TennZip

http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer/college-national-top-100/menRichie is #10 on their list ; Adam is #19 on their list and Victor is #50 on their list It is so hard to compare defenders, mid fielders, and forwards.... glad that Richie and Adam are recognized as part of the top 25....and in humble opinion, Victor is clearly under rated at #50 they have a top 100 freshman list as well...I did not have time to look at that list...I did notice that Pau Belana was 26 or 27

weather forecast is for showers all morning...and scattered thunderstorms (45% chance) during the game

I know that their schedule has not been the strongest in the country. However, they have given up a grand total of 7 goals in 13 games and they have shutout their opponent in 8 out of 13 games. As someone else wrote, this could be the toughest MAC game.

did the Western Michigan game time did get changed? I looked about 2 weeks ago...and they were saying 1 pm start... Now both the zip and WMU web site are showing a 12 noon start.

thank you for the good news....and thank goodness...we sure need our hero in the midfield

I quickly went thru box scores. Richie does have 4 yellows (ODU, Penn State, Buffalo and last night). Victor has 3 (St. L, Wake, UAB...UAB was a horrid call by a god awful officiating crew) ; Andrew has 2 (VCU and Buff) ; Goncalo has 2 (G'town and Santa ; Nate has 2 (G' Town and St. L). No one else has more than 1.

Nate the Great, thanks for supporting the team and making the drive to Kalamazoo. I know that ME87, when I saw him at the Birmingham match, said he was making the drive to Kalamazoo and also going to the game at West Virginia. skip-zip, you analyzed the game very well. coach Embick talks about the intercepted passes given up on the zips web site. The Michigan State coach , on their site, talks about being up 5-0 or 5-1 in shots before Akron got the PK. Coach Embick also talked about poor passing in the first part of the Northern Illinois game. Hopefully, the zips can take their game from minutes 25-60 from the last 2 games....and expand that to 90 minutes when needed.

there is no reason for him to be so aggressive with a 4-0 lead and only 25 minutes left. Steve French on AM1350 said it was his 4th yellow. We all remember that he got his 5th yellow last year in the tournament against OSU and if Akron had advanced on PK's, the zips would have had to play Notre Dame without Richie and Victor. Richie had to sit out the VCU game this year due to the 5th yellow in the NCAA game. Richie's speed is so hard for the other team to deal with....that missing him for a game....would be very tough to overcome. We all know that the MAC teams will target and try to provoke Richie. Our 2 great captains will also need to help the coaches keep the yellow cards down for our players.

only negative of the game was Richie's yellow card with a 4-0 lead. Very happy for Victor to do well on PK's. Victor is an all american caliber holding mid and he works hard.

since there are bonus points for beating a team in the top 25, a game tonight will hurt the zips in the RPI. Maryland was #24 in this week's NCAA RPI. Maryland lost tonight 2-1 to Delaware. Delaware was #122 in the NCAA RPI. Gaucho Dan shows Maryland dropping to #32 in his RPI and Delaware moving up to #100 after tonight's game. Gaucho Dan has Creighton moving up to 5 in his RPI and Notre Dame dropping to 6....after their 5th tie of the year.

ME87, I think that the 2015 Creighton team and the 2009 Zips is a good analogy at this point. Creighton, like the 2009 zips, have been pretty dominant on possession in their games. Creighton led 29-8 in shots against Tulsa. When they played Butler, Creighton led 10-1 in shots in the first half and led 8-0 in corners for the entire game. When they played Michigan, I think Creighton led 16-9 in shots. If Creighton stays unbeaten and untied and defeats Georgetown in the regular season and in the conference tourney, they clearly deserve a top 4 seed. If this Akron team keeps winning, they will be well positioned in the NCAA's. As we all know from the 2010 season, it is hard to stay perfect no matter how good the team is. Soccer is a very hard game...to get a W. Tonight , Notre Dame played 5-6-1 Northwestern. Notre Dame led 39-7 in shots and 13-2 in shots on goal and the 2 teams played to a 1-1 tie. Unrelated to Creighton, Louisville lost 2-1 tonight to Indiana. Louisville's record dropped to 6-6-3 and their 2 remaining regular season games are against Wake Forest and N. Carolina. It is hard to see them ending the year with a .500 or above record unless they go on a mind boggling run and win the ACC tourney.

http://www.nscaa.com/rankings/4687/NCAADivisionI/men/Poll8up one spot in the coaches poll...as N. Carolina dropped from 2 to 6 after losing to Wake Forest

http://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2015/10/19/portland-timbers-caleb-porter-says-usmnts-jurgen-klinsmann-touch-about-darlingtoninfo from Caleb radio interview

Hopefully, this will put an end to the Caleb job security talk. For them to get a "w" after losing 5-0 the last time they were in LA....is impressive.

http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/soccer-men/d1/ncaa-mens-soccer-rpi

Gutty 2nd half tonight by Caleb porters team tonight with darlington nagbe getting a goal

if you want to get a preview of what Akron's next opponent(Michigan State) looks like....it looks like Penn State at Michigan State will be televised live today on the Big Ten network (1 -3 pm eastern time)

Wake Forest, #1 in RPI; defeated #2 North Carolina 1-0...6 saves for unc keeper...3 for Wake Clemson #5 in RPI defeated Syracuse (#12 RPI) 1-0...clemson scored at 89:09...interception at midfield and tiger beat the goalie 1 vs. 1 shots were 8-8

I like this team's focus -one game at a time it was great to see the goals that came off deflections. Richie's speed was really hard for NIU to deal with and Adam made some nice runs. Jake had one great save in the first half. Victor's goal was beautiful. Some nice give and go passing.. Brad, Danilo, Andrew solid in the back. it is great that Adam, Richie, Sam and Paul got 25 minutes of rest and that Victor, Goncalo, Danilo, Andrew and Brad got 20 minutes of rest. Always great to get playing time for the future zip starters like Alonzo Clarke and Ezana Kahsay. Was Pau playing right side forward? Goncalo and Pau both in the game seemed to work well tonight.

western Michigan 2 Bowling Green 1 WMU improves to 1-1 in MAC and BG drops to 0-2

West Virginia had been on a roll before tonight. Last Friday, they moved to 1-0 in the MAC with a win over. W. michigan. Tuesday, they had a strong win..3-0 over Penn State. Tonight....WVU played at Buffalo. Buffalo 2 W. Virginia 0. Cicerone scored first goal and assisted on 2nd. Maryland and Indiana 0-0 after 90 minutes.

If Creighton wins out and beats Georgetown in regular season and the tournament, they will be a top 4 seed. Akron has already dropped to #5 this week in the Gaucho Dan RPI. I am hoping that UCLA can knock off Stanford tonight. If Stanford wins out the rest of the way, the NCAA will want to have a west coast team as a top 4 seed. Stanford is the only team that would be deserving if they win out (they are #3 in the coaches poll). I am not 100% convinced that Akron will be a top 4 seed if Creighton and Stanford win out ...as well as Akron winning out. Akron needs UCLA to at least win one match against Stanford and for Georgetown to win at least once against Creighton. I like this Akron team.....and I think they will do their part and finish strong.

I saw that earlier in the week. It is way too early to even speculate about that. There is still a ton of soccer to be played. When the ACC teams start beating up on each other, at least 1 or 2 of them will drop. Zips just have to keep winning one game at a time and they will be well positioned ...come tournament time.

http://www.ohio.com/sports/zips/university-of-akron-soccer-brad-ruhaak-s-journey-from-walk-on-to-captain-surprises-even-his-copley-high-school-coach-1.632625#I am really appreciative of this fine article by Marla Ridenour. I learned a great deal that I did not know. I am not holding my breath ....waiting for Elton Alexander of the PD...to write an article about the zips

http://rpiupdatemenssoccer.blogspot.com/search/label/RPI%20Rankwith results from tuesday and wednesday of this week....Gaucho Dan shows that the zips have dropped back to #5 in RPI