Gonzaga did it again! This time, they went to unbeaten Wisconsin and came away with a 2-0 win. For a team that had no preseason expectations at all, I find this pretty impressive.
(Yes, that last one was a stretch but I've been waiting two years to get a Clay/Klay Davis reference in!) UMass is awful and they have done absolutely nothing to take advantage of any momentum they could have built after making their miracle Final Four run in 2007. I know the coach has had cancer and is a good guy and doesn't get much administrative support and all that, but it's hard to believe UMass couldn't do better.
Georgetown beats a plucky Princeton team, 3-2. Steve Neumann, NYRB product Brandon Allen (his 6th) and DCU product Tyler Ruddy (game-winner) with the goals.
Also, NYRB product Alex Muyl with his 4th assist, and GK Tomas Gomez subbed out immediately after Princeton's second goal, I'm guessing for injury.
Butler 3: 0 Brown Butler is now 5-1-1. Paul Snape is showing everyone what we already knew - a great coach!
Northwestern improves to 6-1 by beating Fairleigh Dickinson 2-1 on goals by Friend of Messi Brandon Medina RS Sr. Chris Ritter, who is homegrown eligible with the Fire. FDU is 5-2-0.
In an I-95 Florida derby between teams that entered 4-0-1, Florida Atlantic beat North Florida 3-2 in OT. FAU got an own goal and two PKs to offset a brace by Jean Rivaroli.
Cal Poly over Yale, 3-2 in OT. Went down 2-0 before coming back to win. Mac Pridham with the GW goal. CP now 6-2.
Penn State 1 - 0 Duquesne. Gotta admit...underwhelming results against underwhelming competition for PSU. Hopefully it still leads to a good run in conference play.
Reaching very good is no longer good enough. We now know what great tastes like, and we will settle for nothing less. The stakes have been raised; it is a quite natural dynamic.
Wouldn't surprise me if Pridham scored it, but the box score here credits Steve Palacios. http://www.ivyleaguesports.com/sports/msoc/2013-14/stats/enhanced/boxscores/20130922_1ffp.xml Second straight weekend that Poly escapes a late deficit against an Ivy League team. Today's equalizer was scored with 1:14 left, btw.
Not a lot of offense in the Creighton-St. Johns game but it was a good game between 2 evenly matched teams. Also attnedance was 5282. 2nd game over 5k this year.
Box score was wrong. CP plays a very patient game and first Yale goal sounded like a bad restart by ref with injured player down. If CP gets too lackadaisical in the back it leads to mistakes. Then they tend to put the gas on and move quicker if they go down. It actually is when they play best, IMO. I would not want to play against them if they are down from what I have seen this year. They can come at you from many angles when they want to.
Bradley 2:0 Air Force Braves now 4-2-1. Shots: BU 24-9 SOG: BU 8-4 Corners: 10-3 Air Force is now 0-7 for the season.
But is it a realistic one? Is Embick really as good a coach as Porter? Is he as good ass Cirovski, Vidovich, Bolwoich, Somoano, Gelnovatch and Yeagley? Porter's pedigree when hired was much different than Embick's - Porter had been an All American at a perennial power, played in MLS and then been an assistant coach at a perennial power. He was one of THE hot assistant coaches when he was hired and his charisma and drive combined with his pedigree resonated with elite recruits. That, combined with his acumen as a coach enabled Akron to have a combination of great talent and very good tactics and preparation that resulted in the run Akron had the past 4-5 years, where losing in the Sweet 16 is a bad year. Embick, by contrast, didn't play NCAA soccer, didn't play pro soccer and worked at an NAIA school before coming to Akron. Other than the Zips, his soccer pedigree consists of two Christian NAIA schools. This doesn't mean he can't be a great head coach and duplicate or improve on what Porter did. But... realistically, it's unlikely. Porter make Akron a destination and players who otherwise wouldn't have come to Akron (I'm talking the YNT players from outside Ohio) came there because of him. Will they continue to do so under Embick? Already we see him going more internationally for recruits than Porter did. That might be an isolated incident because the players were worth using scholarship money on. Or, it could be he's going the international route because he can't get the same level of domestic recruits that Porter did. Porter was always gonna be a tough act to follow. And there will be no shame if Embick proves to be just a VERY GOOD coach and not an elite one.
In what has to be considered a bad result for the home team, Washington tied Georgia State in Seattle, 1-1. The Huskies are now 5-0-2; GSU is 1-5-1. Also out West, California stayed hot, beating Charleston 3-1. Stefano Bonomo had a goal and an assist and Steven Birnbaum scored his 5th. Bears are 5-0-1, The Cougars are 1-5. Also staying hot in the Pac-12 is Stanford, which got a goal from Eric Verso, assisted by Sounders product Jordan Morris, to beat Colgate 1-0. After starting 0-1-1, Stanford has won 4 straight. Colgate falls to 1-7-0. (How did all these Pac-12 schools convince a bunch of Eastern patsies to fly to the coast?)
This whole subject is a bit off topic, so I apologize. I am merely responding to what was already written here. It is unlikely prognostication that Embick will enjoy Porter’s success. However, Porter has set the standard, and that standard must be met. Embick had better step to or step off! If the AD did not believe Embick can win a championship, he should never have hired him in the first place. I am uncertain just how much you know about the Akron program in the long view. Zips are among the oldest programs in the NCAA, dating back to the 1950s. The average age of season ticket holders is over 50 years. These people have been supporting for a relatively long time, for multiple decades. They have recently grown used to elite status. They will now stand for nothing less. There are some movers and shakers in the community that have substantial influence at The University of Akron. They care about Zips Soccer and their voices will be heard. One man’s otherwise competent coaching career will be unflinchingly sacrificed at the championship altar if need be. We all support the coach and we desperately want him to succeed. But we are not going to settle for mediocrity now that we have enjoyed excellence. I am not alone in thinking this way, I assure you!
Fr. Edson Cardona gets the first two goals of his college career and Santa Clara rallied on the road from a goal down to beat UC Irvine 2-1. The Broncos have won 3 straight to improve to 3-4. Irvine, whose goal was scored by big Lester "Trey" Hayes (his third of the year), falls to 4-2-2.
Sweet 16 is obviously better than mediocre. Depending on the individual squad, a Sweet 16 exit may be either a bright success or bitter failure. For the 2011 Zips, it was the former. For the 2012 Zips, it was the later. That is what the Zips faithful want; to be a legitimate contender most years. This shite about “often winning the MAC” but never threatening the College Cup is straight unacceptable. Not here; not now! We insist on excellence. Events may in fact play out that Akron is unable to retain elite status. God forbid! But that will not happen with me remaining seated! That I promise. And I am not alone.