TennZip

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.

Top Drawer soccer is showing a new class of 2022 recruit in this week's recruiting roundup https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/club-soccer-articles/sima-recruiting-roundup:-may-9-15_aid50796 From what I can find, Mansour Diop was part of the Philadelphia Union YSC academy for 2021 (Mitchell Budler was also part of that group) Mansour Diop originally committed to play at Penn State for the fall of 2021. However, he elected to stay as an amateur and play for Union 2. Diop is a 6'5 center back. Originally from Senegal. Moved to the US at age 14. Welcome, Mansour Diop to zips nation.

Will Levi Stephens be a contributor in the fall? Malik Henry as starting right back...and Levi Stephens as starting left back.....sounds like a great duo to me.

totally different from USL there are a lot more por teams now than there used to be MLS Next Pro is a men's professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that is affiliated with Major League Soccer. It launched in 2022 with 21 teams, of which 20 are reserve sides for MLS clubs and the independent Rochester New York FC.

thanks much for update......

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cb3eav3p2Ue/ I know that a few great super zips soccer fans made the trip to Pittsburgh today to support the mighty soccer zips. instagram shows that the zips beat Robert Morris 3-2 goals by Jason Shokalook, Malik Henry and Stefan Dobrijevic

Happy to see Diogo getting an opportunity

Thanks much for sharing.

7 saves by Cam Victor good win for the zips https://www.instagram.com/p/CbEZJArsgmD/

Fknbuflobo and Zip_ME87....thanks for reports from the games in Cleveland. Home game...this Sunday afternoon...the 13th....against the Woverines...go, Zips 72Roo....very encouraged to hear about possible additional defensive help from Europe

it is great to see Levi Stephens as a soccer zip I think that there are 9 different zips shown at this instagram link https://www.instagram.com/p/CanF6aZp4h-/

yes, most definitely....trying to get some playing time for the guys 15 to 30 on the depth chart they are doing the same thing on April 10...

this is a tremendous article on DeAndre I wish the best for this thoughtful, mature young man https://www.espn.com/soccer/united-states-usa/story/4578970/why-deandre-yedlinusmnt-staris-happy-about-mls-return-after-seven-years-in-europe

Huge welcome to the young man from Akron, Ohio Welcome, Levi

very nice to see individual photos Welcome Joel to the zips family

Welcome , Gyuwon

Welcome Grant to the zips soccer family