I do not like this at all.
For the first time since 2006, there is no Zips MSOC going into Thanksgiving.
Yes, there was that horrible home loss to USF on Thanksgiving eve 2007. But at least Zips Soccer was on my mind over the holiday.
http://www.gozips.com/sports/msoc/2007-08/releases/1329376_1
And who among us will ever forget the last second OT victory over OSU at St.V-St.M Thanksgiving eve 2008? Epic! Zemanski to Tutich; header in the net; match over; shirtless in the snow! Anyone have video on that?
http://www.gozips.com/sports/msoc/2008-09/releases/3624053_1
In 2009, on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, arguably the best collegiate MSOC squad ever assembled, demolished visiting Stanford. We will never forget 23-0-2!
http://www.gozips.com/sports/msoc/2009-10/...ses/204841648_1
Akron’s lone team championship finally arrived in 2010. The dreaded Indiana Hoosiers, at whose hands the Zips have suffered mightily over the years, were dispatched on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. We were the better team, but they were just as game as ever.
http://www.gozips.com/sports/msoc/2010-11/...ses/205038382_1
In 2011, the road warrior Zips fell to eventual runner-up Charlotte on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. I will dispute with my dying breath the off-side call that nullified the equalizer.
http://www.gozips.com/sports/msoc/2011-12/.../20111127w3q98r
The most heartbreaking of outcomes on this list is from 2012. Favorites to win it all, Zips fell in PKs to visiting Creighton. Scotty Caldwell, of all people, missed a PK just a few minutes into OT. Despite BlueJays also going down a man on the same play, Zips still failed to score throughout the remainder of OTs. (I stopped sniffling about that sometime in Spring 2013.)
http://www.gozips.com/sports/msoc/2012-13/.../2012112543170p
Thanksgiving 2013: NOTHING! That is the point!
Coach Embick, if you need a barometer or standard by which to judge success, let it be that. Are you still playing come Thanksgiving?