The University of Akron Athletics
athletics emails tom 2012 13 november 1 2012
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MAC CHAMPIONS AGAIN (AND, UNOFFICIALLY, BIG TEN CHAMPIONS)
Congratulations to Men’s Soccer for earning its 8th consecutive Mid-American Conference Regular-Season Title. Eight in a row! Our program aspires for national championships, but the first step is winning our conference, and we continue to achieve that feat year in and year out. Let’s not lose sight of how special that is.
Of course, the MAC crown once again allows us the opportunity to host the MAC Tournament, to be held Nov. 9 and 11 at FirstEnergy Stadium – Cub Cadet Field. If you are a season ticketholder, remember that tomorrow is the deadline to purchase your seats for the postseason, which includes all five potential home matches (two MAC and three NCAA). In the event we do not play five home matches, the difference will be applied to your tickets next year. You can click here or call 888-99-AKRON (25766) to do this.
If you don’t have season tickets but would like to attend the MAC Tournament, click here.
After Wednesday’s 1-0 win at Michigan State, we also swept the Big Ten, finishing 5-0 this year vs. Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State and Penn State. We are fourth in the RPI, second in the polls and have won 11 in a row and 10 by shutout.
Coach Porter is as focused as I have ever seen him, and our team is following his lead – please celebrate our four seniors (Chad Barson, Scott Caldwell, David Meves and Thomas Schmitt) at their Senior Night at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow vs. Western Michigan at FirstEnergy Stadium – Cub Cadet Field. I hope to see you there.
CROSS COUNTRY AND THE PNC WAGON WHEEL CHALLENGE
Congratulations to Men’s and Women’s Cross Country for finishing ahead of Kent State last weekend at the MAC Championships, earning two points in the second annual PNC Wagon Wheel Challenge.
Both teams improved their finishes from last year, with the men tied for third (and just one point shy of second) and the women in 6th (out of 12). Junior Brad Hough had our best individual finish, placing in the top 10 for our men. Sophomore Maria Moore was our top woman, in 25th.
We currently lead the PNC Wagon Wheel Challenge, 2.5-1.0. Of course, another point is on the line at 2 p.m. tomorrow at Kent State in football … and then Volleyball hosts Kent on Friday, Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. It’s a unique rivalry, which Coach Bowden has already realized.
WOMEN’S SOCCER FINISHES STRONG
Our Women’s Soccer season ended last weekend, but I wanted to share a few marketing highlights that are now program records:
-We set our single-game attendance record on Sept. 28 vs. Northern Illinois at 1,165, including 373 students (our largest-ever student crowd as well)
-We finished first in the MAC in attendance at 468 fans per game – more than 22 percent better than second place Toledo
-Finally, we exceeded our revenue goal by more than eight percent
Congratulations to our staffs in Ticket Sales and Marketing, especially graduate assistant Caleb Clark.
THINKING BIGGER … AND FINISH
… as you know, that is the motto for our Men’s Basketball team this year -- which includes our crowds. We have already blown past last year’s season ticket number and are closing in on setting a record for sold season tickets since we joined the MAC. It’s not too late to join the party and support our Men and Women with a season ticket purchase!
Wednesday night was a great start by our Men with a 39-point win over Tiffin. The Women play their first game, an exhibition against Malone, at 2 p.m. tomorrow, followed by the Men facing Malone at 5 p.m. Season ticketholders for either sport will be admitted to both games (we will not clear the building in between).
In the MAC preseason polls, the men were picked second and the women third in the East, with Zeke Marshalland Rachel Tecca each being named preseason All-MAC. It should be a great season in the JAR as our men Think Bigger and our women Finish!
ZIPS CLIPS AND CONGRATS TO …
… David Meves for being named MAC Co-Player of the Week after becoming our all-time shutouts leader in Men’s Soccer …
…senior Chad Barson and junior Reinaldo Brenes, who were named to National Teams of the Week by Top Drawer Soccer and College Soccer News …
…Chad Barson, David Meves, Scott Caldwell (3.94, Accounting) and Reinaldo Brenes for being named to theCapital One Academic All-District team by the College Sports Information Directors of America …
… senior Ashley Hughes and junior Amber Kern for being named first-team All-MAC Women’s Soccer by College Sports Madness ...
… The Zips rifle team for setting a school record score of 2,287 (out of a possible 2,400) in smallbore in its win over John Jay (N.Y.) College and Indiana (Pa.) University last Saturday …
… CBSSports.com ranks the MAC as the 5th-best football league this year, ahead of the Big East, ACC and Mountain West
A SPECIAL THANK YOU …
Also, you’ll notice that starting this week, this e-mail is “delivered” by UPS, one of our many great corporate partners. We thank them, and all of our many other sponsors, for their continued support of Zips Athletics.
ASK THE AD …
As always, if you have a question or want to comment about Zips Athletics, click here now or at any time on the “Ask the AD” button on the home page of GoZips.com.
Go Zips!
Tom Wistrcill
Director of Athletics
