Zips Men's Soccer Ranked No. 1 in Preseason Poll

Well the bar has been set pretty high by the Akron Zips soccer team who, Despite losing the top scorer in the nation and maybe best goal keeper in the Akron history history, are Top Drawer Soccer, which awarded the Zips a No. 1 in their 2009 pre-season poll Tuesday. (from gozips.com)

"Caleb Porter’s program gets the nod as the #1 selection in the TopDrawerSoccer.com Tournament 48 Men’s College Soccer pre-season ranking, continuing the Mid-American Conference school’s rise to nationally-elite status over the past few years. Despite losing all-everything forward Steve Zakuani, standout goalkeeper Evan Bush and others, the Zips continue to bring in top recruiting classes each season and should be able to more than make up for the loss of the departing seniors." -- Top Drawer Soccer

The Zips, who were ranked No. 9 in the final CSN and NSCAA/adidas polls a year ago, return seven of their 11 starters most noteaballyAnthony Ampaipitakwong, Sarkodie and Darlington Nagbe – from a team that recorded the second-highest win total in school history in 2008.

The Full top drawer pre-season rankers are as follows

2009 Top Drawer Soccer Preseason Poll

1. Akron
2. St. John's
3. Creighton
4. California
5. Maryland
6. Indiana
7. Wake Forest
8. Northwestern
9. North Carolina
10. UC Santa Barbara
11. UIC
12. South Florida
13. Notre Dame
14. Connecticut
15. Tulsa
16. Virginia
17. Louisville
18. SMU
19. Dayton
20. UCLA
21. Boston College
22. San Francisco
23. Dartmouth
24. Michigan
25. Denver
26. Duke
27. Michigan State
28. George Mason
29. Ohio State
30. Santa Clara

Morning Links and Stuff 6/7

NIU has named a replacement for outgoing soccer coach Steve Simmons in the person of Eric Luzzi. Luzzi had been simmons top assistant for the past three seasons and seemed the natural choice to keep the program on its current trajectory.





Eastern Michigan placed two golfers in the top 20 at the Pengrowth Glencoe Invitational with the tandem team of Nicholas Banfield who placed 12th and Brad Larente (Pictured left) who finished in 19th.





Bowling Green Basketball coaches have been stockpiling awards of late LaMonta Stone was ranked 15th by college insider among all basketball assistant coaches and womans head coach Curt Miller (left) was put on the list of the top Mid-Major head coaches in NCAA Division I by the National Women's Basketball Insider website.

Steve Simmons leaves Huskies, Returns to Oregon

Steve Simmons put himself on the national radar by turning a downtrodden Huskies team into MAC champions. Today he took a job at a familiar institution as the head coach at Oregon State.

"With the opportunity at Oregon State, there were just too many compelling points that made it the perfect match for me and my family, " Simmons said. "And it was going to take something like that to leave NIU, because of the sweat, equity, and the people here that I've come to love and respect."

Simmons leaves the huskies after six season and a career record of, 59-47-13, A MAC regular season title, a MAC Tournament Title and a first round victory in the NCAA Men's tournament. In his six year tenure Northern Illinois finished second or better four times.

In 2006 season Simmons was recognized as the Great Lakes Region Coach of the Year Award from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. He has also twice been named the MAC Gary V. Palmisano Coach of the Year (2004, 2006).

Simmons began his coaching career as an assistant at Gonzaga University in 1994 and gained his first head coaching post the following summer at Whitworth College (Division III). In his first year a 9-8-2 record earned him Northwest Conference Coach of the Year honors and led to his move to Linfield. With the Wildcats, he gained his second NWC Coach of the Year plaque in 2000. Between Linfield and Whitworth, Simmons compiled a head coaching record of 67-49-5 (.574).

Before taking over at NIU, Simmons spent two seasons as associate head coach for Oregon State, where he worked with defenders and goalkeepers under former Beaver coach Dana Taylor. His teaching was evident in 2002 when OSU climbed to No. 18 in the national polls during a nine-week run in the top-25. Oregon State earned its first trip to the NCAA College Cup as part of a 13-8-0 campaign that was highlighted by victories over No. 6-rated California and No. 12 Tulsa.

Simmons will take over responsibilities at Oregon State immeadatly leaving NIU with some rather large shoes to fill.