TennZip

This mock draft column.....is very high on the Zips draft prospects He has Ashton being drafted by St Louis City. Would be neat to have Emil and Ashton playing together again. https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer-articles/2026-major-league-soccer-mock-draft_aid55491

I have as many questions as you do..... Malik and Dyson were both drafted and came back below is what MLS published https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/2026-mls-superdraft-rules-and-regulations when I type in MLS draft eligibility rules into google, Artificial Intelligence gives me this info? who knows if AI is correct...about a formal player declaration? MLS Draft eligibility primarily includes college seniors who've exhausted NCAA eligibility, but it's expanded to cover sophomores, juniors, certain Generation adidas players, and some non-collegiate internationals, with the league compiling a list based on club/coach input rather than a formal player declaration. How Players Get on the List Unlike the NFL/NBA, there's no formal "declaration" process for players. MLS consults with clubs, scouts, and college coaches to create the official list of draft-eligible players each year.

Ashton and Mitch are both rated very highly in this article https://www.mlssoccer.com/superdraft/news/mls-superdraft-2026-top-prospects-by-position

Excellent article on Jason Shokalook. article has many quotes from Jason. https://rg.org/news/soccer/mls-next-pro-mvp-jason-shokalook-road-top-american-soccer

Washington is a very deserving national Champion. They are the best team that I have watched this year. 6 wins.......none of them at home win at Oregon State in round of 64 win at #5 SMU win at #12 Stanford win at #4 Maryland win over #16 Furman in college cup semis win over #15 NC State in finals has any team defeated 5 seeds and won all of their matches on the road on the way to the title?

https://www.instagram.com/p/DRNvhpwiSWg/?img_index=1 defender from Indy 11

Josh Hardin was a starter in 2024 and he transferred out. I highly suspcet that was due to Pittsburgh poaching him with huge NIL dollars.

She did commit as a high school junior. She played high school soccer this year and was selected to the 2025 All American team. I will do some research on the club question. Edit- looks like she plays for Nanchoff team in Cleveland internationals SC https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/club-player-profile/hattie-yugovich/pid-159356

Z.I.P. sent me an anrticle from the Mansfield newspaper. Said that this young lady was selected to the 2025 High School All American team. Z.I.P. also said that she had committed to the zips in the fall of 2024. Some links below.... https://www.instagram.com/p/DCsNeMhx0S6/?img_index=1 https://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/story/sports/high-school/2024/09/18/ontario-warriors-soccer-hattie-yugovich-commits-to-university-of-akron/75245806007/?gnt-cfr=1&gca-cat=p&gca-uir=true&gca-epti=z115218d00----v115218d--52--b--52--&gca-ft=227&gca-ds=sophi

Congratulations to Maggie Kuhn I wish her much success https://gozips.com/news/2025/12/11/maggie-kuhn-named-akron-head-womens-soccer-coach1?fbclid=IwY2xjawOpN_FleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETEyWjB0RUFEWkd5czVhVDBoc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHnoNTqNfIcveQXMpK2XHhnbvsCybuYWwFJNQNjmXbCyApVnOE3duCUnUHBON_aem_PZ4Ozy8_n-hSS-cmUeva1A

Vermont won the national championship in 2024. Rob Dow, the head coach of that team, is now the new head coach of Penn State. The excellent teams in the American East continue to lose their coaches to the Power conferences New Hampshire had tremendous teams in the early part of the decade. At the end of 2023, NC State hired New Hampshire head coach Marc Hubbard. In Hubbard's 2nd year at NC State, the Wolfpack are in the final 4. https://gopsusports.com/news/2025/12/11/2024-national-champion-rob-dow-named-penn-state-mens-soccer-head-coach

https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/article/?categoryId=26&articleId=55463&articleTitle=standouts-from-ecnl-boys-south-carolina Here are some of the standout performances from games watched by TDS. Calan DeWalt, Ohio Premier 08/07 – An Akron(m) commit for 2026, De Walt imposed himself on the game against Chattanooga in a 2-2 draw. He broke lines with the ball and made a couple of crucial defensive interventions.

Congratulations to Calan DeWalt and Londen Sears for being selected to the United Soccer coaches high school all American team. https://unitedsoccercoaches.org/united-soccer-coaches-announces-2025-fall-high-school-all-americans/

Congratulations to Mitch Budler. He will participate in the pre draft showcase..... The MLS draft will be held on December 18th.

https://gozips.com/news/2025/12/6/mens-soccer-akron-falls-to-saint-louis-3-2 this link has a link to the Akron press conference and it also has a link to the St. Louis press conference It also has a PDF box score...which shows attendance of 1,918.

that was one very awesome goal by Coach Michael

Since I grew up in Stow, I obviously love the Zemanski jersey behind Coach Embick in this video. and I always love to hear @fknbuflobo tell the story about how Caleb Porter's first action as Akron U. head coach was to travel to Stow, Ohio. Ben Zemanski had committed to play soccer for Akron when Lolla was the coach. Caleb went to sit down with Ben Zemanski and Dan Zemanski to convince them that Akron was still the best choice for Ben's college career. Ben Zemanski was a great midfielder and he was a building block on those excellent teams from 2006-2009.

I think that this paper.....is very near Jared's home town (Granite City) https://www.thetelegraph.com/sports/article/slu-akron-elite-eight-ncaa-soccer-embick-kalish-21219014.php

St. Louis men's soccer page...is previewing the big matchup.... it is cool that there are 3 watch parties that Billiken fans can attend. St. Louis and Furman are currently tied for having the longest current unbeaten streaks. Amazing that St. Louis won 10 national titles between 1959 and 1973. https://slubillikens.com/news/2025/12/4/mens-soccer-msoc-preview-billikens-zips-clash-for-college-cup-berth.aspx SERIES HISTORY -- SLU leads 8-5-1 in a series that dates back to 1960, though Akron is 4-0-1 in the last five meetings. -- The squads met earlier this year in Akron, with the Zips coming away with a 3-0 victory. Akron opened the scoring with a goal on a penalty kick at the 33:11 mark. The Zips tacked on two more in the second half, scoring in the 62nd and 67th minute for the 3-0 final. -- The last SLU win in the series came on Aug. 29, 2003, a 1-0 victory on a neutral field in Charlottesville, Va. -- The Billikens' last win against the Zips in Akron was in 1989, 1-0 on a game-winner by John Johnson.

Excellent observations.... A few random observations.... The first game was on September 23. That means that Saturday's game...will be almost 2.5 months since the first game. As Zips fans, we have seen great improvement from Thomas O' Rourke and Matthew Paiva during the season. I am sure that St. Louisd has also had many players improve during the season. Since that first game, St. Louis has not lost a single game. Since the first game, the Zips have a record of 7-2-2. The Billikens have a record of 8-0-5. St. Louis has only lost 2 games all year...A regular season game at Indiana and the game at Akron. As we all know, St. Louis avenged their regular season loss to IU with a huge round of 32 road win at IU. as @Zip_ME87 pointed out, SLU is finding ways to not lose. They have not lost in their last 13 games. Against IU in the NCAA round of 32, St. Louis was dominated on the statistical front but they found a way to win. In the tournament game against St. Louis, IU led 16-3 in shots, 3-1 in shots on goal and 8-0 in corner kicks. St. Louis did not have a single corner kick and they were outshot by more than 5 to 1. Yet, St. Louis found a way to win. Again, that first game(St. Louis at Akron) was a lifetime ago....2.5 months. How did the Zips and Billikens do against teams in the NCAA tounament? St. Louis has 4-2-2 record against teams that made the tournament. 1-0 win over eventual 5 seed SMU. 1-0 win over Seton Hall. 1-0 regular season loss to eventual 6 seed Indiana. 0-0 tie against eventual 8 seed Portland. Portland is still alive in the tournament. 3-0 loss at Akron. 2-1 tournament win over Kentucky (Kentucky was regular season Sun Belt champ (league includes Marshall and West Virginia) ; 1-0 win over 6 seed Indiana. 2-2 PK win over 11 seed Bryant (#6 in final RPI). In that PK win, the St. Louis players were absolutely clutch. 4 spectacular, professional penalty kicks. the zips were 4-4-3 against tournament teams. 0-0 tie with WVA ; 4-0 win over W. Michigan ; 1-0 loss at Vermont ; 3-1 home loss to U Conn ; 3-0 win over St. L ; 2-1 home loss to St. John's ; 0-0 tie at Cornell ; 1-1 tie against Seton Hall. 2-1 neutral field loss to UConn; 1-0 win over Notre Dame ; 2-0 win over the Dukies. The Zips were brutally efficient in the first St. Louis game. The zips had 4 shots on goal and scored 3 goals (75% conversion rate). The zips have scored 31 goals and they have had 97 shots on goal. (closer to a 32% conversion rate). Another observation about the first St. Louis game. The Zips earned 147 corner kicks during the year (about 6.7 per game). In the game against St. Louis, the Zips had 1 corner kick. That was the season low for the Zips. During the season, teams committed 212 fouls against the zips (about 9.6 per game). St. Louis only committed 6 fouls against the Zips. Again, that was a season low for a zip opponent. Based on the first game, the Zips are not going to get many dead ball/free kick opportunities. The weather on Saturday is going to be much different than the September 23 game. The September 23 game had a very experienced referee (Chico Grajeda). Who knows...whehter Saturday's referee will be as solid as Chico Grajeda. Saturday is going to be a battle. The Zips should be favored due to being at home and the fact that they are in good form. However, I do not expect an easy 3-0 win. The Zips need to come out ready.......and win this game in Regulation. I am sure that Indiana was very, very confident against St. Louis since they had won during the regular season. The Zips are hungry and they can beat the Billikens two times this year....but it is going to be a knock down battle. Go, ZIPS !!! https://gozips.com/sports/mens-soccer/stats/2025/saint-louis/boxscore/10933