Game 7 - Providence Friars vs. #3 Akron Zips, Big East Debut

[fknbuflobo]

45 minutes ago, Reslife4Life said:

Bring back Overtime!

@Reslife4Life

I tried to give you a thumbs down, but ZNo instead put up a heart.

For some reason it will not allow me to change it.

 

I write this opinion with the full realization that many will disagree.

 

NCAA should adopt all FIFA rules and regulations that are not directly against NCAA charter.

Play the real game.

 

One of those rules is the draw, which was wisely adopted last year (?) by NCAA.

 

In a compressed schedule, playing every 4 days, students need not play an extra half hour.

 

More importantly, a draw, or splitting of the points, is a venerable and integral facet of the sport that never should have been tampered with in the first place.

There are things in this world that are not improved by Americanization.

Add up the points at the end of the season.  3 for victory; 1 for draw.

In so many ways Futbol is different from other sports.

The drama of the draw is accentuated by the sport's inherently low scoring.

Who among us did not jump to our feet when Daragh Reilly scored?

And did the Zips deserve to win?  Meh... probably not so much.

 

For whatever it is worth, I think Zips would have won in sudden death OT.

We had momentum at the end.

 

[Zip_ME87]

19 minutes ago, fknbuflobo said:

@Reslife4Life

I tried to give you a thumbs down, but ZNo instead put up a heart. For some reason it will not allow me to change it. I write this opinion with the full realization that many will disagree. NCAA should adopt all FIFA rules and regulations that are not directly against NCAA charter.

Play the real game. One of those rules is the draw, which was wisely adopted last year (?) by NCAA. In a compressed schedule, playing every 4 days, students need not play an extra half hour.

 

More importantly, a draw, or splitting of the points, is a venerable and integral facet of the sport that never should have been tampered with in the first place. There are things in this world that are not improved by Americanization. Add up the points at the end of the season.  3 for victory; 1 for draw.

In so many ways Futbol is different from other sports. The drama of the draw is accentuated by the sport's inherently low scoring.

 

 

I agree not because you wrote this, but I prefer staying as true to FIFA rules as possible as well as the collegiate compressed schedule. MLSNEXT Pro drives me insane with awarding a point for a draw and then going to PKs and awarding an extra point to the team that wins the PK shootout. I hate PK shootouts...no sane league would ever add more PK shootouts than necessary.

 

[fknbuflobo]

14 minutes ago, Zip_ME87 said:

 

I agree not because you wrote this, but I prefer staying as true to FIFA rules as possible as well as the collegiate compressed schedule. MLSNEXT Pro drives me insane with awarding a point for a draw and then going to PKs and awarding an extra point to the team that wins the PK shootout. I hate PK shootouts...no sane league would ever add more PK shootouts than necessary.

 

What?!?!  That sounds crazy.  I had no idea.

[Zip_ME87]

18 minutes ago, fknbuflobo said:

What?!?!  That sounds crazy.  I had no idea.

 

https://www.mlsnextpro.com/about/competition-guidelines

 

POINT SYSTEM: Clubs will receive three points for a win in regulation, at least one point for a tie and zero points for a loss. Any match which ends in a draw in normal time will go to a shootout using kicks from the penalty mark (KFPM) to determine the winner. Both teams will receive one point for the tie and the team winning the KFPM will receive an additional one point.

 

To keep this relevant to a Zips Mens Soccer discussion, this was also the rule in the Spring Exhibition Season in which the Zips competed in the College Spring League. (* Teams earn 3 points for a win, 2 points for a shootout win & 1 point for a shootout loss)

 

Edited September 16, 2023 by Zip_ME87

[fknbuflobo]

I would be remiss in failing to applaud our coaching staff for making two critical in-game adjustments.

 

Alejandro Varela entered the match at HT, playing HMF.

Our offense immediately opened up and stayed open for the rest of the match.

He is adept at efficiently distributing the ball from defense to offense, mostly on the floor.

And keeping possession.

And playing a very receivable ball.

Somewhat counter-intuitively, Nano is only average at 1v1 defending, but his defensive positioning is good enough.

HMF is not all about defending.

He reminds me of Wil Trapp, which is high praise in my book.

This match was Nano's best (so far) for Zips.

 

Sometime in the last half hour Zips changed formation to a 3-man back line.

Joel Sangwa reentered the match at RCB, I guess one would call it.

3-2-4-1 ?? 

3-2-3-2 ?? 

I'm asking.

This gave us an extra body in the offense.

It also limited our opportunities for monkey-spanking along the back line.

We play the ball laterally across the back too much for my taste.

The 3-man back line serves to save us from ourselves.

This begs the question:  Should we play a 3-man back line from the starting whistle?

If 3 of our best 11 players are CBs, then maybe so.

Daragh Reilly is making it a legitimate question.

 

[YipaZip]

Very lackluster first half performance from the Zips. Credit to Embick and the staff at half time because the difference in the team after the break was easy to see. 
 

Zips were flying from 2nd half onwards. I always felt that we could score goals with Paulus, Shokalook and Malik playing in the attack. 
 

By the end of the 90, I felt we deserved to win. A lot of opportunities for goals with the Prov goalkeeper making 2 nice saves on Shokalook head chances. 
 

Also, seeing Will Jackson playing striker brought back some memories! 

[TennZip]

The Beacon has started making their articles subscriber only

 

https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/sports/college/zips/2023/09/16/ncaa-mens-soccer-akron-providence-big-east-opener-josh-hallenberger-jason-shokalook-daragh-reilly/70855557007/

 

I will copy the one allowable short snippet that I am allowed to copy (per board guidelines)

"This was a tale of two halves," Embick said. "First half, they were better. They were able to jump us and get the early lead. Second half, we just kept coming and wouldn't give in until we were able to at least get a result. Tremendous mentality from our group and tremendous belief. ... To come back from 2-0 and 3-1, two different two-goal leads, I think says a lot about this group."

Embick said his message at halftime wasn't anything fancy.

"When we are dialed in and locked in on our job and helping teammates and communicating, we have a very good team, a brilliant team that is very tough to compete against, but when we are not locked in we can be vulnerable," Embick said. "The goal at halftime was to find a solution in terms of personnel and get the guys in the right mindset."

[TennZip]

Stefan Dobrijevic has made a tremendous amount of improvement from his first year to his 2nd year.

 

This hard working young man....just keeps earning more and more playing time.   Congratulations, Stefan.

 

   I can not say enough good things about tri-captain Josef Paulus.  When I first saw the Hinckley native play, I never expected that he would become a super key player for the Akron Zips.    Josef has improved an incredible amount during his time at Akron U.   Josef has become a great leader on the field.

[Reslife4Life]

 

Edited September 16, 2023 by Reslife4Life

[zippy-claws]

19 hours ago, fknbuflobo said:

From my vantage in my home office (basement), both PK awards were bogus.  No?

 

One of the interesting things about being in the Big East is, they seem to treat men's soccer as a major sport, and the referee was new to Akron matches.  The ref assts were local as was the 4th.  They spent a lot of time pre-match walking the field, with the Big Guy pointing things out, measuring things, talking to timing, ball handlers, game staff, way before kickoff.  I'd love your opinion on FloSports broadcast, but they certainly had a nice production presence, and the League had personnel at FES.  The only time you ever saw MAC staff at a match was during the tournament.  Long lead in into your question, I know...

 

The other interesting thing was the presence of VAR, something I've never seen used at FES, the MAC or last year's NCAA.  And both Penalties were reviewed by VAR and by two of the 3 on-field officials.  So, I would tend to think they must not have been bogus, given the video confirmation.  Maybe the VAR was inconclusive and didn't over rule.  But boy, "Welcome to The Big East" has sure been an eye-opener as to the professionalism, and for the competition.

[zippy-claws]

Going back to FLA tonight, thinking about FloSports for Tuesday.  Anyone had any experience yet, and if so, is it worth the $30/month?

[Blue & Gold]

1 hour ago, zippy-claws said:

Going back to FLA tonight, thinking about FloSports for Tuesday.  Anyone had any experience yet, and if so, is it worth the $30/month?

I bit the bullet for it. If you like Akron Soccer then it's worth $30/month.  I'm not able to make all the matches... and often simply choose not to attend in person when the weather turns... so it's nice to be able to not miss the action. The audio is only Chad Welker commentating... he does a better job than I would... but... it's underwhelming. The video is good.  I'm definitely going to drop the subscription at the end of the season & then pick it up again next year.

[zipsrule]

3 hours ago, zippy-claws said:

Going back to FLA tonight, thinking about FloSports for Tuesday.  Anyone had any experience yet, and if so, is it worth the $30/month?

If you go to the Big East web site (bigeast.com) and select "Sports" and then "Soccer", there is a menu option for "BEDN on FloSports".  If you follow that link, it looks like you can get the soccer only package for $14.99 a month.

[72 Roo]

Thanks. I'll try it.

[TennZip]

17 hours ago, zippy-claws said:

Going back to FLA tonight, thinking about FloSports for Tuesday.  Anyone had any experience yet, and if so, is it worth the $30/month?

it is definitely overpriced.

But, it is definitely worth it....to see the games......following live stats only is torture

I am very glad that I took the plunge and paid the cost

Chad talks with the coaches and the players....and is passionate

 

    for the first 4 or 5 games, they showed a feature at halftime....where each player introduces himself...tells where they are from...and an interesting or funny fact about themselves

   it is really enjoyable to watch...

the impressive Joel Sangwa shares that he speaks 4 languages

someone is a chess grand master...I think it is Ashton Kamdem

ryan kopay..number 28...says I am really good at ping pong

josh hardin...number 29...follows Ryan and says ...I am much better at ping pong than Ryan Kopay...

     Josh Hallenberger and Josef Paulus are hilarious

with a deadpan face, Josh Hallenberger says he loves to take long walks on the beach with Josef Paulus

when they get to Josef Paulus, Joey says I love to prank Josh Hallenberger on a daily basis

 

hope you get to see all of the players talk at halftime

    It would be great if Akron Athletics would put the player introductions up on their you tube page so that all season ticket holders could see

 

[LoyalZIP]

Chad is great. I'd like him to be the voice of more Zip sports. He is so passionate about Akron and knows his stuff.

[TennZip]

Congratulations to Shooky for being chosen for team of the week for his performances against FIU and Providence

https://collegesoccernews.com/college-soccer-mens-national-team-of-the-week-week-ending-september-17-2023/