Zip_ME87

From the release… “We are excited to welcome the University of Akron to BIG EAST Men’s Soccer,” said BIG EAST Executive Associate Commissioner of Sport Administration and Championships Chris Schneider. “Its storied history and commitment to the sport of men’s soccer is a great match for our Conference. We look forward to seeing the Zips in competition next fall.”

@Blue & Gold nothing personal, but I disagree. There is no perfect fix to the disparities that humans seem capable of living down to. However, I prefer the government at least trying to level the playing field rather than letting the worst of human nature run open loop.

Seattle.

As I said earlier in this thread, happy my thoughts prior to the committee's decision / bracket announcement were wrong, and that the Zips were seeded in the 16 spot they earned. Some breathing room to prepare. I will remind ZipsNation and our current players that the last time the Zips made it to the College Cup, 2018 at UCSB, those Zips were unseeded. They faced a different adversity but found a way to put it together and make a great run to the Championship game and runner up trophy. We've seen our 2022 Zips play some amazing Akron soccer this season. We need them to find that within themselves and come out ready to play from kickoff to end.

As I recall, we scored the goal when we were only down 1 player. The 2nd red card came with less than 4 minutes remaining.

Thanks @TennZip Congratulations to Ryan Kopay!

Bracket https://www.ncaa.com/brackets/soccer-men/d1/2022

Official NCAA RPI Rankings through games of November 13, 2022 WMU finished ranked #33

By the way, with the NCAA change to eliminate golden goal this season, if a game goes into overtime, 20 additional minutes must now be played. It is split into two 10 minute periods with 2 minutes break in between as in the past, but the full 20 minutes of OT must be played.

I’m happy my thoughts about not getting a top 16 seed were wrong. It’s gonna be rough without two key players but others will have to step up. Congratulations and Go Zips!!!

To provide equality for women, an equal number of athletic scholarships has to be available for both men and women. So, D1 schools that have football have to offer more women's sports teams to make up for the large number of football scholarships. You can't exempt football and provide equality.

California Baptist won the WAC on PKs 0-0 (3-1 PKs) v San Jose State and finished with an RPI rank of 104 per Gaucho Dan's rankings. http://rpiupdatemenssoccer.blogspot.com/search/label/RPI Rank The Lancers defeated the #4 (Utah Valley), #1 (Air Force), and #2 (San Jose St) seeds in the WAC to win the conference tourney title. No change to the order of RPI rank I shared earlier. Zips v Cal Baptist or Cleveland State? Perhaps Zips v San Diego led by Head Coach Brian Quinn (Aodhan's father)

Looking at Gaucho Dan's latest RPI rankings as of this post and the Conference AQs (only WAC has yet to be decided), RPI rank for 48 teams falls out below. I can't see the committee not seeding a B1G or Big East team in the top 16. Indiana will likely seed ahead of Akron based on our head-to-head loss. Not sure how the committee will justify moving Georgetown up but probably will. Do we play WAC winner or Cleveland State on Thursday? I honestly have no clue but thought it would be interesting to look at this.

https://www.ncaa.com/news/soccer-men/article/2022-11-09/college-careers-8-usmnt-world-cup-players ...D DeAndre Yedlin (Akron, 2011-12) Yedlin was another highly anticipated U.S. youth national prospect when he arrived in Akron, and he played to his potential, appearing in all 45 games across two seasons and making 41 starts. His knack for getting involved in the attack (12 total assists) earned him All-MAC First Team honors in both seasons. ...

Official

I watched the ESPN+ broadcast this morning and do not see an offside on the Akron corner kick at ~52:23. Broncos #17 is between Johnny Fitzgerald and the Broncos goal. All of our other players are between them and midfield. How could we be offside?

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That excessive lateral passing across the backline is infuriating. I thought we had gotten rid of it for the most part in our success this season. But no, we had to go back to it today...just as successfully as we've used it the past few seasons. UGH!!!

Perhaps we'll get Xavier in preparation for moving to the Big East.

Very disappointing. Hard to fathom that we could be so unprepared for this game on our home field. I guess perhaps it could have been worse but not much. Unbelievable that 2 players whom we count on to score and win games lose their composure and get STUPID red cards that not only hurt the ability to pull this game out but puts the team in a bad situation for the first NCAA Tourney match. As @zippyfan34said, here's to hoping we face an "easier" NCAA round one opponent and not need Shokalook or Clapier.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCAA_Division_I_FBS_independent_schools

Travel within the conference will be more interesting; I won't miss going to NIU or the WMU farm or pasture, whatever they call it. If the Big East, I suspect that Scotty Caldwell's dad may likely be seen among Zips fans when we visit UConn and Providence.

I created a new thread for the awesome new Mens Soccer conference news.