TennZip

I guess it is time to start a Stanford topic. Several peoplle , on Saturday night, were crowing about Wake Forest losing. That would be a huge mistake to underestimate the Cardinal. 2 Hermann trophy semifinalists...with one of them being the only collegian on the USMNT. Let's look at Common opponents for Akron and Stanford... Let's start positive... Cal Santa Barbara- Akron won 2-0 ; Stanford lost 1-0 to them on Aug. 28 VCU - Akron won 3-2 in double overtime in the first game of the year. ; Stanford won 2-0 on Sept. 6 Santa Clara - Akron won 2-0 ; Stanford won 3-1 in the NCAA round of 32 Ohio State - zips played to a 3-3 tie....Stanford won 3-1 in the NCAA round of 16 Wake Forest - Akron lost 2-1....the big difference between Stanford and Akron's game....is that Wake Forest had their best player , Michael Gamble in that game...When Stanford played them, Michael Gamble was injured...Stanford won 2-1 in the first overtime...Wake Forest missed a penalty kick at 94 minutes to win the game UCLA - Akron lost 4-2...Richie Laryea and Danilo Radjen did not play in that game ; Stanford won 2-1....although a phantom offside call prevented UCLA from tieing the game. In their 2nd matchup, they played to a 2-2 tie SMU - Akron won 2-1 in the ncaa round of 16 ; Stanford won 3-2 in 2 ot's on Sept. 13 Washington was the toughest opponent for Stanford as the Huskies played them to a 0-0 tie and Washington won the 2nd game 2-1. in the Stanford-Wake Forest game, the demon deacons led 14-12 in shots and 5-3 in corner kicks against the Buckeyes...Stanford led 19-11 and 5-1 in corner kicks Akron has improved tremendously during the season. I still like the zips in the game...but Jordan Morris, Brandon Vincent and their teammates will be a handful.

My sincere apologies. That is a very good policy. I have attached a link to another article that many soccer fans will be interested in. many Akron players on the list. ME87 and FKNBuflobo.....I remember that Stanford has 2 Hermann Trophy semifinalists...one is obviously Jordan Morris. I think that the other semifinalist was a defender. Is it Brandon Vincent? It will be interesting to see which of Akron's scorers (Stuart, Richie, Adam and Sam)....that Stanford will have their star defender "mark". on a somewhat Akron related note, former zip Louis Cross has done well for Syracuse and was selected for the list below http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer-articles/tds-mens-team-of-the-week:-dec-8_aid38521

Top drawer soccer has an article...listing key players for each team. Top players poised to wreck the College Cup Article Written by Will Parchman The men’s College Cup is about here. Four deserving teams stamped their tickets to Kansas City’s Sporting Park last weekend, and the play is soon to kick off on semifinal action between Akron-Stanford and Syracuse-Clemson. Think of a Stanford forward and Langsdorf will not be the first name off your tongue (that comes later in this list). fenses never see coming. Adam Najem, Akron Akron’s strong lineage of producing capable attacking midfielders might be unmatched in college soccer’s modern era. If you needed confirmation, Darlington Nagbe just won an MLS Cup with Caleb Porter on Sunday.

friday weather forecast for Kansas City, KS....says high of 64 , lo of 49 ....10% chance of rain 16 mph winds Go, Zips !!

many quotes from Elmer Bolowich in the Omaha paper http://www.omaha.com/creighton/zips-end-creighton-s-season-with-free-kick-in-nd/article_416b05c0-9ba6-11e5-9af7-87c8cf94dd6f.html

attendance was 3,043.... crowd really helped tonight

http://www.cleveland.com/sports/college/index.ssf/2015/12/akron_soccer_headed_to_the_nca.html#incart_river_index Elton Alexander, who covers the MAC, for the plain dealer....finally writes an article about the best group of student athletes in the MAC

surreal http://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2015/12/04/former-akron-players-head-coach-caleb-porter-reflect-surreal-return-ohio-mls-cup

the press conference

I am so happy for Coach Jared Embick, his coaching staff and this amazing, gutty, heart filled group of student athletes. Absolutely great soccer game. Fabian Herbers and Timo Pitters were as good as advertised but this Akron team has unbelievable character and belief in each other. I read many writeups before the game that the legendary college coach Elmer Bolowich was going to be the difference in the game. Coach Embick and his staff obviously made any great adjustments at halftime and Akron had much better possessions and chances in the 2nd half and in the OT's. Tremendous credit to our talented coaching staff. In the business world, there is a phrase that great leaders expect great results. I am not close enough to the team to know who the true leaders are....but I will share some history. Victor Souto has been saying since Brazil that this team would bring a 2nd star back to Akron. Victor Souto is a great soccer player and is a true warrior. Victor Souto is a great student athlete. I am very happy for Victor Souto and all of the soccer zip family that this team is achieving great results

looks like Clemson just advanced to final 4..... 1-1 after 110 against Maryland Maryland missed 3 out of 4 penalty kicks Clemson made 3 out of 5...and won 3-1 on penalty kicks

motivational video.....for the Creighton game

I assume this will be in the Saturday Beacon http://www.ohio.com/sports/zips/university-of-akron-soccer-with-zips-in-elite-eight-blueprint-drawn-up-by-caleb-porter-jared-embick-again-reaping-dividends-1.645265#Marla Ridenour has done a good job of giving this excellent team and their outstanding coach....some great publicity....Hopefully, these articles will help put more people in the seats on Saturday... We are Akron.......

I have a google alert set for Jared Embick. I just got a message that the Omaha paper had an article on Akron. http://www.omaha.com/creighton/akron-enters-rematch-with-creighton-having-learned-from-letdowns/article_f484a520-3602-5198-957e-bd071be95cd1.html

http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2015/12/columbus_crews_championship_ru.html#incart_river_indexnice article from the plain dealer....about the columbus crew

zips mens soccer twitter....has some really good photos of Michael, Darlington, Ben, etal.....on their way to Ohio and arriving in Ohio Michael and Darlington have huge smiles when they arrived in Ohio I saw an article in the Portland paper...that talked about Indiana (in Yeagley's last year...with Caleb as an assistant) winning the NCAA title at Columbus Crew Stadium Caleb has a lot of great memories in columbus and Akron

http://www.cleveland.com/pluto/index.ssf/2015/12/akron_soccer_success_has_terry.html#incart_river_index

http://www.oregonlive.com/timbers/index.ssf/2015/12/caleb_porters_vision_for_portl.htmlnice article about Mr. Porter and his vision... at the top of the article, it says both portland and columbus are 15-11-8 this year....long odds on that happening

http://www.ohio.com/sports/zips/university-of-akron-men-s-soccer-as-pressure-ramps-up-and-his-career-winds-down-zips-goalie-jake-fenlason-focuses-on-revenge-for-2012-seniors-1.644911

it is conceivable that Akron could defeat the three teams with two semifinalists on their way to the coveted 2nd star. Creighton has 2 on the list. Stanford has 2 on the list and they could meet Akron in the semis. Clemson has 2 on the list and they are on the opposite side of the draw. I am obviously biased.....but I have a hard time thinking of 15 soccer players better than Adam and Richie. The Akron players are very unselfish and they would much rather obtain a 2nd star ...rather than make all american lists. The name that really surprised me....as missing from the list was defender Joshua Yaro of Georgetown. From everything I have read, Yaro and Jordan Morris are considered two potential great pro players

http://www.machermanntrophy.org/2015-semifinalists/Akron's depth of excellent players probably worked against Adam and Richie in the selections

That is absolutely outstanding to have 13 student athletes on the list. The 2nd highest team in the MAC had 10. Some schools only had 5 or 6. 3.933 GPA in Biology ; 3.933 in Marketing Management, 3.829 in Business ; 3.733 in Mechanical engineering ; 3.71 in Economics....those are some outstanding gpa's for any student. With the time commitment that these young men have with soccer, those are simply top notch numbers. These young men have so much to be proud of. Congratulations to these outstanding young men.

it is not just the students.... my row in section 203 yesterday.....24 seats in the row.....there were 6 seats filled and 18 open weather forecast for Saturday....is sunny...high of 51 ....low of 30 This team is so exciting to watch....great, hard working young men..... and coach Embick and his staff deserve a ton of credit for the personnel changes and player positioning changes that they have made during the season. At the beginning of the season, I would have never expected Danilo Radjen to be such a key contributor. This coaching staff has really "coached" this year.

I have not looked at any of the press conferences....but I thought that Goncalo Soares was phenomenal in the first half. Adam, Stuart and Richie really took charge in the 2nd half but I thought that Goncalo was the man of the match in the first half. He made several very confident runs, and he passed well and intercepted well. His confidence has really grown over the season. Victor is such a super holding midfielder that the other HMF was probably overshadowed at the beginning of the season. Goncalo really has a very high soccer IQ and it is great to see him contribute so much.

Syracuse leads Seattle 2-0 at halftime Boston College leads Georgetown 1-0 at halftime...that game could bust a lot of brackets Indiana and #1 Wake Forest 0-0 after 48 minutes Indiana leds 5-1 in shots...1 shot for Wake?....they are not the same team without Michael Gamble Phil fives and matt Foldesey both started as midfielders for the hoosiers