Akron Zips @ Marquette Golden Eagles

[TennZip]

I was at the game

in my opinion, Adam Najem had the best game for the zips. He always seemed to be in the middle when the zips were attacking and he made some very good passes.

In terms of coming back for next year, let's hope that Ismail Seremba can recover well from his injury. He has speed and he was willing to challenge people. I liked what I saw of that young man before his injury.

Andrew Souders and Louis Cross will be solid in the back next year

Marquette did a better job tonight keeping their offense in the middle of the field. Their goalie would pass it up to the 6'7 kid and that defender would kick a long way into the center of the field....that really helped their offense.

Robbie's injury really hurt Akron's ability to attack on both sides.

the article on zips.com....does not mention why Eric Stevenson was out of the lineup.

Akron still plays an attractive style of soccer....so I am confident that Coach Embick will reload and the zips will do well next year

[GoZips]

@GoZips, I'm calling your bluff. I don't think Coach Dambrot sits around criticizing Coach Embick's game strategy any more than Coach Bowden sits around criticizing Coach Dambrot's game strategy or Coach Embick sits around criticizing Coach Bowden's game strategy. Time to fess up and admit you made this up before Coach Embick calls up Coach Dambrot and asks him if you represent Coach Dambrot's official position.

Of course Coach Dambrot does NOT sit around criticizing any other coach. KD and I discussed the tactic of kicking the ball

away on a restart. This conversation took place BEFORE the game with Marquette. It was not about that specific play that

ended the game. It was about the tactic which so often results in an opponent scoring a goal.

Thanks for the criticism. I am often criticized because I am so dumb as to point out the obvious.

[a-zip]

It helps when they play on a field like that. I've played on a field like that, and they might as well of played it in the parking lot. Wouldn't made much of a difference. That's how rough it is. Marquette knows that field, and how it is during this time of year, while Akron doesn't normally play on that type of field. That's the type of home field advantage that is hard to surpass. Was hoping we could just make it to the 2OT as that right half of the field got majority of the possession in the 1st and 2nd half, along with the 1st overtime.

We lost and we were outplayed. The better team won.

The only thing I will say about our 2013 post season is once again we were screwed by the NCAA. If we were properly seeded, we would not have been playing on the "frozen tundra" of Marquette. That is a tremendous home field advantage for them and it showed...... our players did not seem to have their feet under them as well as the Marquette team. Seriously, the way the NCAA handles the seedings almost makes the regular season and conference tournaments moot. They can use the fact that we play in the MAC against us but our SOS is still high. Hell, they say we play in the MAC but if you include post season;

2013 - we played 6 MAC teams, 5 Big 10 teams, 3 Big East teams

2012 - we played 8 MAC teams, and 7 Big 10 teams, with additional games against St. Louis, Creighton, St. Johns, South Florida

Do we really play in the MAC?

No disrespect to Marquette...........Congratulations, well deserved result

[MDZip]

The only thing I will say about our 2013 post season is once again we were screwed by the NCAA.

I originally thought so as well but someone posted the final RPI numbers after all the tournaments earlier in this thread, and the Zips ended up 20th and mostly the teams above them were the top 16 seeds, so the Zips can't complain too much about that part of it so they were gong to get a play in game almost no matter what. Disappointing end to another pretty darn good season.

[Zips Win!]

My hats off to the AK-Rowdies. There were 43 Rowdies who devoted their entire Sunday on an 8-hour bus ride to Marquette to support the Zips, returning back at the JAR at 5:15AM.

The Rowdies were absolutely tremendous in their support of the Zips on Sunday evening. They were fabulous! Their support, school pride and constant cheering was a treat for this old-timer. A big THANK YOU for supporting our Zips.

[oldzip]

I originally thought so as well but someone posted the final RPI numbers after all the tournaments earlier in this thread, and the Zips ended up 20th and mostly the teams above them were the top 16 seeds, so the Zips can't complain too much about that part of it so they were gong to get a play in game almost no matter what. Disappointing end to another pretty darn good season.

I also saw the final RPI rankings and was a bit confused. I follow Akron and Coastal Carolina and in the season ending RPI Coastal was #28 and Akron #18. In the Big South tourney, Coastal played the #102, #113 and #129 RPI teams while Akron played the #95 and #105 RPI teams in the MAC tourney. Yet Coastal finished finished #19 RPI in the RPI and Akron at #20. Based on this example alone the RPI is SERIOUSLY flawed!!!

[schiri]

I also saw the final RPI rankings and was a bit confused. I follow Akron and Coastal Carolina and in the season ending RPI Coastal was #28 and Akron #18. In the Big South tourney, Coastal played the #102, #113 and #129 RPI teams while Akron played the #95 and #105 RPI teams in the MAC tourney. Yet Coastal finished finished #19 RPI in the RPI and Akron at #20. Based on this example alone the RPI is SERIOUSLY flawed!!!

For those of you who were in Milwaukee, exactly what happened after the final whistle?

[MDZip]

My hats off to the AK-Rowdies. There were 43 Rowdies who devoted their entire Sunday on an 8-hour bus ride to Marquette to support the Zips, returning back at the JAR at 5:15AM.

The Rowdies were absolutely tremendous in their support of the Zips on Sunday evening. They were fabulous! Their support, school pride and constant cheering was a treat for this old-timer. A big THANK YOU for supporting our Zips.

Agreed. The "Let's go Zips" was so clear on the stream that even the announcers commented on it. Dang it, was looking forward to cheering with them at Virginia this Sunday.

[skip-zip]

They can use the fact that we play in the MAC against us but our SOS is still high.

I had this discussion about SOS with a friend, who is a typical, brainwashed OSWho Football Honk. He always tries to make the case that the Suckeyes football team is penalized in the national championship picture because of the weakness of their conference, just like Akron in soccer.

But, there is one HUGE difference that I point out all the time. During the OOC part of the schedule, Akron goes out and VOLUNTARILY SCHEDULES top-notch competition. And we do it year in, and year out. Take the 2010 Caleb Porter led Zips, for example. We go on the road and open the season against Wake Forest and North Carolina, and win both games. We played top competition, and beat them. There was no longer a doubt about where Akron stood, as opposed to if we had been running the table with some selected easy wins, and then feasted on our weak conference opponents to post the best record possible. We weren't waiting for teams from other stronger conferences to lose, so that some sports writers could automatically move us up in the polls by way of default.

We should be rewarded in a big way for taking matters into our own hands and proving our worth, and it's not happening. It's a complete mystery to me.

[zippy5]

I had this discussion about SOS with a friend, who is a typical, brainwashed OSWho Football Honk. He always tries to make the case that the Suckeyes football team is penalized in the national championship picture because of the weakness of their conference, just like Akron in soccer.

But, there is one HUGE difference that I point out all the time. During the OOC part of the schedule, Akron goes out and VOLUNTARILY SCHEDULES top-notch competition. And we do it year in, and year out. Take the 2010 Caleb Porter led Zips, for example. We go on the road and open the season against Wake Forest and North Carolina, and win both games. We played top competition, and beat them. There was no longer a doubt about where Akron stood, as opposed to if we had been running the table with some selected easy wins, and then feasted on our weak conference opponents to post the best record possible. We weren't waiting for teams from other stronger conferences to lose, so that some sports writers could automatically move us up in the polls by way of default.

We should be rewarded in a big way for taking matters into our own hands and proving our worth, and it's not happening. It's a complete mystery to me.

Whether you play them in conference or out of conference, the strength of schedule is the same. It's a formula. OSU hampers themselves by not scheduling teams but no one should get an "extra" bump on top of the bump that your RPI gets when you play them.

[TennZip]

My hats off to the AK-Rowdies. There were 43 Rowdies who devoted their entire Sunday on an 8-hour bus ride to Marquette to support the Zips, returning back at the JAR at 5:15AM.

The Rowdies were absolutely tremendous in their support of the Zips on Sunday evening. They were fabulous! Their support, school pride and constant cheering was a treat for this old-timer. A big THANK YOU for supporting our Zips.

they were tremendous. Incredible dedication and support.

[a-zip]

I had this discussion about SOS with a friend, who is a typical, brainwashed OSWho Football Honk. He always tries to make the case that the Suckeyes football team is penalized in the national championship picture because of the weakness of their conference, just like Akron in soccer.

But, there is one HUGE difference that I point out all the time. During the OOC part of the schedule, Akron goes out and VOLUNTARILY SCHEDULES top-notch competition. And we do it year in, and year out. Take the 2010 Caleb Porter led Zips, for example. We go on the road and open the season against Wake Forest and North Carolina, and win both games. We played top competition, and beat them. There was no longer a doubt about where Akron stood, as opposed to if we had been running the table with some selected easy wins, and then feasted on our weak conference opponents to post the best record possible. We weren't waiting for teams from other stronger conferences to lose, so that some sports writers could automatically move us up in the polls by way of default.

We should be rewarded in a big way for taking matters into our own hands and proving our worth, and it's not happening. It's a complete mystery to me.

I just hit the "like" buttonj