on the gaps in the schedule above, but I think there would be a game on September 12 or 13 and another on October 22 maybe?