Next time you find yourself in Ohio searching for the best soccer action the Buckeye State has
to offer, skip Crew Stadium and drive the 121 miles northeast to Lee Jackson Field, where the
Akron Zips are fast becoming the pride of American college soccer. Following up his side's
heart-breaking penalty shoot-out loss in the 2009 national championship to Wake Forest, Coach Caleb
Porter led this year's edition of the Zips to the promised land, knocking off number one seeded
Louisville 1-0 to claim this year's crown, the first D1 national championship in the school's
history.
It's Akron Coach Caleb Porter's world, we just live in it: Five of the first eight
selections were from the NCAA champion Zips, and two more went in the second round.
(Goff)
So was the FO's failure to land him last year due more to something they did (or didn't do) or to
his desire to stick with his program (or the college ranks in general)?
Much has been made of the record breaking selection of seven players from the University of
Akron in the first round of the MLS SuperDraft.
Rightly so. After all, five of them were among the first eight picks in the draft.
That coach Caleb Porter and his staff have gotten it right when it comes to player development
is only underscored when you recall that five of this year's Generation adidas class of nine also
played at Akron.
