The University of Akron Zips easily advanced to the third round of the NCAA men's soccer tournament with a 2-0 victory over University of South Florida. The Zips dominated the game outshooting the Bulls 14-1, including 7-0 over the second half. The Zips looked sharp today and will hope to continue their winning ways Nov 29th.

who is the next Zip victim?

Stanford and UC Irvine play tonight at 9 PM. The winner of that game gets to travel to Akron.

Stanford will be playing at Akron on Sunday at 4PM.

No disrespect intended, but how has Akron built such a powerhouse soccer team?

Are they traditionally a good soccer program?

(11-22-2009 11:40 PM)TempleU22 Wrote:  No disrespect intended, but how has Akron built such a powerhouse soccer team?

Are they traditionally a good soccer program?

Akron has a pretty storied soccer program, despite never having won the NCAA championship.

To build a powerhouse like this team, you need a combination of great coaching and great support from the athletic office. It takes a long time to get to the top level.

The Zips just completed their 44th consecutive winning season in soccer. The team has been to the NCAA tournament over 25 times including a runner-up finish in 86. Here is a great article that talks about some of the history and accomplishments of the program.

http://www.cleveland.com/sports/college/...e_a_p.html

(11-22-2009 11:37 PM)uakronkid Wrote:  Stanford will be playing at Akron on Sunday at 4PM.

That's great. Get those Cali boys out to the Midwest for a late afternoon game in November. I'm hoping for 32 degrees with freezing rain at tipoff. Wait until Stanford experiences the following in the cold: a head ball, a long ball that send stingers up your leg, a tackle that throws you onto ice-cold, rock-hard turf.

Akron has to do nothing special to win this. Play Akron's game and Stanford will wear-down quickly.

This is one more reason to wish for a football playoff. For all of the hype about Florida and texas, I would like to see them play at Camp Randell or Beaver, or Ohio Stadium in late November.

people watch soccer in ohio... its quite odd... I would guess at least 75% of team is from ohio where Soccer is very popular.

Not really. It's a small niche sport a lot like wrestling in the MAC in which we don't have many schools participating, but CMU, KSU and sometimes NIU have ranked teams and draw pretty well at home.
Soccer currently has only 5 MAC schools and only 2/6 of the Ohio schools. Akron draws very well locally with their history of success, but college soccer otherwise has no more profile in the state than any other sport not called football or basketball.

(11-23-2009 09:01 AM)victory engineer Wrote:  people watch soccer in ohio... its quite odd...

Since soccer is the most popular sport in the world wouldn't it be odd that its NOT watched in other places?

(11-23-2009 09:01 AM)victory engineer Wrote:  people watch soccer in ohio... its quite odd... I would guess at least 75% of team is from ohio where Soccer is very popular.

Soccer in NE Ohio starts early. We have a well developed system going from gradeschool up to high school, which produces a lot of the top talent in the country. Akron soccer is built mostly with local players.

If Kent wanted to field a team, they would probably do quite well, but it would be frustrating trying to grow a program against Akron who has such a head start.

There are a few places like this around the country. The biggest one is North Carolina, and the other one is Southern California.

(11-23-2009 12:06 PM)uakronkid Wrote:  

(11-23-2009 09:01 AM)victory engineer Wrote:  people watch soccer in ohio... its quite odd... I would guess at least 75% of team is from ohio where Soccer is very popular.

Soccer in NE Ohio starts early. We have a well developed system going from gradeschool up to high school, which produces a lot of the top talent in the country. Akron soccer is built mostly with local players.

If Kent wanted to field a team, they would probably do quite well, but it would be frustrating trying to grow a program against Akron who has such a head start.

There are a few places like this around the country. The biggest one is North Carolina, and the other one is Southern California.

Isn't the St. Louis area a soccer hotbed?

(11-23-2009 12:09 PM)H2Oville Rocket Wrote:  

(11-23-2009 12:06 PM)uakronkid Wrote:  

(11-23-2009 09:01 AM)victory engineer Wrote:  people watch soccer in ohio... its quite odd... I would guess at least 75% of team is from ohio where Soccer is very popular.

Soccer in NE Ohio starts early. We have a well developed system going from gradeschool up to high school, which produces a lot of the top talent in the country. Akron soccer is built mostly with local players.

If Kent wanted to field a team, they would probably do quite well, but it would be frustrating trying to grow a program against Akron who has such a head start.

There are a few places like this around the country. The biggest one is North Carolina, and the other one is Southern California.

Isn't the St. Louis area a soccer hotbed?

You're right.

Seattle as well.

(11-23-2009 08:45 AM)jch Wrote:  

(11-22-2009 11:37 PM)uakronkid Wrote:  Stanford will be playing at Akron on Sunday at 4PM.

That's great. Get those Cali boys out to the Midwest for a late afternoon game in November. I'm hoping for 32 degrees with freezing rain at tipoff. Wait until Stanford experiences the following in the cold: a head ball, a long ball that send stingers up your leg, a tackle that throws you onto ice-cold, rock-hard turf.

Akron has to do nothing special to win this. Play Akron's game and Stanford will wear-down quickly.

This is one more reason to wish for a football playoff. For all of the hype about Florida and texas, I would like to see them play at Camp Randell or Beaver, or Ohio Stadium in late November.

Agreed completely.

I've said the same thing for a long time. Even if you say MAC stadiums are too small...let some SEC teams come to AA, Madison or Happy Valley in Dec/Jan.

I remember watching 'Bama play in the Music City Bowl 10-12 years ago. Some cold weather hit Nashville, and it was hilarious watching the Tide move in slow motion.