Z.I.P.

Huber Heights Wayne! So he's a classmate of incoming footballer (oh, okay, soccer player) Kofie Sarkodi. Wonder if Caleb Porter was involved in the recruiting?

Columbus gets a fourth goal -- all in the final half-hour of play to win third place, 4-0 over a very good Coloorado Rush. Defender John Wargo scored the final goal for the Crew. His back-line teammate Akron verbal Chad Barson played a very steady game at the left back, as Colorado developed very little back in the 16-yard box.Crew ends up undefeated in the US Development Academy finals, with a record of 3 wins, 1 draw and no losses. Fantastic start to the US Development Academy League.ESPNU gave Player of the Game to Travis Wall, who scored the first goal of the game.

#11 Thomas Schmitt, headed to THE UNIVERSITY OF AKRON shows his value, by scoring the third goal of the game, and his third goal in four games in the USDA finals. The assist comes from Bonfini, and it took until Schmitt's appearance at the 65 minute mark for Columbus to start playing team soccer the way they're capable. Schmitt might be game MVP for his 25 minutes. The other star is the Columbus GK. He stopped a couple of point-blank drillers by Colorado.HEY -- is anybody else out there??? Can't wait for the U-18 finals, as Viirginia recruit Chris Agorsor, national POY will be playing for Baltimore Bays vs the home LA FC.

Columbus scores their second goal, by Bonfini, on a great diagonal cross all the way across the box from the left-hand side by Tom Schmitt. This kid, since he came in, has elelvated the Crew game. Watch out for him -- he's a big-time player! Hope Akron coaches can find him some playing time this season.

Columbus takes the 1-0 lead at about 60 minutes (no clock on the screen @ ESPNU), on a totally one-v-eleven play by Crew's Travis Wall. He went end-to-end and outran the only other Crew teammate he had with him, and overcame a Rush defender at the 16, then drilled a right-footer, I believe hard into the right side of the net.___________________________Thomas Schmitt the Zip recruit (and leading scorer for the Crew in the finals) finally makes his appearance just after the Columbus goal, and immediately takes a pass in the box, but a defender deflects it away. I wasn't aware until this broadcast, that the Developmnent Academy has a "no-return" rule on substitutions. Great rule -- does anyone think it will ever happen in NCAA futbol? I can remember that SOB Yeagley subbing 10 players at a time at Jackson Field in the 70s. Bastard!

Columbus takes the 1-0 lead at about 60 minutes (no clock on the screen @ ESPNU), on a totally one-v-eleven play by Crew's Travis Wall. He went end-to-end and outran the only other Crew teammate he had with him, and overcame a Rush defender at the 16, then drilled a right-footer, I believe hard into the right side of the net.

Sean Ryan of the Crew takes a header in the middle of the area off a beautiful cross from the right, and puts it just off the upper right corner of the post-bar. Nicest play of the game, as Columbus is starting to take over. Nick Blevins does a lot of good things away from the ball that you don't notice, but make him a Hoosier come September._______________________________Matt Lampson, Columbus goal keeper makes two tremendous stops late in the first half, to keep thinks nil-nil. Not sure of his age -- but I think he's a D-1 prospecct from those two.Mike Green is probably the best player in this game. He's just a "good" athlete, but he knows exactly where to run on every play, and is one of the few people making things happen by himself. They need to start connecting passes to him in the second haldd if the Crew want to get off the schneid. You can see green picked up a thing or two from his years in Manchester -- England, not Ohio.

Mike Green is a creative cuss. Dark Thunder was alone on the left side of the 6-yard box, and tried to put it past the goalie wtih a heel ball. Couldn't put anything on it, and goalie took care of the ball, but very interesting, as Maxwell Smart would say.Siebert (sp.?) is the star so far for Crew offensively playing the right wing, it appears. As the announcers say, he's all over the place. Nick Blevins gets a header just knocked down by the Rush goalkeeper.Sean Ryan of the Crew takes a header in the middle of the area off a beautiful cross from the right, and puts it just off the upper right corner of the post-bar. Nicest play of the game, as Columbus is starting to take over. Nick Blevins does a lot of good things away from the ball that you don't notice, but make him a Hoosier come September.

Mike Green is a creative cuss. Dark Thunder was alone on the left side of the 6-yard box, and tried to put it past the goalie wtih a heel ball. Couldn't put anything on it, and goalie took care of the ball, but very interesting, as Maxwell Smart would say.Siebert (sp.?) is the star so far for Crew offensively playing the right wing, it appears. As the announcers say, he's all over the place. Nick Blevins gets a header just knocked down by the Rush goalkeeper.

It's football (okay - soccer if you're so inclined) time and the U-18 3rd place game in the US Development Academy leeague is live on ESPNU RIGHT NOW!Introductions: #6 Defender for Crew, future Zip Chad Barson, who's started every game this year for the US U-17 squad. Next intro "Mike --aka 'Dark Thunder', Green". Dark Thunder! We'll see if you take any lightening to New Mexico. Steve Trittschuh is head coach for Colorado Rush -- former US World Cupper. No sure who coaches the Crew U-18s, but their U-17 coach is the ex-Hermann Trophy winner Billy Thompson from UCLA. Guess who coached him at UCLA? Anyone who said Sigi Baby wins the prize. So far Rush is dominating play in the CCA end of the field. That will change I think. Just said Bob Bradley is on the sideline!

Click link to US Development Academy Finals: http://www.ussoccer.com/common/stContent.j...Week08Sked.htmlColumbus Crew Academy -- team featuring Thomas Schmitt, Chad Barson, Mike Green, and sometimes Ben Speas, wins final 2-1 over Concorde Fire of Washinton-state, and finishes third overall with two wins and a draw vs LA Football Club, but loses out for first in Pool 'B' to LA FC, as they finish +3 goals to LAFC's +9 in goal differrential.One benefit of being second: Prime time TV spot at 8:30 Friday evening on ESPNU for third place in the US Development Academy's first year. Please PASS THE WORD -- you don't get to see a preview of the future of US soccer -- or Akron soccer -- very often. This is it!

Sorry, I wish the best to JD and his team, but Akron will have to beg the boys from Madison to keep it under 50. That's how much better they are.Put this on the bulletin board, Zips! Well, maybe not.

It is a great idea, and has been floated around in the past. The problem is, Rick Chryst doesn't really do anything for the MAC. The other conference guys all feel thast way about him, and I do too. He might leave for the Notre Dame Athletic Director position soon anyways.Another problem is that the WAC might consider itself above sharing a TV network with the MAC. They pull in huge gobs of $$$ these days.Several years ago I suggested to WAC Commissioner Carl Benson, the creation of a WAC-MAC Challenge basketball tournament. The only way to describe the look on his face is with the word "aghast". Aghast, not avast, matey.Regarding the future of JD, I suspect you all ascribe far too much power to yourselves, as the Zips mainstays. I fear that no matter how low this coach and team fall, the current admin will be afraid to change anything. Wait and see.

Well, that makes two of us. I've found in the past that there are a number of Akron parents and local followers who turn out to see the team on the West Coast. I haven't contacted the soccer office yet, so don't know where the team is staying. Be careful, or you might get invited to host the squad! In portland the team was fortunate enough to stay in a West Portland mountain home owned by a former Zip footballer. Check out the Columbus Crew Academy which feature somewhere between 3-5 future Akron players, depending on circumstances. Friday on ESPNU or ESPN2 (if they finish pool play in the top 2). Go Crew. Go Zips!

Interesting news from out of the Pitt Panthers' den: Jamie Dixon has a verbal commitment from McDonald's all-America 6-8 Dante Taylor out of National Christian Academy in Maryland. Check it out at http://hoopwise.com/ and you can comment to the FOX Sports blog at the link -- as I have!

Wow! That is fantastic. Frankly, beyond what I would have ever dream of for my alma mater. I wonder if anyone is reading conversation (e.g., MAC BBs) from our competition about how big a 'get' Zeke is? I did read -- was it Elton Alexander (?) suggesting he could be the biggest recruit in the league's history. Like others, though, I hope we don't expect Zeke to come in and immediately be the "go-to" man. With expperience at this level, he will be a huge contributor. But as much as we'd like it, it won't happen immediately. Will it?

I would say this was hilarious -- but that might make someone think I could figure any of it out. :blink: Could this have been the response to the aforementioned: "Describe your team's season in a Jimmy Buffet song"?

Can you believe this? ESPNU is blanketing their Friday & Saturday schedule with Development Academy coverage! I might have to take a sick day. http://www.ussoccer.com/articles/viewArtic...6.html#scheduleMonday's Crew vs LAFC game should be VERY interesting as LA had the best record in the league during the regular season -- and I guess its a home game for them. Can Sigi Schmidt's youngsters pull the upset in his ancestral homeland (UCLA).-----------------Nice game by the Crew Academy today -- they drew with LA Football Club, 1-1. Goal scored by? Lobo-bound Mike Green! Hmmm, 2 goals in 2 games. We'll find out on 9/12 if he can score against ZIP FC.To win their pool, Crew needs to beat Concorde FC from Wash-state by 6 goals in their final pool game -- 6-0 was LAFC's margin over Concorde. You have to sin your pool to play for the title on Friday. In any case, the team will be on ESPNU or ESPN2 Friday. If you want to see the future of American futbol catch these games.Click for details of today's competition. http://www.ussoccer.com/common/stContent.j...Week08Sked.html

Odds are I won't be able to make it unless the College Cup is played on the West Coast -- an unlikely scenario. Find me in the stands at UNM Soccer stadium in Albuquerque 9/12/08.I've noticed how many universities have "double-service" track & field and soccer fields. The place they play in Cowlumbus; Drake Field at UCLA; New Mexico's place are all track stadiums first. So the idea that Akron is at a disadvantage because they don't have a major soccer-only facility may not be that big a thing. It doesn't appear to be hampering Caleb's ability to recruit future pro players.BTW -- did anyone see the 16 year old Ethiopian, Ibrahim score for Toronto FC vs the Chicago Fire yesterday? Bob Bradley better get that kid's immigration documents to his doorstep, like now, man! Hurry before the Canadians get there first.

Can you believe this? ESPNU is blanketing their Friday & Saturday schedule with Development Academy coverage! I might have to take a sick day. http://www.ussoccer.com/articles/viewArtic...6.html#scheduleMonday's Crew vs LAFC game should be VERY interesting as LA had the best record in the league during the regular season -- and I guess its a home game for them. Can Sigi Schmidt's youngsters pull the upset in his ancestral homeland (UCLA).

Columbus Crew Academy U-18 squad defeated Capitol Area Soccer League (CASL) 2-0 in the first round (?) of the US Soccer Development Academy Nationals at Home Depot Center in Carson, CA (Calling L.A. Zip, get on your moped, and get down there!). Goals for CCSA were from New Mexico frosh-to-be Michael Green, and Akron Zip-to-be Thomas Schmitt. Crew also includes Akron 09 class verbals (so we are told) Ben Speas and Chad Barson, along with all-American and incoming Indiana freshman Nick Blevins.USSoccer.com says the finals will be broadcast on the ESPN networks -- probably meaning ESPNU. Maybe next weekend.Check it out on the US Soccer Youth blog at http://ynt-ussoccer.blogspot.com

Actually, my father, who grew up in Cleveland, remembers games between military academies being played years ago at the old municipal stadium, and the place was packed. Of course, those were different times, when the military academies were good.I beg to differ. Navy is still very good (they'd kill any MAC school) and Air Force has been respectable of late.Is this Navy program, that would kill any MAC school, the same Navy that lost to Ball State last year? I believe the last time Akron played Navy ('99) was at their place and we walked away with the win. There is no service academy that plays at a higher level than the MAC. There might be some good games but a service academy would not win the MAC title.Well, I am of two minds on this (which fortunately equals one numbskull). I follow Navy FB a fair bit, since their two recent coaches Paul Johnston -- who will be a succcess at Ga Tech -- and new appointee Ken Niumatalolo got their starts in Hawaii. I believe Navy would be the favorite to win the MAC, were they a member this year. But, it would be a very close race, as they are very close to the MAC's top teams. I love watching their multiple-option offense -- especially after watching the one dimensional offense at my local BCS bowl-playing school.

Hey! I have finally, after a couple of months of elation, come back down to planet Earth regarding the Akron Zips' class of 2008 -- and the start of the class of 2009. I REALLY thought that Kofi Sarkodie, from my view of him in international competition was arguably the #1 recruit -- at least among backliners and playmakers. I will be disappointed if this young man does not make freshman all-America. Put Kofi and his international experience and remarkable passing and attacking skills alongside similarly-skilled forward Darlington Nagbe, then add in 6-foot Canadian Teal Bunbury and local speedster Chris Barton and you get not just the best overall class in UA history (just a tad ahead of last year's), but a truly elite national recruiting class coming to Lee Jackson this fall.HOWEVER -- and I say that with the emphasis "all-caps" encompases -- when I took a look at what the REALLY elite national programs are building, it makes me realize just how steep is the mountain Akron soccer must climb to make it up the mountain that is the NCAA College Cup to the promised land we all know coach Porter can conquer, and is laying the groundwork to tackle the summit.I took a look over the past week at those other elite programs: defending national champion Jay Vidovich's Wake Forest Deamon Deacons; the Cavaliers of Virginia; Maryland's Terrapins; the Bruins of UCLA (are they REALLY mired in the lowest marks in recent history?); UC-Santa Barbara -- another program tied to a bullet that already owns a national title; Mike Freitag's Indiana Hoosiers; and the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.The findings are: in Man, do these schools have superstar magnets, or what? :blink: You might call it a toss-up between the top three in the ACC for King of the Hill. Sasho Cirovski at Terrapin Tech gets 8 ball players -- five all-Americans, including the nation's #1 ranked midfielder and goalkeeper. The MF Kaoru Forbess also gets votes for #1 overall in the class, while the goalie is Zach McMath, starting GK for the US U-17 07 World Cup team in Korea. Playing "Can you top this", Virginia captures the NSCAA national POY Chris Agorson from under Cirovski's eye in the national capitol area. Agorson's a 5-9 forward who plays for the US Under-20 team. They also grabbed 6-2 defender Hunter Jumper, the best outside back in the east. So, not to be outdone, Jay Vidovich's class of nine at Wake includes 6 all-Americas -- five of whom are over 6 feet tall. The stable will include Danny Wenzel, another #1 overall contender and another US U-17 starter, Nick Millington.Looking to the West, you can see the passing of the torch as Best in the West heading up the coast to Santa Barbara, where the Gauchos 2008 class includes two US national starters -- perhaps the country's best youth forward, Danny Barrera and the set-up man from the Atlanta suburbs, Bryan Dominguez starting attacking midfielder/CMF for the U-17 team. Along with that -- as if that weren't enough -- the Gauchos again dig into the Great White North to take 6-5 forward Reid Fraser, who turned down a pro contract with Sheffield United of the Championship Division to head to pinot noir territory.So how about the most heralded program on the West Coast, the Bruins of UCLA? Coach Jorge Salcedo brings in eleven new baby Bruins, most of them with Region IV ODP experience from out of the Cal South "state", the nation's best (I think five of the nine age-group finals in the boys Region IV tourney here in Hawaii three weeks ago had at least one team from Cal South). But -- among Salcedo's group is my own pick as #1 player in the class of 2008, Barcelona FC M/F Eder Arreola from Chino Hills in Orange County. Along with Arreola, the Bruins bring in Victor Yanez, who has played for the national U-17 teams of both the US AND Mexico. Looking in Akron's own midwest or Great Lakes region, the two biggest competitors are the one's who appear at the top of the 2008 schedule, Indiana and Notre Dame. Mike Freitag continues Indiana's connection to the rich vein of football in the St Louis area by picking up 4 stars from the city, all over 6 feet in height. Included is the 2007 ESP Camp Golden Boot winner as best of the best, Will Bruin (with that name, how could he not be at UCLA?) the 6-2 forward. Then they add 6-2 US international defender Tommy Meyers, and Ohioan Nick Blevins, who is just the second player in state HS history to score 100 goals and 100 assists at Bloom Central. Good luck against that line-up in the opener, coach Porter! How about the Fighting Irish, our second opponent? They have 3 all-Americas included among their seven recruits. One is Brendan King, who was in residence the last two years with the Bradenton National Youth Academy. Alongside him is 6-1 F Mike Rose, who grew up with Virginia's Agorson in Severn Park, MD. Rose was Golden Boot Award winner at the 2006 USYSA U-16 nationals. Finally, the Irish add Aaron Maung a 6-1 central midfielder who played for Trinidad and Tobago in the 2006 U-17 World Cup. Do you think Akron might have had a better chance of recruiting this kid if they had sent the school steel drum band to entertain him?So, hey, this is the picture at the elite level of men's college soccer. I understand well why so many experts say American soccer is held back by the lack of international and professional playing experience among the players just moving into what could be the growth periods of their careers. In most countries, all these star youth players would be earning paychecks and developing professional careers before they reach 20 years of age. But in the US the main route to professional careers comes through college play -- for good or bad. College soccer fans are the beneficiaries. Enjoy the game these young studs display. And be glad many of them will be playing at Lee Jackson Field over the next four years.Good luck Zips. See you in Albuquerque, Sept 12.

I would like to believe as much as anyone that Coach Dambrot and his entire ohana (as we say here in the islands) are about to turn the corner and become not just the dominant basketball program in the MAC, but become a top-25 program which reloads rather than rebuilds. Maybe Zeke Marshall is the nucleus and the catalyst for the move that Keith talked about at his swearing-in ceremony after taking over from Dan Hipsher: becoming the "Gonzaga of the East".I love the idea, frankly, of aiming high (whoops, I AM an Air Force man after all), and trying to jump over entire leagues, rather than just beat Can't "next year". But we also need to pursue our goals realistically. I personally believe we are now just a bit ahead of the rest of the MAC overall (regardless of who might be favored to win in 08-09) in terms of future potential.Out recruiting has clearly made the jump to being at the top of the league, and not just with Big Zeke -- his presence will put our 09 class head and shoulders ahead of everyone in the MAC, but our 08 class is probably already a step ahead of the other contenders.Now, if we want to achieve that big goal, we might look at how Gonzaga itself got where it is now. GU has had -- a quick look shows -- six players in the 00's who have made at least honorable mention all-America. The are/were: Dan Dickau, Rony Turiaf, Adam Morrison, Derek Raivio, Jeremy Pargo and Josh Heytvelt (all-WCC first team, maybe not HM A-A?). Turiaf I don't think played HS ball in the US, did he?Would anyone be interested in looking up where these players were ranked as high school recruits, before joining coaches Monson and/or Mark Few with the Zags? I beliebe Morrison was an elite HS player. Was he as highly regarded as ZM?

So how much are season tix to Wake's NCAA champs men's soccer club? At least twice that I would expect.