TennZip

http://www.pittsburghpanthers.com/sports/m-soccer/spec-rel/011317aab.html comments from Robby on why he chose Pitt...and nice comments from Vidovich Robby Dambrot / D / Akron, Ohio / The University of Akron Had a standout junior campaign, appearing in 21 games including eight starts ... Played a major role in the Zips' 2015 run in the NCAA Tournament, as Akron fell in the College Cup to eventual champion, Stanford ... Made NCAA Tournament appearance all three years at Akron. Dambrot on why he chose Pitt: "I chose Pitt because of the great coaching staff and the competition in the ACC. I think I bring a lot of experience after being at a very competitive program at Akron, so I know what it takes to build a competitive culture. I hope my experiences can help get things going here at Pitt and we can start something special." Vidovich on Dambrot: "Robby is another player that brings experience after spending time at Akron, a highly respected program. He can get up and down the line, has a tremendous work rate and left foot. I think he will be a great help for us with the foreign players since he knows what college soccer is all about. He knows what it's like trying to compete for the top trophy, what it's like to train everyday with top players and play against the best teams in the country. He will be a big part of our future."

http://sbisoccer.com/2017/01/after-months-of-transfer-rumors-porter-determined-to-put-nagbe-in-position-to-succeed-with-timbers I hope that Darlington and Portland have a great season in 2017.

http://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2017/01/13/no-3-pick-jonathan-lewis-thrilled-be-part-something-big-nycfc I love the first sentence....about the college program LOS ANGELES – Jonathan Lewis supports Manchester City, idolizes Jack Harrison and hails from a college program renowned for playing cultured possession soccer.

http://www.nycfc.com/post/2017/01/13/lewis-i-love-nycfc-s-style Jack Harrison and Jonathan Lewis...could make some magic together

Zip_ME87....thank you so much for posting the announcement of Jonathan. I was really impressed by his humbleness and his composure in his time at the podium Best wishes to Jonathan.

http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer-articles/2017-mls-draft-big-board:-version-30_aid41309 Danilo at 58 and Brad at 68....in this list 3rd and 4th rounds in draft will be next week

http://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2017/01/13/armchair-analyst-2017-mock-superdraft-v2-0 JLew at #4...???? fun begins at 3 eastern time

http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer-articles/2017-mls-mock-draft:-version-20_aid41317

http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/1616/concacaf/2017/01/11/31402502/nagbe-agudelo-and-10-players-with-the-most-riding-on-the-us?ICID=HP_BN_1 Darlington one of the 10 featured....

http://sbisoccer.com/2017/01/sbi-2017-mls-draft-big-board-version-3-0 soccer by Ives...also mentions that Jonathan could move into top 3.... Ives currently has JLew going #5 to Columbus ....and last but not least, Ives predicts that Danilo wll be picked late in the 2nd round

Danilo starting at an outside back...Jonathan Lewis and Abu Danladi on the bench.....that is pretty heavy duty firepower

http://buffalonews.com/2017/01/09/former-ub-coach-stu-riddle-hired-northern-kentucky/ ah, boo hoo....the poor deck was stacked against him in the MAC???

http://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2017/01/08/armchair-analyst-stock-stock-down-after-day-1-2017-combine there is a 3 minute and 17 second video...discussing copa vs. tango game... Jonathan mentioned several times around 2:20 or 2;25...they show Jonathan earning a penalty and then drilling the PK his 2nd goal....is somewhere between 2;45 and 3:00....but it really shows Danladi's shot more...and not that much of JLew scoring

http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/1110/major-league-soccer/2017/01/09/31312172/top-prospects-turn-heads-on-opening-day-of-mls-combine?ICID=HP_FT_1 as you would expect, JLew received some positive press from soccer by ives

3 sigma FC players choosing colleges in the US http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/high-school-soccer-article/recruiting-roundup:-january-9-15_aid41284

Danilo got the start today

http://playingfor90.com/2017/01/07/should-deandre-yedlin-return-to-mls-sigi-schmid-and-kasey-keller-respond/ comments on DeAndre

soccer by Ives has Jonathan Lewis listed as the 5th best player at the combine who has the 5th pick in the first round...that would be the team that Wil Trapp plays for....2 zips in Columbus?....we can dream http://sbisoccer.com/2017/01/sbi-2017-mls-draft-big-board-version-2-0

http://pressbox.mlssoccer.com/content/mls-adds-university-akron-freshman-jonathan-lewis-2017-generation-adidas-class#.WHFZ23B3UvQ.twitter official mls release on Jonathan

http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/66/united-states/2017/01/06/31232282/us-soccer-grants-division-2-status-to-usl-nasl?ICID=HP_TS_2 I am very glad to see the USL awarded this higher status. That is good news for the former zips like Aodhan Quinn, Eric Stevenson and Victor Souto and others that will be playing in the USL in 2017.

one of the top drawer writers has a strong opinion on who should be starting in the midfield for the USMNT

I did not get a chance to add some more comments last night as I wanted to. I agree with Zip_ME87 that soccer is often underappreciated. We all remember the best and want that to happen every single year. We all remember years when Akron was signing 4 out of the top 10 US recruits in the country and some ask why Jared and his staff are not replicating that. The simple answer is that the college soccer and pro soccer worlds have changed. MLS has added home grown contracts and generation adidas offers and many of the top 25 recruits are bypassing college. Most MLS teams now have affiliated teams in the USL and many high school kids think that they will develop more in the USL than they will in a college environment. Wil Trapp was from columbus and loved his time at Akron. However, if Wil was a high school senior now, he would be offered a home grown and never would go to college. Dillon Serna never would have come to Akron in today's environment. Perry Kitchen also would have gone straight to the pros. The recruiting environment for Caleb was much different than the environment that Jared and Leo and company currently operated in The facts are that last year, only 6 of the top 25 high school players elected to attend college. Of those 6, one of those (Nick Hinds) chose to go to Akron. Also in the top 25 was a young man named Emmanuel Sabbi. He had committed to come to Akron but chose to pursue a career overseas. Jonathan Lewis did not play in traditional places in his junior and senior years of HS so he was not ranked in the top 25 but he was clearly a top 25 talent. If Sabbi had come to Akron, Jared would have been successful in bringing 3 top 25 caliber players to Akron while all other schools had 4 top 25 kids combined. Like all of us, I worry about who will replace Brad and Danilo as center backs and now I worry about who will replace Jonathan. The fact is that Akron had an outstanding recruiting class for the 2016 year and I trust that Jared and staff will scour the world to put a quality team on the field in 2017. As Zip_ME87 said, there was adversity last year. The team lost their emotional leader, who had been a starter for 3 plus years. I think everyone knows my feelings about Victor but I would like to join Zip_ME87 in thanking Victor for always giving 150% and for everything that he did for mens soccer and the Univ. of Akron. Every team deals with injuries but at season end, Danilo missed the last 6 games, Stuart could not play a full 90 minutes and Manel Cordeiro could not play a full 90 minutes. We all want to do better than winning one NCAA tournament game but ask yourself...when was the last time that that Akron U. mens basketball team won an NCAA tournament game? Don't even get me started on the money pit known as Zips football. Bottom line, Akron mens soccer is a true gem on the Akron campus and I like the group leading the mens soccer program. That being said, I worry tremendously that the gigantic financial mess caused by the board of trustees and the 2 past presidents could have a trickle down impact on the soccer program. I commented yesterday about the key loss of Oliver Slawson. We know that the coaching staff budget had to be cut. Did Jared and his staff also have their recruiting dollars budget cut? What is Jared's recruiting dollar budget now compared to the budget that Caleb had to work with(when everyone thought that Akron U. finances were solid while Proenza was building new structures everywhere)? Also, I was not happy with Larry Williams during the year. Scheduling an NCAA tournament game at 4:00 to accommodate a meaningless mens basketball non league game against cupcake U.....sends the message that mens soccer is a secondary sport compared to basketball and football. Larry also undercut Jared's authority when Larry dismissed Victor. That announcement should have come from Jared. Also, when funds are tight, the athletic department could be so much more pro-active in raising funds for mens soccer. How many season ticket holders know that there is a group called the goal club? What % of season ticket holders contribute money to the Z-fund or the goal club? If the recruiting budget was cut due to the financial mess, has the athletic department reached out to soccer alumni and season ticket holders to explain the situation and to try to raise more funds? The Athletic department should be doing so much more to help the true "gem" sports program on the campus. Larry Williams and his team need to do some stepping up. I appreciate Jared and his staff and the current high quality of the mens soccer program.

I think there are 22 or 23 picks in each round. I like Danilo but I would be absolutely stunned if he was chosen in the 2nd round. another site had Danilo being chosen near the middle of the 4th round. Since Brad did not receive an invite to the MLS combine, hopefully, he did well at the Midwest combine