Zip_ME87

💩 show on the road this season. WTF?

FOCUS…2021!!!

Some very good observations in this thread. I would add that we have not had a consistent lineup in some time from one season to the next. Lots of new players and players playing new positions.

It is at 3 pm ET as stated on GoZips.com. ET = Eastern Time https://gozips.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule NIU website shows 2 pm as in 2 pm local ... CT. https://niuhuskies.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule

I'm not certain, but as I recall, the MAC doesn't follow usual soccer tiebreakers. However, I have not looked for the listing of MAC Men's Soccer tiebreakers. Edit: If Wikipedia is correct about the 2019 MAC Tourney 2nd and 3rd seeds, then goal differential will be used.

It's going to be tough to win out, but not impossible. Our players have to show up with every ounce of grit they have at both NIU and WMU and stay completely focused on each game. As far as a tie between WVU and Akron, I think the tie breaker may come down to the team who has had the longest since they hosted. If that is the tiebreaker and that scenario occurs, the MAC Tourney host would go to WVU. Akron last hosted in 2019; WVU last hosted in 2018.

MAC Men's Soccer Standings through 10/23/21 MAC Record Points Games Remaining NIU 3-0-2 11 Akron Akron 2-1-1 7 at NIU, at WMU BUGS 2-1-1 7 WMU, at WVU GA St 2-2-0 6 at WVU, GA So WVU 1-1-1 4 GA St, at GA So, BUGS WMU 1-3-0 3 at BUGS, Akron GA So 0-3-1 1 WVU, at GA St

So proud of our Zips and the energy with which they played tonight. Keep it going Zips! Great leadership, Captain Strachan!!!

Current Standings: Team Pts Remaining Conf matches N. Ill (2-0-2) 8 At GA State, vs Akron B.G. (2-0-1) 7 at Akron, vs W. Mich,, at West Virginia Ga State (2-1-0) 6 N. Ill, at WVU, vs Ga Southern Akron (1-1-1) 4 BG, at N. Ill , at W, Mich WVU (1-1-1) 4 vs Ga State, at Ga southern, vs BG Ga Southern (0-2-1) 1 vs w mich, vs WVU , at Ga state W. Mich (0-3-0) 0 at Ga Southern, at BG, vs Akron

GA Southern 1 Northern Illinois 1 Final

AKRON BATTLES BOWLING GREEN ON SENIOR NIGHT IN KEY MAC SHOWDOWN SEVEN ZIPS NEAR END OF THEIR HOME AKRON CAREERS The Zips' contest versus Bowling Green on Friday, Oct. 22, will mark the final home Mid-American Conference games in the careers of seniors Samuel George(Dagenham, England), Will Meyer, Diogo Pacheco (Lisbon, Portugal), Hazem Sobhyand Daniel Strachan (Lakewood, Ohio), as well as junior Carlo Ritaccio (Westbury, N.Y.) and redshirt sophomore Ivan Nikolic(Toronto, Ontario). Going to miss all of these guys. Really sorry to see Carlo and Ivan leaving early. We still have games remaining, but I want to wish all of these guys the best now and always!!!

Congratulations to our Zips on a well-played game last night...first home game I've missed since 2016 when I went to Europe. (You got me @fknbuflobo. Ugh.) I watched on the ESPN app while attending the USA v CRC men's WC Qualifier in Columbus (thanks Columbus Crew / Lower.com Field for the free wifi)...the only sporting event (USMNT WCQ or WC game) that could take me away from our Zips Men's Soccer team. Great night for the USA Men and Zips Men's Soccer with each getting 2-1 wins and DeAndre Yedlin getting into the US match for significant minutes. Keep it going Zips! Go Zips!!! Go USA!!!

Me, too! This team is loaded with individual talent. I know it's young, and I may be expecting too much, but last night was hard to take. Folks can say it was one game, but it was 1 of only 6 MAC games (17% of the MAC schedule), and it was at home. I've been to Northern Illinois; it's a tough place to play even when they are bad. N Ill beat WVU 2-0 yesterday. WMU is not an easy place to play either. BUGS looks strong this year. They will be a tough challenge, and you can bet their fans will show up in droves given their success this year, including the "2020 Season". That one may feel more like a BG home match if we don't match their turn out. There is no given that we will be one of the top 4 MAC regular season teams. Squandering a MAC home match is ugly!

Adam O'Connell was manning the ticket office last night. Also, great guy! I hope you're correct that we will have better performances down the line. I had high hopes for this season but have been disappointed thus far in games such as this one. We can still get hot and go on a nice run, but so far we've seen on and off play rather than progression. It doesn't seem we put our players in the best position to be successful. I don't know how much of that comes from player unavailability due to injury or player loyalty. Coaching decisions are tough, but the best players should play where they are most effective.

Kudos to the Georgia State coaching staff for their good management of their Thursday/Saturday game schedule on the road. I think very highly of our coaching staff, but I hope they take a good look at their management of this one. Same starters tonight as Thursday. It was obvious that a number of them tired in the first half, but as I mentioned earlier, no subs, while GA St subbed in fresh legs. It appeared to me that fatigue led to the first goal. Once we fell behind, we were on our heels to catch up. Only one sub as I recall to start the 2nd half, and boom, we're down 2 goals and now really pressed to try to catch up. Nice goal to cut the deficit in half, but the urgency to get a tying goal then led to a stupid mistake and a 1-3 deficit. Also, how have we become so unsuccessful on corner kicks?...very rarely scoring on them; at times, rushing them to the point that we completely waste the set piece opportunity with nothing even sent into the penalty area.

Played Thursday night. No subs in the first half. Seriously?

Not necessarily. I have seen true leaders select people for their diversity of ideas, opinions, etc., and not because they will say "yes" to whatever the leader wants. I understand your concern, though. The UA Board of Trustees has rubber stamped most anything that the UA President brings them with seemingly little to no debate or consideration of their own. Group think is the Akron way! Btw, IMO coaches who surround themselves solely with assistants who have played for them do themselves a disservice.

The Athletic Director for each hire was not the same, but some of the assistants were. UA Athletic Department staff who were involved in the hiring of iCoach and Arth should not be allowed to participate in the next one.

By the way, with all the yellow cards given out last night, it's worth noting through 10 games, no Zip has more than 2. Hopefully, that rate doesn't increase so that no one gets into peril of sitting out a game, but I know MAC games can get chippy like last night. GO ZIPS!!!

Actually, 10 yellow cards... 5 Akron, 5 WVU. Beuchte Crooks Siemens-Braga McCormick Clapier Jimenez Albelda Kingsford Baer Bak Popovic

Men of the Match! 💪⚽️🔥

What I see seems to be a young team lacking the confidence and fire we saw prior to the game at blOSU. I don’t understand what happened…lineup changes because of player unavailability hurting the team dynamic? As someone previously noted in an earlier thread, our back line looks stronger with Daniel Strachan. He was unavailable last night. I’m unsure of the midfield issue. I did like seeing Ryan Kingsford drop back. Good ball control and good ability to win 50/50 balls.

🤔 During the game, I specifically heard him yelling at our players to create space.