TennZip

I am totally intrigued by the comments on Ashton Kamdem. I really hope that Ashton Kamdem gets a tremendous amount of playing time at Left back. Embick on Kamdem – "Ashton is a quick left back that is a good two-way player. He can help us build out of the back and gives us a threat in final third as an overlapping fullback. He also is a solid defender that handles 1v1 situations well."

Jared and the coaches were allowed to start coaching the team yesterday. First exhibition game is 5 days away. Is today the day....that we finally get a news release...telling us about the new players that we will be joining the team this fall? I look forward to reading Coach Embick's words about Ashton Kamdem, Mansour Diop.....and any other new players joining the zips for the Fall 2022 campaign.

Welcome to Akron, Ryan from Moon Township, PA

Great tribute to DNag

It is great to see the zips sign another player from FC Cincinnati. Akron has always done well with players from the Columbus Crew Academy. I look forward to seeing Ashton Kamdem (FC Cincinnati) play for the zips in fall 2022. And now, I can look forward to Matt Dreas (FC Cincinnati) joining the zips in fall 2023. It is good to have 2 MLS teams in Ohio...and it is great to see the zips coaching staff signing good talent from both MLS academies.

this was from the Medina paper before Jackson Herbert's junior year (fall 2021) I like his speed in the 40 https://medina-gazette.com/news/271612/boys-high-school-soccer-opposing-teams-always-have-to-account-for-wadsworths-jackson-herbert/

Blue and Gold, really good find.... Thank you for sharing... The beacon had a subscriber only article this morning...where they listed the 16 boys soccer players to watch this fall. This is what they said about Jackson Herbert : Jackson Herbert, Wadsworth, midfielder, sr. There may not be a faster player in space than Herbert, who was a Division I second-team All-Ohio selection. The Akron commit led the Grizzlies in scoring with 15 goals and nine assists. He has 38 career goals and 16 assists.

does not have red hair https://www.mlsnextpro.com/players/caleb-borneo/

Here is a Cloumbus Crew article...where Caleb Borneo receives some very positive press from MLSsoccer.com https://www.columbuscrew.com/news/borneo-named-to-generation-adidas-cup-best-xi

Top Drawer soccer(TDS) is reporting that the Zips have their second recruit from the class of 2023 https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/club-soccer-articles/sima-recruiting-roundup:-july-18-24_aid51002 Class of 2023 M Caleb Borneo (Crew SC Academy) committed to Akron. From my limited research, this is an outstanding recruit for the Zips. Young Mr. Borneo (will turn 17 on July 20) is rated 4 stars by TDS...and Caleb is the 15th ranked player in TDS's class of 2023. Welcome Caleb Borneo to Zips Nation. Also, early happy birthday wishes to Caleb Borneo. another article from TDS. Caleb Borneo was selected to be part of the USA Under Mens National team camp https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/club-soccer-articles/roster-announced-for-u19-mnt-camp_aid50744 Jared, Ger and Michael....have landed 2 very highly rated players for the class of 2023. Keep up the great work, coaches !!!

When is Akron soccer going to do a Darlington Nagbe bobblehead for season ticket holders? I love my DeAndre Yedlin bobblehead from a few years ago........but the DeAndre bobblehead is lonely. A DNag bobblehead is badly needed.

She grew up in Copley. She lives in Fairlawn now. She was an excellent player for Dayton. She has done great stuff in a short time at CWRU. This year will be tough with the mess left behind by HURL-I-HY....(emphasis on Hurl...as in upchuck)...... I am very positive about this hire.

gozips.com has still not even acknowledged that Herlihy is gone normal athletics departments....would have listed an interim head coach "captains practices" are not too far away for the womens team Guthrie and crew need to get a coach announced this week or the following week https://gozips.com/sports/womens-soccer/coaches

There is nothing about this on the zip web site. However, Noreen Herlihy has left the building (so , to speak) lady zips were 3-15-1 last year. Herlihy had signed a two year contract in June or July 2021. In a non-revenue sport, they probably did not want to fire her with one year left on her contract. She had coached at Slippery Rock before coming to Akron. I believe that Indiana University of PA...is in the same Pittsburgh metropolitan area. https://iupathletics.com/news/2022/6/20/womens-soccer-iup-names-noreen-herlihy-new-head-womens-soccer-coach.aspx

I do agree with you that the MAC has badly struggled for the last decade...to maintain 6 teams in the league. However, if BGSU, WMU and NIU are so terrible and unwilling to commit to top notch soccer, Akron should be easily clobbering those teams every time that they play him. For the past 3 years, that has not happened. I agree that Akron has the best facilities by far. I agree that Jared is the only coach in the league that has taken the zips to the college cup numerous times. There is no doubt that Jared is the highest paid coach in the MAC. In one note, you wrote that Akron has an elite coaching staff. If Akron can not beat Western Michigan and Northern Illinois over the past few years, does that mean that those schools are recruiting better players than Akron? Akron is usually the only MAC team that consistently appears in the top 25 team recruiting rankings by Top Drawer Soccer. When was the last time that Akron soccer beat Western Michigan? You have to go back to the MAC tournament in 2018 to find the last time that Akron defeated Western Michigan in soccer. in the last 4 matchups against WMU, Akron is 0-2-2. O28, 2019 1-1 tie at WMU A14, 2021 0-0 tie at AK A18, 2021 4-3 loss at WMU N 14, 2021 4-3 loss at WMU When was the last time that Akron Soccer defeated Northern Illinois? You have to go back to November 2, 2019 when the Zips defeated the huskies 3-2 at Akron. In the last 3 matchups against Northern Illinois, Akron is 0-3-0 and has been outscored 8-2 by a school that does not want to upgrade their program???? why is this? better players ? better coaching.....? To trash NIU and to say that they don't prepare Akron for the NCAA...would indicate that Akron is easily defeating NIU every time they play an 8-2 gap in goals....indicates the exact opposite M14, 2020 3-0 loss at NIU A4, 2020 3-1 loss at AK O30, 2021 2-1 loss at NIU How has Akron done against BUGS in the last 5 games? Surely, Akron must have a winning record . In the last 5 games, Akron has a 2-3-0 record against BUGS. I am including the spring 2022 league game.....as there was no excuse for that sorry 1-0 loss. Idiotic passing between the back line and the GK cost the zips that game. N15, 2019 1-0 loss at Akron in MAC tournament .....very painful loss M7, 2020 2-0 win at AK A11, 2020 1-0 loss at BG O 22, 2021 5-1 win at Akron.....Akron looked like the much better team,. Alas, BG finished in the top 4 in the league. Akron did not Spring 2022 league game 1-0 loss I am a very passionate Akron zips soccer fan. If you had made your posts in 2018, I would agree 100% with your posts. The MAC teams (with the exception of WMU in the Brandon Bye years) were not NCAA quality teams and did not prepare the zips for the NCAA tourney. However, the evidence over the last 3 years says that the zips are not beating these 3 teams that do not want to upgrade their facilities or their programs. Either, those 3 teams have dramatically improved the quality of their soccer teams or Akron is not playing as well. My point......is "let's get Akron soccer back to the point where Akron is making the college cup in 3 out of 4 consecutive years." We should not be bad mouthing NIU, BUGS and WMU until the Zips are beating them consistently by 3-0 margins or 3-1 margins. I am not happy to point out the poor record against each team over the past 3 years. However, we play each of those teams twice this year. I sincerely hope that your assessment of the other 3 programs is spot on for fall 2022. I hope that the zips go 6-0 this year against those teams and have a goal differential of 16-2. Let's go, Zips.

Getting back to the 2022 schedule....Bowling Green announced their schedule today. The 5 MAC teams will play home and home against each other Akron plays at Bowling Green on October 6. BUGS comes to Akron on October 17 The top two teams in the MAC will meet in the league championship match on Saturday, Nov. 12. credit to BUGS for playing at Georgetown https://bgsufalcons.com/news/2022/6/6/mens-soccer-nichols-falcons-announce-2022-schedule.aspx

Georgia State and Georgia Southern played in the Sunbelt up until fall 2021. They joined the MAC in 2021 as the Sunbelt did not have enough teams to support a league. They have returned to the Sunbelt for 2022 as the Sunbelt now has a fantastic 9 team league (Marshall, West Virginia, Kentucky, Coastal Carolina and other very good teams) As to the automatic bid question, I will defer to Zip_ME87 or Fknbuflobo as they are much more knowledgeable on that question than I am.

Soccer recruiting has changed greatly since the Porter years. Akron used to get a decent amount of top 25 to top 50 recruits from 2007 to 2010. Now, with MLS and MLS Next and foreign leagues. probably 30 out of the top 35 ranked recruits turn pro and do not go to college. Signing the 53th ranked player is an outstanding coup for zips recruiting. In the fall 2022 recruiting class, I believe that Stefan Dobrijevic and Levi Stephens are the 2 highest rated recruits. They are in the range of 89 to 92. For the fall 2021 recruiting class, I think that GK Mitchell Budler was the highest ranked recruit. Mitchell was ranked in the high 50's. I am sure that Joshua Hardin participates in many national soccer events. It would be tremendous if young Mr. Hardin could convince some other top 100 recruits to come to Akron.

The Spartans are coming. Michigan State at Akron on September 5 https://msuspartans.com/news/2022/6/2/spartan-mens-soccer-announces-2022-schedule.aspx

This news came out on May 27th....but I just learned about it today. (thank you Fknbuflobo...for sharing the news) Akron will play Chicago State 1 or 2 times during the Fall 2022 season. The MAC announced that Chicago State would join MAC soccer as an affiliate member This probably will not help the RPI for the Zips. You can see below that Chicago State has recently restarted their soccer program. The Cougars played in the WAC last year and they had a record of 2-13-3. https://getsomemaction.com/news/2022/5/27/chicago-state-to-join-mac-as-affiliate-member-in-mens-soccer.aspx Four full membership institutions (Akron, Bowling Green, Northern Illinois & Western Michigan) will be joined by the Cougars. After a three decade-long hiatus, Chicago State men’s soccer returned to the pitch in 2020. The Cougars played their first full season during the fall of 2021. Norris Howze is currently leading the Cougars as their interim head coach.

the zips will have a tough road game on September 9. They will play the IU Hoosiers in Bloomington IU will then host four consecutive home non-conference matches against Portland (Aug. 30), Notre Dame (Sept. 3) and St. John’s (Sept. 6) in the adidas/IU Credit Union Classic, and Akron (Sept. 9). https://www.thedailyhoosier.com/iu-mens-soccer-announces-2022-schedule/

the athletic director must be talking about an exhibition game he posted this on May 30. 81 days away from May 30...would be August 19. Normally , the mens regular season does not start before the last Friday in August (Friday August 26)

Top Drawer soccer(TDS) is reporting that the Zips have their first recruit from the class of 2023 https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/club-soccer-articles/sima-recruiting-roundup:-may-16-22_aid50813 Class of 2023 D Joshua Hardin (Colorado Rapids) committed to Akron. From my limited research, this is an outstanding recruit for the Zips. Young Mr. Hardin is rated 4 stars by TDS...and Joshua is the 53rd ranked player in TDS's class of 2023. Welcome Joshua Hardin to Zips Nation.