Zip_ME87

I agree that I would very much like to see the competition improve in the MAC, and fknbuflobo's comment is a good one, however it was meant. Buffalo is the only MAC soccer team that plays on a gridiron football field. Akron, BGSU, WMU, and WVU all have soccer stadiums. NIU plays soccer on the field in the center of their track, but it is not crowned like a gridiron field. (AF could be American Football or Association Football...hence, my not using that acronym.) Respect and purpose of any sport starts at home.

http://www.mlssoccer.com/superdraft/2017/combine/copa-tango-jan-8 Lewis - 2 goals (Team Tango); Cicerone - 0 goals (Team Copa) 1st goal was a pk he earned. 2nd goal was a put back of Danladi's long strike. Edit: These matches really don't mean much, but it still pleases me to see Jonathan outscore Russell Cicerone.

The Combine is certainly off to a great start for this former Zip!

$4M (split with MAC?) for playing in the Cotton Bowl. Plus: In addition to the payouts detailed below, each team participating in a playoff semifinal (Peach and Fiesta Bowls) or the Cotton Bowl receives $2.16 million for travel expenses. http://www.forbes.com/sites/kristidosh/2016/12/31/college-football-playoff-payouts-by-conference-for-2016-17/2/#6478ea2b24a4 Some of that nothing, please!

For those interested, the Combine competitions kickoff at 4:15 pm ET today (with additional matches on Tuesday and Thursday). All are being streamed live. Danilo Radjen is on Team Control. I cannot find Jonathan Lewis on any of the team rosters. Not sure if he's not playing, or if they just haven't added the late additions to the public roster listings. http://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2017/01/03/mls-player-combine

Jonathan Lewis is indeed turning pro. He posted the following to his Instagram account late yesterday. jon_lewis7 Extremely honored to be part of the 2017 Generation Adidas Class and be part of the MLS Draft. Very excited to see what 2017 brings me and I'm very thankful for all the support I have gotten along the road. Shoutout to Akron for a great semester and for taking me into the family. #Adidas #mlsdraft2017

Not unexpected, but darn. I really wanted to see Jonathan with the Zips for at least 1 more season. Nevertheless, if this is the case, I wish him the best. Another Zip in the Pros is awesome.

Some additional information on Morgan Hackworth's pedigree... http://www.cuse.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=12899&path=msoccer Personal: Morgan Christopher Hackworth … Born in January 1997 … Son of John and Tricia Hackworth … Two brothers … Father, John, played soccer at Wake Forest and is the head coach of the U.S. U-15 Boys’ National Team. John has actually moved up to the U-17 National Team coach... http://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2016/11/29/18/45/161129-u17mnt-hackworth-names-20-player-roster-for-2016-nike-international-friendlies

Excellent, Wil Trapp and Darlington Nagbe --- USA! "...Since the camp does not fall during a recognized FIFA international window for the release of players, only those who are not in season are available to be selected. ..." Therefore, no possibility to have had Deandre Yedlin or Perry Kitchen called into this January camp.

@TennZip thanks for correcting me, and I corrected it in my post. I knew that Tyler is on track to graduate Summa Cum Laude, but typed Magna for some inexplicable reason. Absolutely would not slight him in the least.

It's often easy to find fault with things and harp on those, but as we begin this New Year, I feel the need to give kudos to Coach Embick and Staff for the continued great Mens Soccer Program that we enjoy and sometimes under-appreciate. Some of our recent accomplishments include: Although 2016 didn't end as we all had high hopes that it would, the team overcame some adversity and won the MAC Regular Season and Tourney for the 5th year in a row. We hosted an NCAA Tournament game and advanced to the round of 32. 3 of our players graduated joining many of us as UA Alumni...and all graduated with honors...Victor Souto, Summa Cum Laude and Brad Ruhaak and Danillo Radjen Magna Cum Laude. Brad Ruhaak was the student speaker at his graduation ceremony. Our coaches and staff deserve accolades for this along with our student-athletes. I'll add that I believe Tyler Sanda is on track to graduate from UA in the Spring, and last I knew, he was on track to do so Summa Cum Laude (and I think go on to medical school) Some of our players are in the mix to go pro, or possibly go pro Victor Souto has signed with the Pittsburgh Riverhounds Danilo Radjen is invited to the MLS Combine Brad Ruhaak is invited to a Midwest Combine in Detroit To this I'll also add kudos to Jared and his staff for everything that they did for Victor Souto. We all saw some of the issues on the field from time to time, and we don't know what happened to lead to Victor's dismissal. But Victor gave us 3+ very good years on the field and was instrumental in our 2015 College Cup appearance. As I mentioned above, Victor graduated Summa Cum Laude with a UA Business degree...an accomplishment for which Jared and his staff brought to fruition by recruiting Victor and supporting him as they did. They should be extremely proud of this as I am (and I hope others are) proud of them. Finally, I'll say that I'm very proud of what Jared and his staff have done and continue to do with all of our players. The player issue above is the only one of which I know while Jared has been at Akron, under Caleb's tenure as head coach and during his own. We have had and continue to have outstanding Mens Soccer student-athletes whom are all outstanding young men and make us all proud. They do things the right way ... the Akron way!

TennZip posted this link in the "2017 Zips in the Pro Leagues..." thread, but I think it also belongs here; the 2017 GA class listing is a sign that Jonathan Lewis is staying. Please let that be true. I really want to see Jonathan up close in a Zips uniform for at least one more year. He's so much fun to watch. http://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2017/01/04/mls-announces-2017-generation-adidas-class-and-senior-signings

I think recruiting talk belongs here. Roster Changes = add and subtract

This happened in 2016, but since it was friendlies "warming up" for 2017 qualifying for U20 World Cup, I'll put it here... Jonathan Lewis saw action as a sub for the U20's in both friendlies in December. There is no mention of how he did, but nice to see that he was in both the draw and win with decent minutes... http://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2016/12/21/14/49/161221-u20-mnt-acclimates-to-world-cup-qualifying-venues-in-final-friendlies-of-2016 Match: U.S. U-20 Men’s National Team vs. Costa Rica Date: Dec. 17, 2016 Scoring Summary: 1 2 F USA 1 3 4 CRC 0 0 0 Lineups: USA: 22-JT Marcinkowski; 2-Aaron Herrera (8-Derrick Jones, 68), 4-Tommy Redding (capt.) (13-Miles Robinson, 68), 15-Justen Glad (5-Auston Trusty, 68), 3-Marcello Borges (14-Jake Morris, 68); 16-Eryk Williamson, 6-Danny Acosta (23-Tyler Adams, 45), 19-Victor Mansaray (10-Emmanuel Sabbi, 45); 11-Sebastian Saucedo, 21-Brandon Vazquez (9-Jeremy Ebobisse, 45), 7-Nick Taitague (17-Jonathan Lewis, 68) Subs Not Used: 1-Jonathan Klinsmann Head coach: Tab Ramos Match: U.S. U-20 Men’s National Team vs. Costa Rica Date: Dec. 19, 2016 Venue: Proyecto Goal; San Jose, Costa Rica Scoring Summary: 1 2 F USA 0 0 0 CRC 0 0 0 Lineups: USA: 1-Jonathan Klinsmann; 2-Aaron Herrera, 4-Tommy Redding (capt.) (5-Auston Trusty, 80), 15-Justen Glad, 3-Marcello Borges (14-Jake Morris, 31); 16-Eryk Williamson, 23-Tyler Adams, 8-Derrick Jones (17-Jonathan Lewis, 59); 11-Sebastian Saucedo, 9-Jeremy Ebobisse (21-Brandon Vazquez, 70), 7-Nick Taitague (10-Emmanuel Sabbi, 70) Subs Not Used: 6-Danny Acosta, 13-Miles Robinson, 19-Victor Mansaray, 22-JT Marcinkowski Head coach: Tab Ramos

Wow. If Jonathan gets a good GA deal, best wishes to him, but I sure hope he is at Akron for at least 1 more year. TennZips posted this link in another thread (2017 zips in pro leagues...), noting the speculation about Adam Najem, but it also had a blurb about Jonathan Lewis. http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/1110/major-league-soccer/2016/12/30/30983822/mls-talking-points-the-market-for-landon-donovan-the-next Akron midfielder Jonathan Lewis has been offered a Generation adidas deal by MLS, but sources tell Goal USA Lewis isn't going to accept the offer currently on the table. The Zips freshman, who is currently with the U.S. Under-20 national team, tied for the NCAA lead in assists in 2016 with 12.

Congratulations to Victor Souto!

Really? I seem to recall Robby played in NCAA Tourney matches v Villanova and Indiana, among 12 other games throughout the season and was allowed to contribute. I'm not sure how he "wasn't in the mix".

Morgan Hackworth...Welcome to Akron. Best wishes to Robby.

OH, DARLINGCeltic’s move for Portland Timbers star Darlington Nagbe could cause USA rift ...If ten-times capped Nagbe signed at the start of next month, he would be whisked off to Celtic‘s winter training camp in the United Arab Emirates. But if he insisted on attending Arena’s US camp, he could feature in the Scottish Cup tie against Albion Rovers and the league clash v St Johnstone, but could miss up to three games against Hearts, Aberdeen and another game with St Johnstone. However, Celtic could put their foot down and not allow Nagbe to leave for the camp because the games aren’t on FIFA dates.

FirstEnergy Stadium, home of the Cleveland Browns, will host the 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup and the United States Men’s National Team as part of a Group Stage doubleheader on July 15, as announced today by the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) http://www.clevelandbrowns.com/news/article-5/Cleveland’s-FirstEnergy-Stadium-selected-as-host-city-for--2017-CONCACAF-Gold-Cup/11df81cf-c2b4-4e66-a4ab-0f0454e2e6c8 Hope to see some of our former Zips with USMNT in Cleveland next summer.

http://afccleveland.com/news/story.php?id=153 AFC Cleveland has been awarded the privilege to host the 2017 Hank Steinbrecher U.S. Soccer National Amateur Championship, taking place in June. Great news given that two of the teams that will be participating - AFC Cleveland and the Michigan Bucks - usually have current Zips Mens Soccer players on their rosters.

Brad Ruhaak's introduction by President Wilson and speech begins at about 1:45:30 in the video at https://www.uakron.edu/live/three.dot or YouTube: