SBZipfan

Thanks, I will be there!

The weekly free paper here in Santa Barbara, the Independent, has the 2010 Zips on the cover, and a nice article on the upcoming College Cup: https://www.independent.com/news/2018/nov/29/ucsb-prepares-host-its-second-college-cup/ Here's the cover: sbi_cover.pdf

Nearest hotel to UCSB is the Best Western South Coast Inn. I just checked, they have rooms available (I'm surprised) Thurs-Sun for around $200/night. Best rate I saw in a quick search is Sandpiper Lodge at around $120 night. This is a perfectly reasonable place about 8 miles from campus, near a shopping mall. Also near a bus stop for cheapest travel, Uber or taxi also available. Probably have to deal with surge pricing after the game. Head into Isla Vista on foot after the game and find a place to hang out until the crowds go down. There is a actually plenty of affordable dining in or near downtown Santa Barbara proper, about 10 miles from campus. State Street, from the beach up to the 1400 block or so, is filled with restaurants, many quite reasonable (under $20 for a good meal). Google the "funk zone" for more ideas (just off State Street); the Lucky Penny is good. A very famous local taco stand (one praised by Julia Child) is La Super Rica on Milpas St, about a mile from downtown. More great Mexican food at Los Agaves, 3 locations, one on Milpas, one in Goleta. Plenty of beaches to walk along: Goleta Beach Park is near campus, also a pretty good restaurant there, the Beachside Bar Cafe. Try the scallops. Oh, Fish Enterprise downtown SB has great seafood, a little pricier (~$30 to $40 for a full meal) but good & a fun place. That's it off the top of my head for now ...

I hope that happens again. Friday is a work day for me (happily I work at UCSB so I will be on campus!). I can get off early but with the game at 5 PM there won't be a lot of time. In 2010 the Zips were in the late game & I came for that (and of course the final on Sunday after they won), but did not attend any of the pre-game stuff. I'm not on any of the UA mailing lists so please post any details of organized pre-game events here & I will try to make it, thanks!!!

So: is anyone going to be joining me in the stands here in Santa Barbara??? I was out running errands this morning wearing my Zips 2010 College Cup T-shirt when I a woman I walked past said "Go Zips!" I turned around and said "Yes, go Zips!" Turns out they (she was with her husband) were soccer fans in general, and knew that the Zips had beat Stanford yesterday. They'd been rooting for Stanford for the sake of the College Cup attendance; it's true that a Stanford appearance would have brought in many locals with Stanford connections, and travelers down from the Bay Area. So I hope Akron can get as many fans out here as possible!

Amazing! What a great win! On to Santa Barbara!

Zips 2-0!!!!!!!

Zips 1-0!!!!!!

Wish I could go up to Stanford on Friday, but that's a minimum 5-hour drive and work is pressing … cmon Zips, make it back to Santa Barbara! I hope they're practicing their PKs …

Fear the Roo!!!

Goal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 46' Zips lead 1-0!

Great win, congrats to the Zips! Mid season, did anyone think the Sweet Sixteen was a realistic possibility? Getting here is a tribute to this team's inherent talent and resilience.

No streaming! C'mon, you can stream it on Periscope with nothing more than a smartphone. An ESPN sideline reporter once actually did this when a lacrosse game (the ACC championship game) was literally flooded by a sudden rainstorm and had to be moved to another field for the last 10 minutes of the game.

Man, that weather does NOT look fun to play in … kudos to those of you there in person ...

Well I called it correctly on the RPI thread: Akron was in danger of getting bumped out of the top 16 by Denver and Syracuse ... But the forthcoming wins over Cuse and Wake will just make the trip to Santa Barbara all that much sweeter!

Zips have a decent chance of getting a seed and a first round bye, but Denver and Syracuse have good cases also. My guess is that Akron will be left outside the top 16, but I'd be very happy to be proven wrong.

I sure hope so!

A loss to WMU would drop the Zips' RPI down to around 24 or 25, by my calculation. That should still be good enough for an at-large bid. But much better if they take care of business and win the MAC!

Zips win!

Ten minutes to go, still up 3-1 ...

Nice!

Half ends, Zips 2-1

Still 1-1 40' Free ESPN link: http://www.espn.com/watch/_/id/3457406/akron-vs-west-virginia-semifinal WVU goal 11 sec in:

They should just go back to the old top-4 format. The regular season ought to mean something ...

Nice win Zips!