NCAA Tournament

[The Hip Zip]

Maryland was the better side tonight. You have to get something going in the box to get the calls to go your way. Hate to lose on a PK but that's soccer.  Their defense was very impressive   I'm proud of  how far this team has come in the past month or so. Don't lose sight of the masterful  coaching job by Embrick that got them there. 

[Let'sGoZips94]

The reverse of '09/'10? Lose in UCSB, win in Cary? 

[GoZips88]

Very proud of our Zips. Congrats to Maryland - the better team tonight. 

[Spin]

A couple of bad calls...

 

Disappointed but still proud of our Zips. 

[bigzipguy]

Any chance we had to tie the game, was taken away by the red card. Good flop kid, bad officiating . Good refs know when a kid is selling it.

[NWAkron]

This was an excellent adventure the UNSEEDED Zips took us on.  Remember that West Virginia and Wake Forest were sitting at home!  Didn't we lose to Virginia on penalty kicks?  Who said it's a cruel sport?  (for someone like me fairly new to the soccer thing, a team winning a national championship on a straight shot penalty kick or on a series of penalty kicks is absurd).  For me it's back to the real cruelty of the MAC basketball season!

[NWAkron]

12 minutes ago, bigzipguy said:

Any chance we had to tie the game, was taken away by the red card. Good flop kid, bad officiating . Good refs know when a kid is selling it.

Wake Forest probably didn't shed a tear for us on that one.

[bUAkronG]

Tough game for sure. Credit to Maryland for keeping us off our game the entire 90 minutes. We never got comfortable. Reminded me a lot of the Stanford game last year. 

 

Regarding the PK, the first one was unfortunately the right call. You don't have to make contact to the opposing player in order for a high kick to be called. Of course the Maryland player made sure it looked like he was kicked.

 

Also, the red card was probably also the right call. Any time you are the last defender and you deny an obvious goal scoring opportunity that is cause for a direct red. 

 

Hats off to the boys for even being in this position. What a great end of the season run. 

[fknbuflobo]

Congratulations Maryland Terrapins! 2018 NCAA National Champions!

 

The better team won tonight, which is not always the case in this sport.  I would still much rather win undeservedly than to lose while deserving victory.  Let's be clear on that point.  But Terps were the better side, if not by much. 

 

The most important tactic on the night is how Maryland anticipated Akron's passing lanes so uncannily in the middle third.  They successfully clogged our possession game.  I guess that should be attributed to Coach Sasho Cirovski, who has seen a thing or two in NCAA Soccer.

 

Both PKs awarded were good calls.  Colin Biros needs to run through that ball, carrying it on his chest out of the box.  Ben Lundt needs to get his hands on that ball as he goes to ground, not try to play it with his feet.  Tough breaks, but fair calls.

 

I would argue with the straight red card to Carlo Ritaccio.  It was definitely a foul.  No doubt the referee's interpretation is that the offensive player had a clear path to goal, and that Ritaccio was last line of defense.  That is how the rule reads.  I have not the heart to quote chapter and verse right now.  Somebody else look it up in the NCAA rule book.  I think Ritaccio just as easily could have instead received a yellow card there.

 

I am tremendously proud of our Staff and of our Players.  No one in this program should hang their head for more than 24 hours.  Spring ball will be here sooner than we think.  And 2019 may be an even better season.  Go Zips!

[SBZipfan]

Well a disappointing end to an otherwise great Zips weekend here in SB. The three key penalties were all called at the far end from the Akron section, and we didn't see what had happened. Good to know they were not terrible calls. 

 

Had a great time before and during the game with 72 Roo and friends. Hope we can do it all again in 2020!

 

And: Stu Parry is one of the nicest people ever. A real class act. 

 

Good show all around, Zips nation! 

[bUAkronG]

3 hours ago, fknbuflobo said:

I would argue with the straight red card to Carlo Ritaccio.  It was definitely a foul.  No doubt the referee's interpretation is that the offensive player had a clear path to goal, and that Ritaccio was last line of defense.  That is how the rule reads.  I have not the heart to quote chapter and verse right now.  Somebody else look it up in the NCAA rule book.  I think Ritaccio just as easily could have instead received a yellow card there.

 

12.7.4.5 Denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity outside the penalty 
area to an opponent whose overall movement is toward the offender's goal 
by an offense punishable by a free kick;

[1981 grad]

On 11/27/2018 at 5:13 PM, ZipsVoice said:

 

 

[1981 grad]

First, the Zips got the benefit of a 50/50 offsides call at the Wake Forest game so I realize that we have to live with the referee's good and bad decisions.  

 

However, most penalty kicks are awarded on flagrant fouls in the box that deprive the team of a clear scoring opportunity.  The first Pk was on a dangerous play that was barely in the box and it did not deprive Maryland of a clear scoring opportunity.  The Maryland player was not injured in any way and clearly sold it.  I have seen referees ignore hand balls in the box because they were unintentional and did not deprive the team of a scoring opportunity.   Most referees considering this was a national championship game tied at zero and that the PK would decide the outcome of the game would have not awarded a penalty kick. 

 

Similarly, the red card was also a questionable call considering it was not a clear breakaway where the Akron player dragged the opposing player from behind.  I know this is sour grapes but the ref made 2 questionable calls that helped decide a national championship game.  

[TennZip]

I am very proud of this group of student athletes and their coaches accomplished.  Good words below from Coach Embick

 

“We’re hurting now, but we’re hurting because we put ourselves in this situation. A month and a half, two months ago, nobody expected it,” UA coach Jared Embick said. “I told the guys, ‘Sports, the champion gets defined by the trophy, but life’s not like that. Your ability to handle setbacks and push forward and pick yourselves up every time you fall down is more what life’s about.’ Unfortunately, we don’t get the moment we wanted, but this team showed a lot of people about perseverance and how you handle adversity. I was really proud of the coaches and players.”

[TennZip]

I don't like the headline....but there are very good quotes from Skye and Coach Embick at the end of the article

 

https://www.ohio.com/sports/20181209/university-of-akron-mens-soccer-zips-fall-short-in-title-game

[TennZip]

 

[Zip_ME87]

21 minutes ago, TennZip said:

I am very proud of this group of student athletes and their coaches accomplished.  Good words below from Coach Embick

 

“We’re hurting now, but we’re hurting because we put ourselves in this situation. A month and a half, two months ago, nobody expected it,” UA coach Jared Embick said. “I told the guys, ‘Sports, the champion gets defined by the trophy, but life’s not like that. Your ability to handle setbacks and push forward and pick yourselves up every time you fall down is more what life’s about.’ Unfortunately, we don’t get the moment we wanted, but this team showed a lot of people about perseverance and how you handle adversity. I was really proud of the coaches and players.”

 

So PROUD of this team. Everyone worked so hard. So much to be thankful for and happy with. Can’t wait til we get going again!!!

[bigzipguy]

!981 Grad:

Your post is 100% correct!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ZipsVoice]

Man...what a ride this has been.  Thanks to a great bunch of young men, thanks to a great coaching staff, thanks to great support from the gameday staff, thanks especially to all the wonderful fans these guys and the program have for making it so special to attend a Zips game, or event.  Thanks to UA for doing the right thing and hosting some nice get togethers three different times during the run.  Thanks to the Ohio.com and Beacon for allowing Brad Bourneval to submit outstanding reporting on the season and the post-season, and for Marla for some great writing at the end.  I'm a HUGE critic, but TennZip has shown me how to be the bigger person and admit when someone does something right, and they definitely improvd from past coverage.  And thanks to all on this board who contribute so much to keeping everyone informed of happenings, inside and outside the touch line, for giving good, solid opinions, for agreeing to disagree sometimes, but most of all thanks again to these wonderful young men and Coach Embick, Coppinger and Kolba.  Thanks for the ride Gentlemen, I don't want to get off...

 

 

[fknbuflobo]

Well said, ZipsVoice.

[bigzipguy]

Great effort by the Zips this year. Putting it together, after all the departures from last years team. More than 200 Div 1 teams in men's college  soccer. Only 1 is left standing at the end.  In the last 10 years, the Zips winning percentage is the best. 

[VAZip]

What a “unsatisfying loss”. You can take it when you get clearly beaten but to lose just because a player lifts his foot too high trying to clear a ball. It’s almost like they should have just flipped a coin and not played the match. Oh well! I did really enjoy watching every second of their run. I have no doubt they will be back next year.

[TennZip]

38 minutes ago, ZipsVoice said:

Man...what a ride this has been.  Thanks to a great bunch of young men, thanks to a great coaching staff, thanks to great support from the gameday staff, thanks especially to all the wonderful fans these guys and the program have for making it so special to attend a Zips game, or event.  Thanks to UA for doing the right thing and hosting some nice get togethers three different times during the run.  Thanks to the Ohio.com and Beacon for allowing Brad Bourneval to submit outstanding reporting on the season and the post-season, and for Marla for some great writing at the end.  I'm a HUGE critic, but TennZip has shown me how to be the bigger person and admit when someone does something right, and they definitely improvd from past coverage.  And thanks to all on this board who contribute so much to keeping everyone informed of happenings, inside and outside the touch line, for giving good, solid opinions, for agreeing to disagree sometimes, but most of all thanks again to these wonderful young men and Coach Embick, Coppinger and Kolba.  Thanks for the ride Gentlemen, I don't want to get off...

 

 

     Work prevented me from making it out to Santa Barbara this year...but I have heard from multiple people that George Van Horne,Matt Newhouse and the entire athletic department did first class work in setting up the events at SeaSide on Friday and Sunday....and also the MLS game watching event on Saturday night.   I have seen on social media...how appreciative that Maverick and his mom  are of the first class, wonderful treatment that they received from George and Matt and the entire athletic department.  The athletic department had a tremendously short time to make arrangements for everything and they worked many long hours to make it happen.   The soccer program is the best and the fans, players and alumni were treated super this weekend.

    No department or person is ever perfect....but the athletic department hit it out of the park with the watch events and their handling of all events in Santa Barbara.    The athletic department and the soccer team and coaches all covered themselves in glory over the past few weeks.

[NWAkron]

10 minutes ago, VAZip said:

What a “unsatisfying loss”. You can take it when you get clearly beaten but to lose just because a player lifts his foot too high trying to clear a ball. It’s almost like they should have just flipped a coin and not played the match. Oh well! I did really enjoy watching every second of their run. I have no doubt they will be back next year.

Agree.  This and a penalty kick after a tied match really crush the souls of people trying to get into the game.   The penalty certainly didn't fit the crime.  And I couldn't understand why he got a straight on kick out of that 

Edited December 10, 2018 by NWAkron

[VAZip]

37 minutes ago, NWAkron said:

Agree.  This and a penalty kick after a tied match really crush the souls of people trying to get into the game.   The penalty certainly didn't fit the crime.  And I couldn't understand why he got a straight on kick out of that 

I’m assuming the penalty was inside the box and from what I understand any penalty in that area warrants a shot from the penalty spot. I’m sure someone can correct me though.