West Virginia leaves the MAC for soccer

[TennZip]

 

[TennZip]

fall 2022

https://www.localdvm.com/sports/gold-and-blue-nation/wvu-mens-soccer-to-join-conference-usa-in-2022/

[72 Roo]

This makes sense for WVU. Conf USA has the potential for greater growth than the MAC. Unfortunately UA is stuck in the MAC. The best thing for us would be for the Mac to drop men's soccer thus freeing us to join a better conference or put together a dynamite independent schedule. 

[BigGreenTruck]

In my eyes (A Marshall Fan), this is a horrible add. WVU has spent more time in the MACs bottom 1/3 (4-6) than anywhere else, four of their 8 years they finished 4-6. 

 

I know it's bad but I was hoping GA State and GA Southern would have went to the SoCon or The Big South. Leaving the MAC to lose their autobid. And the only reason I was rooting for that is I know CUSA could have swooped in and taken the only school worth adding in Akron. If that would have happened CUSA could have butted heads with the ACC for the best soccer conference I think.

 

This is what the line up would have been, last tournament in ():

UAB (2014)

ODU (2017)

FIU (2020)

FAU (2007)

Charlotte (2020)

Marshall (2020)

South Carolina (2015)

Kentucky (2020)

Coastal Carolina (Joining in fall of 2021) (2020)

Akron (2019)

 

That line up could have had the potential to have 5-6 in the Top 25 year in and year out.

[Zip_ME87]

@BigGreenTruck I, too, wish Akron could join Conference USA for men's soccer. Unfortunate that Akron football is so bad, or perhaps we could join Conference USA as a full member.

 

Also, please note, Akron's last NCAA Men's Soccer Tournament appearance was 2018, not 2019. However, 2018 was the last in a string of appearances that dates back to 2007. 5 College Cup appearances since 2009.

[BigGreenTruck]

44 minutes ago, Zip_ME87 said:

@BigGreenTruck I, too, wish Akron could join Conference USA for men's soccer. Unfortunate that Akron football is so bad, or perhaps we could join Conference USA as a full member.

 

Also, please note, Akron's last NCAA Men's Soccer Tournament appearance was 2018, not 2019. However, 2018 was the last in a string of appearances that dates back to 2007. 5 College Cup appearances since 2009.

Yeah I noticed my mistake after I posted it on your last NCAA. In 2019 was the 1st time Marshall actually made the NCAA Tournament and they were seeded 11th. And well our first game in the tournament was WVU as 2,132 came out to watch Marshall defeat the MAC champ 2-1.  Your last NCAA may have been 2018 but you done something a lot of schools only dream of and that was make the College Cup Finals.  For example Penn State has made the tournament 33 times and have never made the finals and have only made the College Cup semi's once, in 1979 or  41 years ago, the University of Washington has made the tournament 26 time and the furthest they have been is the Elite 8 or quarterfinals. WVU has made the tournament 14 times since 1961 but has yet to make it past the 2nd round.

 

Also Akron has a National Championship, something only 26 schools can say. And in that, 2 schools don't even belong  DI anymore in West Chester (1961. Last year DI 1969) and Hartwick (1977, Last year DI 2018).

[Zip_ME87]

2 hours ago, BigGreenTruck said:

Yeah I noticed my mistake after I posted it on your last NCAA. In 2019 was the 1st time Marshall actually made the NCAA Tournament and they were seeded 11th. And well our first game in the tournament was WVU as 2,132 came out to watch Marshall defeat the MAC champ 2-1.  Your last NCAA may have been 2018 but you done something a lot of schools only dream of and that was make the College Cup Finals.  For example Penn State has made the tournament 33 times and have never made the finals and have only made the College Cup semi's once, in 1979 or  41 years ago, the University of Washington has made the tournament 26 time and the furthest they have been is the Elite 8 or quarterfinals. WVU has made the tournament 14 times since 1961 but has yet to make it past the 2nd round.

 

Also Akron has a National Championship, something only 26 schools can say. And in that, 2 schools don't even belong  DI anymore in West Chester (1961. Last year DI 1969) and Hartwick (1977, Last year DI 2018).

 

Oh, believe me, I know how special Akron Men's Soccer is. By the way, congratulations on Marshall winning the National Championship this Spring. I was cheering for you. Attending the Marshall-Akron match at Marshall in 2019 and the match at Akron this Spring, I realized how good Marshall had become.

 

Akron's College Cups

  1986 Runner up to Duke

  2009 Runner up to Virginia (Akron gave up 0 goals in the NCAA Tourney)

  2010 National Champions

  2015

  2017

  2018 Runner up to Maryland

I've been fortunate to attend all but the 1986 College Cup.

 

2 Hermann Trophy winners (Teal Bunbury, Darlington Nagbe)

Numerous pro players, including 1 in EPL

Several USMNT players; 1 in the 2014 World Cup

 

 

 

 

[BigGreenTruck]

7 hours ago, Zip_ME87 said:

 

Oh, believe me, I know how special Akron Men's Soccer is. By the way, congratulations on Marshall winning the National Championship this Spring. I was cheering for you. Attending the Marshall-Akron match at Marshall in 2019 and the match at Akron this Spring, I realized how good Marshall had become.

 

Akron's College Cups

  1986 Runner up to Duke

  2009 Runner up to Virginia (Akron gave up 0 goals in the NCAA Tourney)

  2010 National Champions

  2015

  2017

  2018 Runner up to Maryland

I've been fortunate to attend all but the 1986 College Cup.

 

2 Hermann Trophy winners (Teal Bunbury, Darlington Nagbe)

Numerous pro players, including 1 in EPL

Several USMNT players; 1 in the 2014 World Cup

 

 

 

 

I understand just how dominate Akron has been.

 

And since last month I see the reason no one outside of Indiana actually roots for them. After Marshall won the national championship, I plus others have run into nothing but "Entitled Soccer Mom Karen and Chad's". One even had the nerve to claim we "Bought Our Title, with Grown Men". He claimed since Marshall is heavily international (All but 1 stater is international), that we were playing 25-27 year olds. When I proved to him that the oldest player on our roster was a 23 year old senior (And the avg roster age was 21) and he was already drafted to Sporting KC and was gone now. It shut him up somewhat. But at the same time I also pointed out that Marshall had just become a decent program and that only one of the 2 programs of Marshall and Indiana was going to get the 4-5 star HS kids and only one program is going to get the MLS Academy kids, and it wasn't Marshall. So for Coach Grassie to play with the top schools he had to recruit internationally or be left out.

 

Also the announcing in that game was so one sided for Indiana it was crazy. They questioned Marshall's schedule. Marshall was 4-1 against the top 25 with wins over #11 Kentucky. #12 Charlotte, #17 Charlotte (2), #24 FIU and a loss to #6 Akron. They didn't bring up Indiana's schedule which included no OOC schedule and one, count them one game against a top 25 team, #16 Michigan, and it took Indiana 119 and 52 seconds to win, yeah they scored with 8 seconds to go in OT 2. They claimed that the jersey you wore mattered and all the prestige was on Indiana's side. As one of our players said in the press conference after the game "We didn't know or even want to know their history, the fact is none of them on the pitch tonight had never won a college national championship, so the jersey didn't intimidate us like it would some".

 

If you would have told me 10 years ago that one day Marshall soccer was going to win a national title I would have probably looked at you a lil strangely. Just 18 years ago Marshall was 24 hours from cutting men's soccer. If the asst AD at the time wasn't a former soccer player at Marshall and hadn't blown the whistle on what was about to happen to the 3 major papers in Huntington and Charleston, the program would be gone.

[Blue & Gold]

I wish Marshall was back in the MAC.  I miss the rivalry.

[TennZip]

11 hours ago, BigGreenTruck said:

I understand just how dominate Akron has been.

 

And since last month I see the reason no one outside of Indiana actually roots for them. After Marshall won the national championship, I plus others have run into nothing but "Entitled Soccer Mom Karen and Chad's". One even had the nerve to claim we "Bought Our Title, with Grown Men". He claimed since Marshall is heavily international (All but 1 stater is international), that we were playing 25-27 year olds. When I proved to him that the oldest player on our roster was a 23 year old senior (And the avg roster age was 21) and he was already drafted to Sporting KC and was gone now. It shut him up somewhat. But at the same time I also pointed out that Marshall had just become a decent program and that only one of the 2 programs of Marshall and Indiana was going to get the 4-5 star HS kids and only one program is going to get the MLS Academy kids, and it wasn't Marshall. So for Coach Grassie to play with the top schools he had to recruit internationally or be left out.

 

Also the announcing in that game was so one sided for Indiana it was crazy. They questioned Marshall's schedule. Marshall was 4-1 against the top 25 with wins over #11 Kentucky. #12 Charlotte, #17 Charlotte (2), #24 FIU and a loss to #6 Akron. They didn't bring up Indiana's schedule which included no OOC schedule and one, count them one game against a top 25 team, #16 Michigan, and it took Indiana 119 and 52 seconds to win, yeah they scored with 8 seconds to go in OT 2. They claimed that the jersey you wore mattered and all the prestige was on Indiana's side. As one of our players said in the press conference after the game "We didn't know or even want to know their history, the fact is none of them on the pitch tonight had never won a college national championship, so the jersey didn't intimidate us like it would some".

 

If you would have told me 10 years ago that one day Marshall soccer was going to win a national title I would have probably looked at you a lil strangely. Just 18 years ago Marshall was 24 hours from cutting men's soccer. If the asst AD at the time wasn't a former soccer player at Marshall and hadn't blown the whistle on what was about to happen to the 3 major papers in Huntington and Charleston, the program would be gone.

did not know about soccer almost being cut there....

Coach Grassie, Coach Porter and Coach Embick deserve a ton of credit for competing against the big guys

I will always root for schools like Marshall and Akron

[zippypitt]

CUSA would be a GREAT fit for UA soccer.  Outside of BGSU, there is ZERO appeal to remaining in the MAC.  Maybe the conference will do us a favor and drop the sport?

[MDZip]

22 hours ago, Zip_ME87 said:

Akron's College Cups

  1986 Runner up to Duke

  2009 Runner up to Virginia (Akron gave up 0 goals in the NCAA Tourney)

  2010 National Champions

  2015

  2017

  2018 Runner up to Maryland

I've been fortunate to attend all but the 1986 College Cup.

 

2 Hermann Trophy winners (Teal Bunbury, Darlington Nagbe)

Also also missed 1986 (and 2015) but have been to the others. My daughter is a Maryland grad so while I was disappointed to not win the title in 2018, it was pretty cool to be with her to watch her school win a title as a consolation prize. I also have a poster from 2009 where Bunbury and Nagbe signed right next to each other. Kinda cool. But I completely agree happy (and kind of stunned) to see a school like Marshall win the National Championship (especially over a blue blood like Indiana, love when a mid-major does that). I say that because as BGT points out Marshall did not have a great soccer history. Akron had a pretty strong history long before finally winning the title. Congrats to the Thundering Herd hope they hard a large contingent at the final.  

[Zip_ME87]

1 minute ago, MDZip said:

Congrats to the Thundering Herd; hope they had a large contingent at the final.  

 

I watched. There was an outstanding crowd of Marshall fans at the final. Great support for the Herd. Cary, NC is not a bad drive from Huntington, WV (5 to 6 hours).

[BigGreenTruck]

26 minutes ago, MDZip said:

 But I completely agree happy (and kind of stunned) to see a school like Marshall win the National Championship (especially over a blue blood like Indiana, love when a mid-major does that). I say that because as BGT points out Marshall did not have a great soccer history. Akron had a pretty strong history long before finally winning the title. Congrats to the Thundering Herd hope they hard a large contingent at the final.  

I was very surprised at Todd Yagley's coaching or even coaching system/style. Marshall's coach Chris Grassie plays a possession based style while attacking when you have the numbers. Coach Grassie will even play side to side if that is all you give him. He has said that if you do that long enough you will run the other team ragged and a mistake will happen. In the title game Indiana  rarely contested Marshall for the ball and only trying to score on the counter. Marshall had possession of the ball in the title game 73% of the time. Other stats: Shots: Marshall 13, Indiana 8, Shots on Goal: Marshall 8, Indiana 1, Fouls Marshall 13, Indiana 14, Yellow Cards: Marshall 4, Indiana 3, Corner Kicks: Marshall 7, Indiana 2. And the most important stat: Marshall 1, Indiana 0 on the scoreboard. Also Indiana only had 1 shot in the 2nd half, coming at the 56:28 mark of the 2nd. Considering the game went to OT and ended at the 98 minute mark, Indiana only had 1 shot in the last 42 minutes of play.

 

17 minutes ago, Zip_ME87 said:

 

I watched. There was an outstanding crowd of Marshall fans at the final. Great support for the Herd. Cary, NC is not a bad drive from Huntington, WV (5 to 6 hours).

There was 5,000 tickets that were sold. WakeMed Soccer Complex main stadium holds 10,000. At least 4700 of those 5,000 were Marshall fans. Those there also said the parking lot was full of Marshall fans that couldn't get in the game too. If the complex could have sold all 10,000 tickets I would estimate that 9500-9600 would have been Marshall fans. Besides Huntington only being 5 1/2 hours away from Cary NC, Charlotte and Grensboro/High Point have a high concentration of Marshall alums.

[Zip_ME87]

On 6/16/2021 at 12:05 PM, BigGreenTruck said:

There was 5,000 tickets that were sold. WakeMed Soccer Complex main stadium holds 10,000. At least 4700 of those 5,000 were Marshall fans. Those there also said the parking lot was full of Marshall fans that couldn't get in the game too. If the complex could have sold all 10,000 tickets I would estimate that 9500-9600 would have been Marshall fans. Besides Huntington only being 5 1/2 hours away from Cary NC, Charlotte and Grensboro/High Point have a high concentration of Marshall alums.

 

The crowd can be seen a few pages in ...  https://digital.learfieldimgcollege.com/marshall-soccer-championship-guide.html

 

Edited June 29, 2021 by Zip_ME87

[BigGreenTruck]

4 hours ago, Zip_ME87 said:

 

The crowd can be seen a few pages in ...  https://digital.learfieldimgcollege.com/marshall-soccer-championship-guide.html

 

On YouTube there is also a small 5 part series titled "Road To Cary" which chronicles the march to the title. It starts out with the countdown to last regular season win over #12 Charlotte which gave Marshall the CUSA title. Going into the game Charlotte was up 1/2 game and 1 point. A win or tie gives the auto bid to and Conference title to Charlotte. Each piece covers a win in the tournament.

 

This should start you: Road To Cary