TennZip

Bowling Green moves up to number 14 in this week’s coaches poll https://unitedsoccercoaches.org/rankings/college-rankings/ncaa-di-men/

Wolverines really packing it in. 0-0 at half time no corner kicks for either team..... regular starter Renato Kauzlaric not playing tonight. Zips really missing his good distribution from the middle. Malik Henry had a really good first half. good commentators....Chad Welker doing a good job....not sure...who his partner is tonight

great summary of the current standings...and the remaining schedules for each team. Akron home game against Bowling Green is the biggest "MUST WIN CONFERENCE GAME" in many, many years NIU is now probably the team in the best position to host the conference tourney...as they have already played West Virginia and BGSU

Relentless https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/sports/2021/10/13/university-akron-earns-2-1-mens-soccer-win-over-penn-state-ryan-kingsford-dyson-clapier-jared-embick/6100443001/

While the game was going on, I looked at the interactive RPI report. Penn State was 22 ; Akron was 28.. There are still about 10 west coast games to be played later tonight But as of right now, Penn State dropped to 28 in the RPI. Our zips played very well tonight and they are currently sitting at 21 in the RPI. 2 huge games next week....Michigan and BGSU. I sure hope that the zips athletic department heavily promotes the BGSU game. Zips have to get a win in that game....and they need the students and community to come out and support the Zips.

3 MAC Teams in top 25 or coaches poll....and none of them are the 6-3-2 Zips The zips did not even receive a single vote this week https://unitedsoccercoaches.org/rankings/college-rankings/ncaa-di-men/

Penn State right now is first in the big ten with a 4-0-0 record. Wisconsin is 2nd with 3-0-1 and Maryland is 3rd with 3-1-1 record. A win against the Nittanys would also help the zips in RPI. Penn State is 22 in RPI right now. October 18 opponent Michigan is 2-2-1 in BTen and 44 in rpi Looking at MAC teams and current RPIS BGSU 24 Akron 32 (win over Pitt is really helping them as Pitt keeps knocking off high ranked ACC teams) WVU 38 GA State 47 NIU 58 Ga Southern 88 W. Michigan 135

Northern Illinois has only lost 1 game all year Bowling Green crushed Georgia southern tonight 4-0 2-0 northern Illinois will host 2-0 bowling green next Saturday night in an early battle for first place in the MAC

https://gozips.com/news/2021/10/5/mens-soccer-akron-mens-soccer-announces-upcoming-scheduling-change.aspx

https://unitedsoccercoaches.org/rankings/college-rankings/ncaa-di-men/ last week, the zips were #26 in the coaches poll zips played one match and they tied #3 West Virginia I expected the zips to move back into the top 25. I was wrong zips drop to #29

Will Meyer selected https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer-articles/mens-team-of-the-week:-october-5_aid49970

Don’t be misled by Michigan’s record they lost 1-0 to 11-0-0 New Hampshire they lost 1-0 to 8-1-0 Duke they lost 2-1 to 7-1-1 Maryland in other games of interest last night Penn state 1. Michigan state 0 Goal at 87. Mich state player got a red card at 57 pitt 3 Syracuse 2 golden goal at 108:57

Northern Illinois improves to 9-1-0 with a 3-0 conference win over western Michigan western Michigan drops to 2-4-4 bowling green, Georgia state and Georgia southern do not play their first conference game until October 7

Tremendous effort for 110 minutes. This team has so much to be proud of. I am very glad that they have a week off before their next match. Clapier and Pacheco really battled defensively...as well as on the offensive side of the pitch. I still have no idea...how UNC let Malik Henry go. I love all the skills that he brings to the zips. Coming into the game, WVU was 21 in RPI and Akron was 35 After the tie, WVU is 22 and Akron rises to 25. This could have been the zips best game of the year from their midfield players. Kingsford, Kauzlaric, Fitzgerald and Samu.......all had some outstanding moments....and zips were very competitive on 50/50 balls

West Virginia back 4 ....are great at 1 on 1 defending. West Virginia is the best defensive team that I have seen this year. Akron really played well over the last 30 minutes. Guys are really hustling and pressing the ball...is providing opportunities. Samu Siemens Brega has really done well at HMF

Ohio State 2 number 17 bowling Green 1 Golden goal in 2nd overtime marshall 2. Butler 0 UNC Wilmington 2. North Carolina 1 monday night St Marys 1. Stanford 0 Stanford now 3-4-1

https://unitedsoccercoaches.org/rankings/college-rankings/ncaa-di-men/ In the United Soccer coaches poll, the West Virginia moved up to #3 in this week's rankings (they were #4 last week) One of the 24 coaches voting...voted West Virginia as #1. The Zips dropped from #20 in last week's ranking.....to #26 The soccer coaches rate the Zips as the 3rd best team in the MAC. Bowling Green is 7-1-1 and stayed at #17 in the weekly rankings. To side track for just a second...it is interesting to look at some big name schools that are not in the top 25. Indiana is #30 ; North Carolina is #31 ; Stanford is #34 ; Wake Forest is #40 Getting back to West Virginia West Virginia is 6-0-2......and is a team that is fully capable of reaching the college cup in December I think that it is safe to say (that if you exclude Akron teams), this is the best MAC team in the past 15 years This is the toughest MAC season opener that any Zip team has ever faced. West Virginia began this season with a huge chip on their shoulder. West Virginia deserved a berth in last year's NCAA tourney. They had a regular season win over eventual NCAA champion Marshall and they thoroughly destroyed at large selection Charlotte 3-0. West Virginia ended the year around #15 in RPI. West Virginia deserved to be in last spring's NCAA tourney West Virginia did not receive one top 25 vote in the preseason coaches poll. WVA is 6-0-2 they started the year with a 2-0 win over Robert Morris. In their 2nd game, they hosted then #3 rated Pitt. WVU came away with a 2-1 win 3rd game, they hosted then #17 ranked Penn State. WVU won that game 3-1 On Labor day, they hosted Loyola (MD). That game ended 0-0 5th game, they hosted the Ohio State Buckeyes. WVU added another shutout in a 1-0 win they then travelled to #6 Marshall. After 110 minutes, it was a 2-2 result On Sept. 21, they hosted Dayton and WVU won 3-0 On Sept. 25, they hosted St. Bonaventure and WVU dominated in a 4-0 win. in 5 of their 8 games, they have shutout their opponent. They have only allowed goals to Pitt, Penn State, and Marshall. (2 of those 3 teams were ranked in the top 6, other team was ranked #17) 17 goals scores in 8 games. Only 4 goals allowed. West Virginia coach Dan Stratford is one of the great young soccer coaches in the game https://wvusports.com/sports/mens-soccer/roster/coaches/dan-stratford/3999 3 years at the University of Charleston (WV) - 61-4-5 record....Division II national champion in 2 out of 3 years This is his 2nd season as WVU coach. This is a team with great depth. 11 different players have scored goals for them. Yoran Popovic leads them with 3 goals. Frederik Jorgenson has 2 goals and 2 assists. Kevin Morris has 2 goals and 1 assist. Pau Jimenez Abelda has 1 goal and 3 assists. The zips will have to get off to a quick start in this game. In the past 2 games, Malik Henry has been fantastic early on and put the ball on a forwards foot in the first 5 minutes of both games. In both games, the zips striker did not convert. To use a Jared Embick term, the zips need to be very clinical and put the ball in the net early in the game. The zips were not at full strength - player wise against Yale. Hopefully, all of the backline players are back healthy. The zips have proven that they can compete with Indiana and Pitt. West Virginia is every bit as good....possibly better than last year's college cup teams. The zips can get a win......But they need to regain their confidence....BE CLINICAL early in the game. Huge Challenge for a young team. Go, Zips !!!

Pitt had an outstanding 2-0 win over Clemson. coming into this week, Clemson was 7-0-0 and 2-0 in ACC. Ranked 2nd in coaches poll Pitt is 15 in RPI Maryland 2 Ohio State 1 5-0-1 Kentucky went to play last night at Marshall 0-0 result after 110 minutes. Kentucky led 5-1 in shots on goal. Marshall did not have a shot on goal in first 100 minutes Marshall is currently 4 in RPI ; Kentucky is 7 Duke improved to 6-1-0 with a 1-0 win over Colin Biros and Syracuse Northern Illinois improved to 8-1-0 with a 1-0 win over Green Bay. NIU strength of schedule must not be great as their RPI is 85. West Virginia (zips next opponent) improved to 6-0-2 with a 4-0 win over St. Bonaventure. WVU RPI is 26 Georgia State (a new MAC team) improved to 6-2-0 with 2-1 win over Wofford. GSU rpi is 73 Friday night, Bowling Green improved to 7-1-1 with a 2-1 win over 0-5-2 Canisius. BGSU appears to be the highest rated MAC RPI team at 21 After last night's win, the Zips RPI is 34.

The Yale Bulldogs come into Saturday's match up with a 3-2-0 record. on Tuesday night, Yale had an impressive 2-0 win over ACC team Boston College (BC had played Notre Dame to a 1-1 tie earlier in the year) Yale started their season with a 3-2 road win over Fairfield In their 2nd game, they traveled to Villanova and Villanova was a 2-1 winner (Villanova is 5-2 this year and has a winner over Marquette) In their first home match, Yale defeated U Mass Lowell 4-1 their 4th match was at UConn ...and UConn was a 4-0 winner The Yale coach was understandably very happy with his team with their win this week over a 2019 NCAA soccer team (Boston College) https://yalebulldogs.com/news/2021/9/21/mens-soccer-bulldogs-blank-boston-college-2-0.aspx The Yale-BC game was a rematch of the 2019 first round NCAA Tournament game won by BC in Chestnut Hill, Mass. "This is a great result for the program, and I'm really happy for the current guys, as well as the guys from the 2019 team that would have loved to be back for this one," said Kylie Stannard, the 5K Corral Head Coach of the Bulldogs. "We challenged the guys to respond after a disappointing performance last week [4-0 loss at UConn] and they absolutely stepped up and we couldn't ask for much more. We needed to get back to being difficult to play against, and we absolutely did that tonight. I am especially happy with the shutout tonight and our guys did well to dig in for the last few minutes."

As a fan of a mid major soccer team, I will be rooting for both Marshall and Akron to do well. Marshall plays an attractive brand of soccer as they try to get goals from the run of play. Good luck to the herd for the rest of the year.

I like your positive post. Let's give a lot of credit to Marshall for how the zips looked last night. Marshall is a scary good offensive team. Marshall defenders did a very good job of "dis-possessing the zips in 1 v. 1 defending. I fully expect that Marshall will be in Cary in December for the college cup. There is no question that this Akron team will be better in November than they are right now. The MAC has 3 teams in the top 20 of the coaches poll...West Virginia at 4, Bowling Green at 17 and Akron at 20. As you can see below in the Marshall comments, Marshall has played all 3. WVU played Marshall to a 2-2 tie, BGSU and Marshall were tied 0-0 after 88 minutes with Marshall winning 1-0. West Virginia is going to be a brutal first conference game for the zips. That being said, the young zips need to concentrate on Yale and get a win on Saturday night before they can even think about conference play. There are positives for the zips. Malik Henry had some excellent moments last night. Malik started the game at right winger and put the ball on a zips striker foot...in front of the goal 5 minutes into the match. If the zips had been able to get on the board there, that would have provided a lot of confidence and momentum. Malik looked like he moved to right defensive back in the 2nd half. Malik was a huge factor in several good zip counter attacks in the 2nd half. I am sure that Jared and the coaches will find the best position for Malik but I am excited about this young man's potential and skill set. Will Meyer has kept the zips in games this year.....with very good saves. Will made back to back saves at 13 minutes and 14 minutes into the first half to prevent the game from getting out of hand. The zips are very fortunate to have 3 very good center backs. In the first half, Carlo and Jonas Buechte were the CBS with Daniel Strachan at HMF. Daniel and Jonas were the CBS in the 2nd half. I love all 3 guys.....but this team is better with Daniel playing center back. His steady veteran presence and great decision making provide this young team with the structure that they need. The zips need to get back to death by 1,000 passes...possession soccer and spreading the field. Right now, the zips are trying to pass from the defensive backs up to the forward/wingers. Renato and Wan Kuzri can be good distributors/passers. Pacheco, Clapier, Shokalook and Kingsford.....are having to battle 1 vs. 2 when they are now getting long passes from the defenders. All 4 are very talented and they will start to jell with the midfielders. The talent is here. Looking forward to seeing this team improve during the season. https://herdzone.com/news/2021/9/21/mens-soccer-no-5-mens-soccer-blanks-no-20-akron-2-0.aspx "We definitely needed the win tonight," Herd head coach Chris Grassie said. "We played three top 20 teams from the MAC in Bowling Green, WVU and Akron. Two wins and a tie from that stretch is fantastic. "We talked to the guys about this game being a fight and it really was today. You saw how open the game was at times. I think we had about seven or eight breakaways, they had three or four that they could have had pretty good goals. And I think we had to pick those moments to fight and those moments to play. It was important for us to stay mentally focused. The guys were definitely up for the fight today and did a great job."

In the coaches poll, the zips dropped from #7 down to #20 Marshall is at #5 Go, Zips !!!! https://unitedsoccercoaches.org/rankings/college-rankings/ncaa-di-men/

Rutgers improves to 6-0-1 wake forest improves to 3-2-0 with a 3-1 win over Pitt Bowling Green moves up to number 15 in RPI with a 2-0 win over Fla international Fla intl was 4-0-1 before tonight fla intl is number 21 in RPI after their first loss

Excellent substantive comments by both 72roo and Zip_ME87. I hope that Charles Guthrie reads their comments and learns from this huge missed opportunity. On a brighter note, very nice picture.

Before yesterday's game, Akron was #17 in RPI Ohio State was #147 in RPI (only 208 div. 1 teams) after yesterday's no energy effort, the zips are #49 in RPI and Ohio State is #96 Marshall is #13 currently in RPI Next Tuesday....will be a big game