SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Girls Varsity Soccer Top 15

Now that the end is here, how about a top 15 for the divisions for NEXT year. Never too early to have a pre-season top 15.

2009 Pre-Season Top 15 - AAAA Girls

1.) Mauldin
2.) Wando
3.) Summerville
4.) Ft. Mill
5.) TL Hanna
6.) Dutch Fork
7.) Dorman
8.) Spring Valley
9.) Lexington
10.) Spartanburg
11.) North Augusta
12.) Clover
13.) Byrnes
14.) Wren
15.) Irmo
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16.)Nation Ford
17.)West Ashley
18.)West Florence
19.)Blythewood
20.)Aiken
21.)Northwestern
22.)Greenwood

Things we can probably expect in 2009:

1.) Ft. Mill will make it to the 3rd Round
2.) Region 2 will have 4 teams ranked in the top 15
3.) The Viking Cup winner will experience added pressure
4.) No team will go undefeated

Stinking AAA...

AAA Dale,

if your name doesn't end in "side"....where you going?

Actually....you should be the preseason favorite next year!

SA, Airport, and BC baby.

HHIHS!!!!!

I do not often predict anything on this message board. I am not happy to predict the following, but in the interest of fairness to the person who becomes coach for the team pegged above at #9 -- the coach who inherits this program should be coach of the year if they crack the top #15. They will be undergoing intensive rebuilding at the same time that they move to a new region with Dutch Fork, Irmo, Aiken, and North Augusta. I think the odds of making the playoffs next year is poor unless this region is given more than 4 slots (a possibility with 8 teams.)

I will be cheering for them and hoping that they do well; but I think it's only fair to set the expectations to a more realistic goal. Making the playoffs next year would be a big accomplishment.

Has "the window" closed for Lexington?

They have had a great run for the past five years!

They've won their region for four straight years -- first time in the school's history (note: I wish it were 5!). I'd love to be proven wrong; and certainly the school has some fine players coming back next year and I'm sure they'll get an excellent coach, but I think that it's going to be a tough haul to win their next region championship even in their existing region. Adding Dutch Fork to the mix makes it that much less probable.

I just don't want to see whoever coaches the team next year to get crushed with too high expectations starting out.

Region IV will not be given more than 4 slots unless AAAA changes their playoff format to a points system, which to date they have not done. As it stands today, each upperstate region will have 4, regardless of the number of teams.

I think the odds of making the playoffs next year is poor unless this region is given more than 4 slots (a possibility with 8 teams.)
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Sorry, I was quoting Shibumi in reference to Lexington, whom I think you had quoted also. I would imagine that if the upperstate does not change their format, the lowerstate will not be able to either, in regards to Region V having 5 playoff teams. Unless I am mistaken, upper and lower state must have consistent seeding formats during a calendar year.

Region V-AAAA next year will consist of Aiken, Dutch Fork, Irmo, Lexington, North Augusta, Orangeburg-Wilkinson, Richland Northeast, and White Knoll.

I thought HH was moving up. Crap...

Where did that info come from, if you don't mind my asking? That means our regions would be losing 1/6 of our teams but 1/4 of our playoff spots...I'd MUCH rather have another team in our region that we could actually compete with than to have that 4th seed spot taken away automatically. It would seem to make more sense to divide the regions more evenly to begin with than to have 8-team regions, 5-team regions, and trying to have uneven odds of making playoffs within those regions...


Who the heck is coordinating all of this?

2A girls
woodruff
woodruff
woodruff
woodruff
woodruff
emerald
woodruff jv
woodruff jv
Christ Church
woodruff
woodruff
Southside Christian
woodruff
woodruff
walhalla

In my opinion it is quiet simple that the teams from the Up-State and Low country continue to dominate the HS league girls soccer. Why is this so?
Simple answer. Do many egos's in the Midstate on the girls side. The Boy's are very competitive. However, until LCSC decides they want to play at a premier and challenge level thing will continue to remain the same. CUFC (to there credit has approched LCSC, but again to many ego's get in the way. The midlands have great facilities, quality coaches and a strong DOC leadership at CUFC.
As the coach of Lexington HS, we have has a good run over the last 3 years. My personal feelings is if we don't see girls who are passionate about reaching a higher level, we could fall back into that mediorcore teir of teams. To me this is unacceptable. Player's, parents, coaches need to make a commitment on what there aspirations are. If rec. or classic is what they want, I have no problem.
However, if they want to reach the premier club level and compete for a HS championship then a merger with LCSC and CUFC needs to be seriously discussed and acted upon ASAP.
Finnally, it's up to the kids, NOT the parents on what kind of sacerfic these players are willing to make.
Training 3 to 4 times at a high intensity is a most. It can NOT be a social event at this level.
Just my 2 cents....

Coach Fryland,
I agree with most of your post and I am in favor of a consolidation of the top soccer players in the Midlands. However, I'm not sure that the lack of club unity can completely explain the fact that no Midlands team has won the girls AAAA state championship since Richland Northeast in 2001. I think there has been just as much club dis-unity in the low country with MPSC, Bridge, CUSC, Summerville, James Island, etc. Yet, lowcountry teams have won 6 of the last 8 girls AAAA state championships. Yes, Bridge have been quite successful in the last 3 years, but no more so than CUFC. I don't know what the answer is, but there is apparently some other reason for the lowcountry's success besides club unity.

One interesting thing to note from the State Championship archives is that no lowcountry team has finished as girls AAAA finalist in the past 8 years (the last was Wando in 2000). If they make it to the championship match, they win!

As for the lowcountry and upper state dominating girls high school soccer in general, aside from the state championship, I think it's basically the upper state. All of the ranked teams in AAAA and the All-Class Top 25 come from seven metropolitan areas in or partially in our state: Augusta, Charlotte, Charleston, Columbia, Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson, Myrtle Beach, and Savannah. The Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson area leads the others in terms of the number of ranked teams and I would think that is mostly due to the fact that players from the most successful club in the state, CESA, are primarily distributed throughout the schools in that area. Here is the breaksown of the number of ranked schools in the different areas:

AAAA TOP 15
Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson - 5
Charleston - 3
Columbia - 3
Augusta - 2
Charlotte - 2
Myrtle Beach - 0
Savannah - 0

ALL CLASS TOP 25
Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson - 9
Columbia – 6
Charleston – 4
Myrtle Beach - 2
Savannah - 2
Augusta - 1
Charlotte - 1

Coach P, Savannah? What does Savannah have to do with SC soccer?

Hilton Head !

Anyone that believes that Savannah has any impact of HH soccer just has not been around the HH area very long. Over the past 10 years, there are more players that go to Charleston from Savahnnah than players that go from HH to Savannah. The fact is that the great majority of players from HH that play Club out of the are (i.e. other than the local Club) play for clubs in the Charleston area.

Coach P,

No need to apologize or correct the list. All of us "desktop demographers" understand the analysis and appreciate your efforts.

Thanks.

Coach P -

If my earlier comments were interpretted to mean that an apology was somehow warranted, then I apologize.

My comments were intended to assert that the Beaufort, Bluffton and Hilton Head areas are impacted by the Charleston area and that your analysis could be refined to support your earlier conclusions.

As an example, there are at least 7 girls from the HH team that do or have played with Clubs based in Charleston area. I know that there are several (maybe many) boys that play for Beaufort High that play for Clubs based in the Charleston area.

Basically - I am trying to give at least some of the credit for any success that local high school teams may have experienced to the Clubs in the Charleston area.

I did not interpret you to say an apology was warranted nor did I offer an apology. I was simply stating that my earlier inclusion of Beaufort County in the Savannah MSA was a mistake. Beaufort County is not contained in either of the nearby MSA's, Savannah or Charleston. The city of Charleston is, however, more than twice as far geographically from Hilton Head than is Savannah.

My original intent was just to offer a demographical/geographical grouping of the ranked girls high school teams.

As to your assertion, I actually think Hilton Head is situated, demographically and geographically, such that it's school teams can benefit from the club programs in both Charleston and Savannah. I've known players from HH that played for clubs in both areas.