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No News from GoZips.com...No News from MAC-Sports...No News from Central Michigan...No Live Stats...HOW DID THEY DO ????

MES... you're relating a few things here that aren't valid (or fair) relationships...First... the team's performance to your contribution here. We need more people like you... even if your updates are brief because of your schedule. I like to read your updates to keep up with the ladies... and to get some insight into the team... as Akron Athletics never gives us any insights into what's going on with any Akron team. I wish that someone would do that for the tennis team... so that we might have some insight to what is going on (e.g., will Olga be a #2 or #1 singles, and what is up with Angelina????).Second... the performance of the ladies versus attendance (Rowdies and others). Although the Rowdies seem like a bunch of party animals at men's games... among them are some students too... and they cannot possibly attend every sporting event on campus. Also... keep in mind that the men sometimes play away games in front of small crowds... and it's got to be disheartening sometimes as they are accustomed to big crowds here and away.Third... other than the name "Akron" on their jerseys... there is no comparison between the ladies team and the men's team... yet... and we don't look for that for a few more years. I firmly believe that we will have an ELITE ladies team some day... mostly due to the accomplishments of men's soccer. The facilities here for ladies soccer have to be among the best in the country... and the reputation of soccer here at Akron is also a draw for aspiring lady soccer players. It will happen... some day.I do remember that the ladies beat Michigan... away... and that they opened the MAC season with a tie against the defending champs... but... I can't think of the ladies program without thinking that it's been a disappointing season. Very disappointing! They have little chance of winning the MAC... and might not make the playoffs. I also remember the Michigan State game... where our ladies got blown out by an average Big Ten school (Michigan is now #7 out of 12, MSU is #4). http://www.bigten.org/sports/w-soccer/spec...-standings.html More importantly... the loss at Can't is by far the most disappointing part of the season. That game should have been seen as a lock at the beginning of the season! Instead... 2 days later... Can't claims the MAC East title. http://www.kentstatesports.com/sports/wsoc.../20111021we9yzqSo... how can you blame attendance on performance at this game? Can't was home... and played before a crowd of 230 !!! By the looks of the photos... they must have been counting the teams, coaching staffs, and passing goats that they use to keep the pitch tidy.http://kentstatesports.com/sports/wsoc/201...otos/0008/indexEven more disappointing... the game could end up costing us the Wagon Wheel this year.

Besides the Zips, the Lobos haven't played anyone. Also, NIU is #16! Looks like the MAC may get 2 teams in.That would be great for the MAC... but don't bank on it. League games dominte the schedules now... so all MAC teams will fall some... and the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, and other "Bigs" will rise.

Wow...

Look at the bright side... we won't have 7 leaving for the Pros next year...Is this Golden Goal or PKs ?

NSCAA - #4 in the rankings...http://www.nscaa.com/seniorRes.php?it=1689NCAA Rankings National Men Division I 8th Poll - October 18, 2011 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rank School Prev. W-L-T 1 Connecticut (23) 575 1 13 - 0 - 1 2 North Carolina 550 2 11 - 1 - 1 3 Maryland 528 3 13 - 1 - 1 4 Akron 502 5 10 - 1 - 2 5 New Mexico 486 6 11 - 0 - 2 6 Creighton 458 4 11 - 2 - 0 7 UC Irvine 409 7 12 - 3 - 0 8 UCLA 402 9 10 - 3 - 1 9 South Florida 397 11 9 - 2 - 2 10 Charlotte 358 15 10 - 2 - 1 11 Old Dominion 316 17 9 - 2 - 0 12 St. John's 293 21 9 - 3 - 2 13 Indiana 290 18 8 - 3 - 2 14 Central Florida 255 8 8 - 2 - 2 15 Louisville 231 10 8 - 4 - 1 16 UC Santa Barbara 230 13 9 - 4 - 1 17 Notre Dame 225 12 6 - 3 - 4 18 Boston College 173 14 9 - 4 - 0 19 Iona 120 16 12 - 2 - 0 20 Coastal Carolina 119 RV 11 - 2 - 0 21 SMU 112 RV 8 - 4 - 1 22 Cal State Bakersfield 92 19 8 - 1 - 4 23 Washington 79 RV 8 - 3 - 2 24 Georgetown 58 20 8 - 3 - 3 25 Cornell 45 NR 8 - 1 - 3 Number in parentheses is number of first place votes

SoccerAmerica... up to #4. http://www.socceramerica.com/article/44247...ens-top-25.htmlSoccer America Men's Top 25TEAM (2011 RECORD) LAST WEEK1. Connecticut (13-0-1) 12. North Carolina (11-1-1) 23. Maryland (13-1-1) 34. Akron (10-1-2) 55. New Mexico (11-0-2) 76. Creighton (11-2-0) 47. UCLA (10-3-1) 108. USF (9-2-2) 119. St. John's (9-3-2) 1410. Indiana (8-3-2) 1511. UCF (8-2-2) 612. UC Irvine (12-3-0) 813. Louisville (8-4-1) 914. Charlotte (10-2-1) 1915. UC Santa Barbara (9-4-1) 1216. Coastal Carolina (11-2-0) 2017. Old Dominion (9-2-0) 2118. Notre Dame (6-3-4) 1319. Boston College (9-4-0) 1620. James Madison (9-2-1) 1721. Virginia (8-5-0) 1822. SMU (8-4-1)23. Wisconsin (7-4-3) NR24. Washington (8-3-2) NR25. Cornell (8-1-3) NRNote: Records though Sunday's games.

Most teams are bigger than Akron... and every team that we have played at home is bigger. That's easy to see if you snap some pics of the starting linups. I think that this is more due to Ohio and Midwest football (or football mentaility)... if you are big enough... you play football in Ohio... and leave soccer for the little guys. In California... there's enough of a population that soccer gets some bigger athletes. Look at the Top 100 players every year... and there are a lot of bigger California players. Some end up in the ACC... and some stay in California. Wish we could land a couple every year! The California teams are all like Cal last year... big guys... and UCSB would have been tall enough too... then they recruited a couple of even taller Germans. In a video just before the OSU game... Porter was asked if Ohio State and Akron go for the same recruits... and Porter replied that he tends to go for finesse players over physical size. What about both? We saw at UCSB that bigger guys can handle the ball sometimes too... as they were just a better team that night... at everything. UCSB tends to be inconsistent at times though... even in their National Championship season. Plus... as ussal... Akron tends to bring out the best in every team.

I'm puzzled... Holmes was definately sick against Ohio State... maybe he is still under the weather a bit. He didn't seem to have much energy in the last 2 games... so Porter pulled him. Hope it's due to being sick. Nice catch from Barson... if that was you.

Gotta be happy with a #5 at this point... !!! The first RPI shpoud be out in a few days.

Top Drawer: #1 UConn, #2 UNC, #3 New Mexico, #4 Maryland, #5 Creighton, #6 Akron, #7 UCF, #8, UC Irvine, #9 Louisville, #10 Boston College http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soc...DB_OEM_ID=10800 CSN: #1 UConn, #2 UNC, #3 Maryland, #4 Creighton, #5 New Mexico, #6 UC Irvine, #7 Akron, #8 UCF, #9 Louisville, #10 UCLA http://collegesoccernews.com/index_files/Page11095.htm We can probably expect about the same tomorrow night... maybe #5 - #7 Not bad for a bunch of freshmen that only won 5 of 8 games so far. We could win out now... but even if we do... our RPI won't be enough to land a 1-4 seed without some help. We need the teams that we beat to make a decent showing and we need some upsets to happen. I don't mind our chances of advancing deep into the NCAA Tournament on the road though.

Weather Channel here shows the following for Santa Barbara 35 minutes before game time... GO ZIPS !!! : Wed Oct 5 7 pm 65° F Precip: 10% 8 pm 62° F Precip: 10% 9 pm 61° F Precip: 10% 10 pm 61° F Precip: 10%

We abosultely need to win this game... but even then our RPI will take a hit as it might knock UCSB out of the top 25. RPI is always graded all the way out to the last team... but beating top 25 teams have more impact than the next 25. Right now our RPI looks to be pretty weak. Winning out will help that... but we still need to be concerned about UNC, Creighton, New Mexico... and some 1 or 2 loss teams ranked below us. We need to see some teams step it up... Like Fullerton, Northridge, New Mexico, Cal Poly, Tulsa and Ohio State.

We are firmly entrenched at #3 right now in the NSCAA Poll... http://www.nscaa.com/seniorRes.php?it=1665 ...but I'm slightly concerned about our PRI. Many of the teams that we schedule are way down in the polls... New Mexico is #6 UCSB dropped to #19 Northern Illlinois, Penn State and Cal State Fullerton are at the bottom... "Also receiving Votes"

and... #3 in Soccer America: http://www.socceramerica.com/article/44052...ens-top-25.html Go Zips ! Big Poll tomorrow... look for another #3 Big game Wednesday for the Polls... could get us up there a notch or two. Can't blame the voters for showing UConn and Maryland a lot of respect for the top teams that they played over the weekend. They deserve to be #1 and #2... right now.

The Top Drawer Poll isn't really a poll... notice some of the lower teams don't even have a winning record... It's a poll that predicts the NCAA Field. Since the MAC has only one berth... the second place MAC team is a long-shot. It might be better for the league if NIU won the MAC... as Akron would likely get in anyway.. but we wouldn't want that to happen as it would jeopardize a top-4 ranking.

Better late than never... edited version... missing Ohio State score... but who cares? Next home game - video at the goals... edited to show very little ball movement and offensive schemes... photos at midfiled for UA Player Portraits... photos for team intros (starting lineups) to save time.

Some points to back my opinion: First This is NOT the video that I was speaking of when I said that I saw and heard Porter talking about Meves' lapses last year... when he seemed to loose focus. There's another video where Porter elaborates more... can''t find it... too many WL Beers. Probably someone knows which video it's in. Same point though... Porter does question Meves sometimes... and I think that it's a stronger question than he has for most other players... certainly more doubt for Meves than the other returning starters. Second There are plenty of people out there who question Meves... it just takes some gonads to speak out on ZipsNation. Not so in the stands! I posted another ZipsNation Update video just after the OSU game... and had to delete it... twice.... because of the clip that I included on the Ohio State goal... where Meves decided to come out of the box... and maybe should have stayed home. I lowered the video volume on it once and I could still hear two people yelling at Meves. That's YouTube... not a good place to voice opinions. Here is better. Third I am not a parent or relative of a Zip player. I'm not a small guy... so I played football... and there are no soccer genes in my family. But... I do sit in the parents section... and that's why I had to edit and delete the video. I would imagine that the stands are full of people whoe scream at Meves sometimes... because we just can't figure out what gets in his head. Fourth I don't question Porter... glad we have him. We were a good team before he got here and he made us a dynasty. I just think that Porter feels the same about Meves sometimes. Of course... he can't always be pleased at the individual play of any position... and I understand that. He got on Mattocks big time for his red card against NM... and he had to. But he also praises Mattocks. Same for Meves. Fifth I never questioned Meves stats. Stat-wise... he looks good... excellent even. I just don't like what gets in his head sometimes. Yellow cards to get on TV? Plus... there's the good game - bad game thing. He is on for a few games... then he is off... or lacks focus. He had another good game on Sat... 3 SOG... no goals allowed. But what was the yellow card for against WMU? Hopefull he tackled a WMU player... and it was not aother delay after a ref warns him. Sixth When I mentioned playoff game... here's what I meant. If I was an opposing coach... I would talk to the ref(s) and tell him that Meves tends to delay the game a bit when the Zips are ahead... and that he tends to not listen when he is told to get the ball in play. I would tell the ref to watch for that and issue a red card for his habit of ignoring the request to start play. Doubt that a guy who habitually ignores a ref's request to get the ball in play would ever result in a red card... but it's worth a try.... for an opposing coach. I'm not real anti-Meves. I just wish that he would straighten out and listen sometimes... and stay in focus. Here's another question... Generation Addidas didn't come knocking for Meves last year... and I wonder if they will this year. Porter in very influential in the MLS draft... so I think that he probably told people that Meves needs another year at the college level when some teams showed interest. If Porter would have given them his complete backing for Meves... he wouldn't be here in 2011 Right? There were only 3 GKs taken in the SuperDraft last year... so considering this... is he one of the best 3 in the nation in 2011? I think that we are looking to have Meves again in 2012. He may be getting his instructions to delay from Porter. If so, can you knock him for it? Does it seem likely to you that Porter is risking a card to knock 3-5 seconds off of the clock? Doubt it.

Some points to back my opinion: First This is NOT the video that I was speaking of when I said that I saw and heard Porter talking about Meves' lapses last year... when he seemed to loose focus. There's another video where Porter elaborates more... can''t find it... too many WL Beers. Probably someone knows which video it's in. Same point though... Porter does question Meves sometimes... and I think that it's a stronger question than he has for most other players... certainly more doubt for Meves than the other returning starters. Second There are plenty of people out there who question Meves... it just takes some gonads to speak out on ZipsNation. Not so in the stands! I posted another ZipsNation Update video just after the OSU game... and had to delete it... twice.... because of the clip that I included on the Ohio State goal... where Meves decided to come out of the box... and maybe should have stayed home. I lowered the video volume on it once and I could still hear two people yelling at Meves. That's YouTube... not a good place to voice opinions. Here is better. Third I am not a parent or relative of a Zip player. I'm not a small guy... so I played football... and there are no soccer genes in my family. But... I do sit in the parents section... and that's why I had to edit and delete the video. I would imagine that the stands are full of people whoe scream at Meves sometimes... because we just can't figure out what gets in his head. Fourth I don't question Porter... glad we have him. We were a good team before he got here and he made us a dynasty. I just think that Porter feels the same about Meves sometimes. Of course... he can't always be pleased at the individual play of any position... and I understand that. He got on Mattocks big time for his red card against NM... and he had to. But he also praises Mattocks. Same for Meves. Fifth I never questioned Meves stats. Stat-wise... he looks good... excellent even. I just don't like what gets in his head sometimes. Yellow cards to get on TV? Plus... there's the good game - bad game thing. He is on for a few games... then he is off... or lacks focus. He had another good game on Sat... 3 SOG... no goals allowed. But what was the yellow card for against WMU? Hopefull he tackled a WMU player... and it was not aother delay after a ref warns him. Sixth When I mentioned playoff game... here's what I meant. If I was an opposing coach... I would talk to the ref(s) and tell him that Meves tends to delay the game a bit when the Zips are ahead... and that he tends to not listen when he is told to get the ball in play. I would tell the ref to watch for that and issue a red card for his habit of ignoring the request to start play. Doubt that a guy who habitually ignores a ref's request to get the ball in play would ever result in a red card... but it's worth a try.... for an opposing coach. I'm not real anti-Meves. I just wish that he would straighten out and listen sometimes... and stay in focus. Here's another question... Generation Addidas didn't come knocking for Meves last year... and I wonder if they will this year. Porter in very influential in the MLS draft... so I think that he probably told people that Meves needs another year at the college level when some teams showed interest. If Porter would have given them his complete backing for Meves... he wouldn't be here in 2011 Right? There were only 3 GKs taken in the SuperDraft last year... so considering this... is he one of the best 3 in the nation in 2011? I think that we are looking to have Meves again in 2012.

Mid-season grading is very common on ESPN.com for every sport... and on other sites for every sport. Meves scares me... and he scares other too. The time to be scared is now... not after he throws a playoff game. Porter has to be thinking along the same line. Do some research. He didn't bring in a load of GKs for kicks. He brought them in to push Meves... and to try to make him return to form.

Meves has seen 21 Shots on Goal… and has allowed 3 goals… one out of every 7 GK…………….SOG……GA Meves………..21………3 UConn……....34………2 http://www.uconnhuskies.com/sports/m-socce...2/teamcume.html Maryland…….29……..7 http://www.umterps.com/sports/m-soccer/sta...2/teamcume.html UNC…………….33……..7 http://tarheelblue.cstv.com/sports/m-socce...2/teamcume.html Louisville……..29……..5 http://www.uoflsports.com/sports/m-soccer/...2/teamcume.html Although Meves see far less SOG than most teams (due to his fantastic Defenders in front of him)… Meves compares well with other top teams in Shots on Goal to Goals Against !!! But… when we look at his performance Game by Game… here’s what we see: Game____________________S.O.G.____Saves___G.A. Cleveland State______________1________1_______0____Good Game Cal State Fullerton____________4________4_______0____Good Game Cal State Northridge__________1________0_______1____Bad Game St Louis____________________2________2_______0____Good Game New Mexico_________________2________1_______1____Bad Game (also a Yellow Card for delaying another Nationally Televised Game) Cal Poly____________________3________3_______0____Good Game Tulsa______________________7________7_______0____Good Game Ohio State__________________1________0_______1____Bad Game (Team had a SOG and a SAVE) Some Questions for ZipsNation: Are the comments a fair assessment of a Good Game and a Bad Game? Against Northridge and Ohio State... Meves gave up 1 goal on 1 shot on goal... and against New Mexico he gave up a goal on 2 shots (SOG). That's not good defending! Is a GK who has 5 Good Games and 3 Bad Games acceptable for a National Champonship caliber team? Granted... Meves helped get us there last year... but he has had the best defense in College Soccer in front of him for 3 years now. Maybe the 2011 D is not quite as good as the past 2 years as we have a young group out there now. Is his performance in 2011 worthy of an All-American ??? Based on Goals Allowed… maybe… based on Good Game –vs- Bad Game… maybe not. Has Meves improved since his outstanding year in 2009... or has he turned into an Average GK? And... is he cooked for the MLS? Last year, only 3 GKs were selected in the SuperDraft. Does Meves have a chance at playing Pro... based on his up and down performance? Thoughts?

Me too... plus that will help Akron. Maryland might be more apt to lose again in the ACC (like to North Carolina) than Creighton... although Creighton plays at Indiana on the 9th and they host UC Irvine in mid-October. Louisville... already a 2-loss team... would not liekly pass us in the poll and would take out the #1 team if they beat UConn. But.. a win for Louisville would also raise their RPI quite a bit. UConn also has to play at Notre Dame. The net is that Akron would move up at least 2 notches... to #2... if Maryland and Louisville both win

There's no question. Not only does he solve the link up problem between the midfield and forwards, he also stretches the field to the left. If you noticed in the games previously, we were being given the left side in an attempt to stop our attack down the right. They can't do that anymore. That is actually an astute observation. I am not even sure Holmes was placed on the left by design. Did he come in for Quinn? He seemed to naturally flow to where there was least pressure, or most space. This is from Goal.com... the last 2 weeks... Akron 4-0-2. The Zips are one piece away from putting this all together. It is going to click soon and put the offense back in high speed. http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/2617/youth-...ek-six-rankings Akron 5-0-2. The Zips are at their best when DeAndre Yedlin is flying down the right side and opening up the field for everyone else. http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/2617/youth-...ek-six-rankings This guy seems to know the team pretty well... maybe from a contact on the coahing staff... or alumni... or maybe he just reads a lot. Who is this guy? It was no secret that Akron was weak on the left side (or just faster on the right)... but... Luke Holmes has changed that! You have to consider us a more complete team now. Also... I didn't notice Homes flowing to open spaces... as much as I noticed him confronting defenders and blowing by them. He's going to be drawing more and more attention... which is good for Mattocks... and our entire offensive scheme. I look to see more scoring... from Holmes... Mattocks... and the entire Midfield. Also... did everyone see the post-game video on GoZips.com? He seemed to be under the weather a bit. Watch out when he starts feeling better.

While we were busy practicing on the Buckeyes... #7 UCSB lost the Big West opener to UC Riverside... big upset... and 3-1 too. This won't help our RPI any if we manage to beast UCSB in front of a big crowd. #8 UC Irvine lost to Cal Poly... and that does help pour RPI. #1 UConn beat Yale 1-0. Yale is 4-4-1... and Ivy League school that has wins against Central Connecticut State, Quinnipaq, Marist and Rhode Island... http://www.uconnhuskies.com/sports/m-socce.../092711aaa.html http://www.yalebulldogs.com/sports/m-soccer/2011-12/schedule Big games this weekend for top teams... #2 Creighton plays #3 Maryland and #1 UConn plays at #8 Louisville http://www.ncaa.com/sports/soccer-men/d1 We can expect some shake-ip in the top ten after the weekend !!!!

Cool Vid... Too bad UCSB lost to Riverside... messes up our RPI chances.