Z.I.P.

Do you mean the redshirt freshman from HS class of 2011? I haven't seen anything about commitments from class of 2012 players yet.

Thanks for getting the thread back on track. NOT being there, I'd like to know what happened on the field rather than in the stands. What was the tactical departure, Bisbee? What do you think is causing the changes?

So, we're talking Philly, not Phoenix? I was wondering if the Sun Devils were joining the Big East to make way for WVU in the Pac Ten.

I think Porters ultimate goal is to be coach of USMNT (wrote about this a year ago). I think he can accomplish his goal without leaving the Zips. I still believe that he will stay until 2014 when Kinsmann's contract will be up and the US may be looking for a new coach. I hope it plays out just as coach Porter envisions. Even if we have a new coach...the publicity that comes with the World Cup will be more than anyone could imagine.What HE said!

He's being groomed man. Don't treat him the way you all did Ken Lolla, OK? Not that we'll improve when he becomes US National Coach (though I think the USA will), but we'll be a perennial top-10 for a long time. And we'll be the breeding ground.

Been following Evan and the Impact all year and this is great news!! I hope Sinisa and Cameron catch on as well. Thanx for the scoop!I believe Cameron was already cut. I think Sinisa will make the cut, he had a good season with Montreal.Fantastic news! And it couldn't happen for a better guy, in and out of the box.

Cap'n, Clarification plz: Are you going to remove this whole thread? If so...+++ (especially the refs to Mr SV!)

You and GoZips are SO right -- college fans Soooo love intimacy. Pro basketball fans HATE intimacy!

From the article: The University of Akron rifle team battled Ohio State and Columbus State over the weekend. Since when is that two different schools?

Yeah, welcome back to the ZN.o Big Mike -- and thanks alot for not mentioning anything that happened on your coast last week The thing with Speas is, we wish him well and all that, but he knew he wouldn't be seeing much playing time in his hometown. Now I kinda can't wait to hear about the first blizzard to hit the Raleigh-Chapel Hill area. Have one, or four for me an' the Rowdies at Gio's tonight!

Picking Kansas to get upset in the Big Dance by a mid-major is like shooting fish in a barrel. And it makes us about a 15 or sixteen seed. I'd rather beat College of Charleston in an 8/9 matchup, please.

Thanks Crew8. And here is the link to ZipItUpNow's post. Includes the NCAA Rule Book explanation.

And here is, Da Rule: 3.5 Re-entry Conditions, Restrictions, Exceptions 3.5.1 Field Players. With reference to periods of play, substitutions are permitted as follows: First half: no re-entry. Second half: one re-entry. First overtime period: no re-entry. Second overtime period: no re-entry. Thanks, Coach.

Please explain how a team that won twenty-one games last season and returns all five starters, and has a veteran, respected coach is 'overrated'. I seriously doubt that any MAC coach will take Western Michigan lightly. I spoke a little too quickly. Losing Juwan Howard JR might hurt a little, but they do have some quality players in Ward and Whitfield coming back. It seems to me that WMU under Steve Hawkins tends to excede expectations when they are low, and disappoint when the are raised. What's the highest finish for a Hawkins-coached team?

You think so? Just the "announced" crowd (2,500) wasn't even 1/2 the size of the biggest crowds this year, and it was against one of the biggest names on our schedule. And there were certainly quite a few no-shows, so the actual attendance was probably well under 2,000, which may have made it more like 1/4 or 1/3 the size of Ohio State or Cleveland State crowds. If people were paying attention to the forecast, they could see that the rain was ending. I was surprised and disappointed. Just inserting a little perspective: Prior to 1980, the school record attendance was "well under 2000". I bet it didn't pass 2000 till after the 1986 Final-4 trip.

Are there any substitution retrictions in college soccer?? I thought the rules were similar to international rules. Nope, unlimited substitutions. However, a player cannot re-enter a game in the same half that he left in. EDIT: No re-entry in the first half - One re-entry in the second half I wish I knew for sure -- I thought it was the opposite -- no re-entry for second half. Can someone find the actual rules on line? -- I've looked and can't find.

I think we can probably agree -- based on the number of students attending athletic events on campus, that zipsman's passionate defense of subsidized collegiate athletics represents perhaps 2 percent of the student body. Does anyone seriously believe that this exercise in excess for the benefit of the few would or could win any free exercise in democracy -- i.e., an election of the student body? I am glad that zipsman wants to support the jocks on campus -- but perhaps he should be paying what would constitute a market price for the tickets, rather than having his fellow students subsidize his entertainment. Please don't allow this article to get out to the student bodies of public universities. We may have the start of the #OccupyUniversity Movement! But of course for that to occur, we would first have to replace sports as the current opiate of the masses.

In fairness, stat-keeping isn’t big in college soccer, and even if we had more traditional stats available (chances, possession, action zones, etc). it’s still somewhat dubious that those things would be much better. The fact is, though, that looking at the number of goals you let in compared to the number of shots you face cannot tell you anything about keeper performance. To draw an analogy, any SABR-savvy baseball fan can explain to you that, if you want to know how defensively sound a player is, looking at a player’s fielding percentage is a rather futile exercise , because it ignores factors that are, all things told, more essential than “did you catch the ball or not.” Range and throwing power are harder to quantify, but probably tell you a lot more in the long run. I don’t know if there is a UZR equivalent for goalkeepers, and I would imagine that if there is one it is as inherently problematic as UZR for largely the same reasons. It’d be interesting to know whether or not Porter uses some sort of match analysis tool, (this one seems really frickin’ sweet) but what we relatively resource-less fans are left with are our eyes and the eyes of professional scouts at places like TopDrawer and SoccerByIves. A quite impressive attempt to capture some experientially valid information on the goalkeeping arts, Andy. Thanks. I don't know for sure, but I think some programs still use this company's software for game analysis. (Sorry - the website is pretty useless) I have a friend-of-a-friend connection to the inventor, former CSU-Northridge coach Zvi Friedman. Does anyone know of other computer software programs designed for soccer analysis?

Here's this week's NSCAA poll. Surprising to me that we're ahead of New Mexico.

Why?

Pimm, Frawley and Atkinson look to be the only (true) freshmen to play this year, so the others will be redshirting. That's pretty promising, or perhaps surprising (considering the ranking of a couple others).

Once again, Zach makes an incisive remark that will probably earn scorn from the ZN.o masses. It ain't just soccer, man! And winning is no guarantee of change. Which brings up another side question (related to the attendance thread): Are we seeing license plates from outta state at our games (men's primarily)? I know that much of the attendance at Col Crew games comes from out of state -- is that happening in Akron?

If you took everyone that sat on the grass or stood during the game, those seats would be filled without a problem. BTW, I'm spending time on an attendance sheet for other schools as well, I've covered the top ranked schools and it appears Akron is 2nd in the nation for attendance. UCSB is 1st averaging 5,033, and Maryland is 3rd averaging 4,093. I'll post the numbers when I'm done. Of course people in GA would fill out the grandstand. Are you suggesting that the people who purchased the reserved seats are choosing to stand the whole game or sit on the grass?? The reserved seats are sold out or nearly sold out and some are choosing to not show up. That's the bottom line. The attendance is still very good. The percentage of sold seats to actual attendance is great. Much better than football. Your passion is obvious. Soccer will not be outdrawing football in paid attendance this year or the foreseeable future no matter how much you would like for that to happen. I'm not trying to sway your opinion, it appears to be set in stone. Just trying to set the record straight. I have sat/stood in the grass instead of the grandstad for games this year. It happens but this is a silly argument. Enjoy the crowd and the atmosphere. I wish it cold last forever. I think the main problem I have with this thread is that Bobbyake did not sufficiently lay out just what his argument is! Perhaps I mssed another thread where it was stated (That soccer does or COULD outdraw Am. Football?). I think that's a possible future reality, considering the "progress" the FB team is making. It's also an argument that is SO politically incorrect, you are going to have rotten veggies thrown at you if you go near some people on the FB board!

So based on that, Maryland should be kicking butt in recruiting the Class of 2012. I'm not so sure it isn't just the attention that comes to a WINNING team. Nike and UofO make a nice combo.

Here's something very strange: They seem to know things about us in Turkey that we didn't even know. Olympic gymnast Dominique Moceanu is an Akron alum?