Zip_ME87

Sorry I missed it in the other thread. Haven’t had enough time with all the travel to see everything that’s been posted. Thanks to you, buflobo, and all who have been diligent in keeping us all up to date.

Now that I've returned from a long day of travel from Brunswick, OH to Morgantown, WV and back through Mineral City, OH for the 2nd time in 3 days and gotten a good night's rest, I have to say I couldn't be more pleased at how this great group of players has responded to the challenges of coming together as a team and other adversity over which they had no control this season. Thank you Coach Embick, Staff, and players... All Hail Akron Men's Soccer 2018 !!! GO ZIPS!!!

Just ncaa.com is my understanding.

Congratulations to Zips Men's Soccer legend, Simon Spelling, current Medina Boys Soccer Head Coach and his Battling Bees Boys Soccer Team on winning the OHSAA D-I State Championship on a golden goal in OT in Columbus last night!!! http://www.medina-gazette.com/High-School-Soccer/2018/11/10/Champs-Parker-Csiszar-s-overtime-goal-gives-Medina-state-title.html

https://www.ncaa.com/news/soccer-men/article/2018-11-10/college-soccer-scores-three-no-1-seeds-fall-conference-semis In the semifinals of the Mid-American Conference tournament on Saturday night, Akron relied on the finesse of freshman Carlo Ritaccio to help the Zips prevail over No. 12 West Virginia 3-1. Though the Mountaineers took the early lead after just 11 seconds of play, Ritaccio evened the score with his first collegiate goal just over 90 seconds later. Fellow freshman Marco Milanese gave the Zips the advantage off a header just before the half, and the Ritaccio hit the game winner in the 66th minute. The Zips, who dominated the Mountaineers offensively with 20 shots to West Virginia’ six shots, will hope to carry this momentum forward as they take on Western Michigan at 1 p.m. on November 11 in the conference title match. Erroneous on the 2nd goal...scored b Ezana Kahsay, as we know, not Marco Milanese. Also Ritaccio's 2nd goal was an insurance goal, not the game winner. Kahsay's was the game winner.

Valiant effort, but the Eagles lost 4-3 38 seconds into OT (after tying it in the 83rd minute, coming back from a 3-1 deficit) in their opening game of the NCAA D-II Men's Soccer Tournament. http://goashlandeagles.com/sports/msoc/2018-19/boxscores/20181108_f37q.xml

Thanks @TennZip for all of the posts. Driving down to Morgantown and back didn't allow me time to post on ZipsNation. Many thanks to your posts buflobo, who rode down with me, was able to read them and play the interviews on our drive back. Nice way to pass the time being able to hear the interviews and other information resulting from this match/win. First 11 seconds were distressing, but what a great response by our team! Love this team! Go Zips!!!

USL Cup Final tonight at 8 pm EST on ESPN2. Phoenix Rising with former Zips Blair Gavin (Assistant Coach) and Saad Abdul-Salaam v Louisville City FC with Head Coach John Hackworth (father of current Zip Morgan Hackworth)

After doing more research, it appears the MAC and Conference USA are among the few, perhaps only (I didn't check every conference tourney) to have such a compressed schedule to their postseason tournament. This format does not bode well for setting MAC teams up for success in the NCAA Tourney 1st round. I hope the MAC and it's member schools will consider completing regular season play a little earlier in future years and spreading out the tournament games to at least allow for 2 days rest between matches. I realize that that might increase travel costs, but would allow for a team, playing in the MAC final, that ends up unseeded in the NCAA Tourney to have sufficient rest prior to an NCAA 1st round match.

Current Gaucho Dan RPI rankings WVU 14 Akron 33 WMU 53 BGSU 123 EDIT: SIUE 62 NIU 77

Actually, now that I look at the MLS playoff schedule, I think buflobo is correct. Playoff matches on Nov 11th with the next playoff matches on Nov 25th would allow them to play with MLS on 11/11 then join USMNT for matches on 11/15 and 11/20, then return for MLS playoff matches on 11/25, assuming their MLS teams advance. EDIT: I should have looked at he MLS schedule v the USMNT schedule before commenting. I recall now that MLS does schedule their playoffs around this FIFA period, yearly, which causes their playoffs to extend into December.

Great game by the Zips. Looking to these guys really stepping up at Tournament time. I think Colin Biros' performance tonight also reflected his experience in big games. He looked comfortable and confident out there. Nice goals by Marcel Zajac (assisted by Diogo Pacheco) and Morgan Hackworth.

By the way, for anyone complaining about the number of matches that the MAC has forced its teams to play with this 6-team Conference Tournament format, Conference USA has it a little worse. Their 1st round matches are tomorrow (Wednesday) with semi-finals on Friday and Championship on Sunday. At least the MAC allowed 2 days rest between 1st round and semi-finals. http://conferenceusa.com/tournaments/?id=399 It appears at least some other conference do better with at least 3 days rest between games. ACC has 3 days rest between their tournament games. http://www.theacc.com/sports/2018/6/14/2018-mens-soccer-championship.aspx Big East also has 3 http://www.bigeast.com/sports/2018/6/27/201819_ChampCentral.aspx Perhaps the MAC should consider this approach if the 6 team format continues.

I think they miss the MLS games while on USMNT duty. The US games are in Europe. I don't see how these players could stay here, play in their MLS playoff games, then head to Europe for the US friendlies. This is one of the issues with the MLS schedule vs pro "football" (soccer) schedules in other parts of the world. (Also, of note...English Premier League, for example, does not have playoffs. The team that wins the season is the EPL Champion.)

Darlington Nagbe, Wil Trapp, DeAndre Yedlin. ??

Congratulations to former Zip Aodhan Quinn.

This power outage and UA’s inability to deal with it expediently seems to be another sign of the seriousness of UA’s financial problems. I won’t withhold donations to the team I love and my alma mater in general, but UA needs to get its act together. Also, I have no marketing background, but UA sure seems not to take advantage of the high profile their most successful team sport has generated. I guess if you don’t watch professional soccer and follow its media, you don’t see it. UA Athletics Leadership seems to be reactive rather than proactive. Soccer continues to gain popularity and a larger fanbase in the USA. If the Crew stays in Columbus, Ohio will have 2 MLS teams. It seems UA should somehow leverage that and its Men’s soccer success.

Congratulations to former Zips Men's Soccer assistant Oliver Slawson and former players Alex Mapp, Jackson Crawford, Nick Costa and the Ashland Eagles Men's Soccer Team on winning the GLIAC Championship Game 3-0 ...