No disrepect to PP, but I will have to go with CN 1-0.
PP-2
CN-0
If Pinewood plays up to their full potential, they will be hard to beat. I think it will be a good match though. They definitely can't expect to just walk over Cardinal Newman like they did against Hammond and Heathwood.
Ole Man 7, are you a Pinewood player?
Just curious...I thought it unusual for an active player to make predictions on a game his team is playing in...You know the old bulletin board thing.Beyond that I could care less.Thanks and good luck.
PP 5
CN 1 (maybe 0)
Prediction
Dont forget, Hammond beat CN in the 2nd game...and the first was decided in PKs without the first string goalie.
pinewood prep:3
cardinal newman:0
So...there is one vote for CN and how many zillion votes for PP? Based on my keen insights into the future and the fact that I, and I alone, predicted the club merger in Cola. would come to pass, I hereby predict the following:
Coach Eudy will kick his chair twice in the first half, three times in the second half and throw his hat at least as many times, resulting in the Greatest Most Monumental Upset the little State of SC High School soccer has ever seen-
CN 2 PP 1 in PKs.
I'll say Coach Eudy brings one of the more entertaining pre-game speeches ever heard to the team, David Allen plays like its his last high school soccer game, and the Cardinals rally behind their coach and captain to pull off the upset. CN 3:2 PP
Yeah, I am sure it will be a speech on par with Lombardi.
How can CN upset PP if they actually LOST to Hammond and Ben Lippen? CN is overrated in a weak region; no way they can hang with the best team in SCISA. PP will control over 80% of possession, score a few goals, and walk away with an unprecendented four-peat of SCISA state championshps.
CN didnt lose to Ben Lippen. Only losses were to South Aiken in the Sandhills tournament championship, and Hammond, which is a rivalry. Those games can go either way. Check the record (21-2). If I recall correctly, PP had trouble with their rival last week as well.
Although I haven't see Pinewood Play this year, I have seen their record and judging by that and my experience with CN. I'm going to have to predict a pretty strong victory on PP's part. CN likes to score with the long ball and speed. PP seems to be able to counter that pretty well against Hammond and PG. CN has a good record but not against many high level teams, honestly I think they're overrated.
But didn't PP have 2 goals score on them by Airport?
All I know is I think tomorrow's game b/w PP and CN is going to be one hell of a soccer game. I think it could be a lot closer than some people think. See everyone in Charleston tomorrow!!
it will not be a blowout by any means. If you look at how well both teams have done against good teams they have about the same look. PP got abused in the Palmetto Cup, proving they are not an elite team in the state, and CN is not one by any stretch of the imagination either. I'm going with a one goal game either way.
welsh,
Can you explain how Pinewood got "abused" in the Palmetto Cup? Yes, Northwestern handled them, but it was a good match and very close for 60 minutes. A 1 goal loss to Lexington, who is one of the top 4, 4A teams. A 1 goal loss to Christian Brothers, who was the tournament finalist. How does that justify being abused?
Look at who's playing in Columbia today. Lincoln plays for the 1A, and PP defeated them twice. BE plays for the 2A, and PP split with them. Northwestern and SV play for 4A and PP had a one goal loss to SV.
Get over it, PP is a good team and should be considered one of the better teams in the state this year. I don't know what your definition of an "elite" team is, but clearly PP rightfully deserves recognition as one of the top teams in the state.
As for the game today, who knows what the outcome will be, but it should be an entertaining game. PP has given up 1 goal to SCISA teams this season, (PK against PG). I'm pretty sure PP hasn't given up a goal to an upstate SCISA team since The BL Championship game 3 years ago.
Pinewood by at least three goals.
PP 3
CN 1
Ol' Uncle Dain was there today kiddies, and I gots to say that was one of the weirdest officiated matches I have seen. Very inconsistent from a center that usually gets 'em right.
Two PK's awarded PP, one to CN (they missed). The first to PW was at best obstruction. CN goal called back on a restart after what was clearly an indirect kick. Referee stood over the ball with his right arm pointing skyward while pointing at it with his left. No one for CN, coaches included, noticed that.
Referee spent most the match telling his linesman to put down their flags. At least five yellows shown to PW. Tried to give a second yellow to one PW player but quick thinking by another PW player fooled the ref that he was the guilty party.
After the officiating, the wind was the big story. PW with the wind dominated the first 40, CN the second.
CN's #7 with some sweet direct kicks, scoring on one. JD Spearman with some great saves on the rest to preserve the PW lead.
Congrats to both sides. Some pretty good soccer from the blue and the white. Gettin' close Uncle Dain's bedtime. See all you soccer fans next season.
PP showed its domination of SCISA once again by completing its four-peat of state championships. uncledain is off in his analysis, as the indirect free kick was noticed by CN's coach, as he told #7 to make the cross "count." 7 ignored his coach and hit a bautiful upper-90 shot, but it of course didn't count. The yellow card for time wasting was also given to the correct player, as Joe Sweet actually did kick the ball away. All details aside, PP finished the season strong, and looks forward to a likely five-peat for next year.
How many starters are returning next year for PP?
Congrats to Pinewood on their state championship. Congrats to Cardinal Newman on an excellent season.
In no way, shape, or form did Pinewwod dominate anything in this game except for fouls. Pinewood got lucky to walk away with this one. Cardinal Newman outworked them, outshot them, and flat out outplayed them. Granted, PP had the better chances in the first half, it was pretty even play. But the second, PP never even threatened. They had two shots in the second half, and those didnt come until the last 10 min when CN was pushing to score. CN just couldnt get anything to fall.
The first pk for PP was clearly a dive. The first goal for CN was called back for offsides; I guess the PP player on the post doesnt count. CN clearly made a mistake on the second one that was indirect. But what a freakin hit. PP keeper had no chance on that rip. The last pk was just frustration on CNs part.
Fact is, PP had one true goal and two pks(one questionable). CN had one true goal and a questionable offsides call. I wouldnt exactly call that domination by PP. Especially when CN controlled the second half.
I give CN some credit here. They couldve/shouldve won this game.
bear I just cannot agree with your assesment of PP as one of the best teams this year. Yay they won another SCISA title. Honestly though, if you cannot win against the big 4A schools, then don't consider yourself one of the best. Call yourselves... good but not great.
Welshwizard,
Have you seen any of these two teams play? How many of the great 4A teams have you seen play all year. Were you at the Palmetto cup? You like many others try to make statements to discredit the accomplishments of the boys from Pinewood, and you have not watched a single game all year.
To win four straight championships is no easy thing to do in any circle, so if you have nothing go to say please don’t post anything.
Congrats to all the teams that participated in this years high school soccer leagues.
Welsh, difference of opinion, and no need to belabor to the point. Whether PP is one of the "best" depends on how big the group of the best is.
Sidenet,
Does it really matter? Pinewood went through this very same thing, and won their second title. Honestly, I think the group of players that are returning for Pinewood next year, collectively are stronger than the group of players that began the season for Pinewood that season.
Cayman, your point is this match, Biz's point is 4 state championships in a row, does pretty much demonstrate domination of the division. However, I agree the match yesterday was not dominated by Pinewood. As for the dive, opinion. As for the offside, there was a series of shots at the goal during that play. The offside happened with the first play in, not the 2nd or 3rd or even 4th attempt. AR had the flag up right away, and it took some time for the center, because of the action, to get the whistle. I agree on that there were two very good free kicks taken by CN, one scored and one was the indirect.
Here is my assessment of the game, and I'm pretty sure I'm not necessarily going to please everyone, because it's simply my opinion.
CN came out strong and Pinewood was on their heels for the first 5 or 10 min. Went through some back and forth and Pinewood kind of settled in and took some measure of control late in the first half, which is when the two goals were scored. Pinewood got somewhat comfortable, Coach Eudy made some adjustments, Pinewood didn't react, and CN pretty much was at the Pinewood defense for much of the sencond half.
The Pinewood midfield lacked transition play, which is something that has been a struggle for them pretty much this entire season. The midfield either moves with the attack, or settles to defend, but they don't transition well at all between the two. When Coach Eudy put 3 running up top to pressure, and with a mid field that doesn't transition, the defense was constantly under attack and did well to limit the game to 1 goal.
As for the fouls, Pinewood had far too many unnecessary fouls in dangerous places at bad times. I don't know the count, but Pinewood had a bunch. CNs primary threat was on the set pieces, and Pinewood gave them many of those without reason.
The Pinewood defense pretty much handled the young attacking front runners for CN, and with the exception of a couple of great individual efforts by Winstead, they were not a factor in this match, during the run of play.
As for the referee, perhaps a little inconsistent near the touch lines, but, Pinewood deserved every card they got. The CN player that was carded in the 2nd got away with a little before receiving his, but, finally got it. On the delayed restart, it appeared that the referee was attempting to card a different player, but he was really trying to determine the correct player. The far side AR, (where I was in the 2nd), was telling him right away the correct number.
I give credit to CN here also. They played with a lot of intensity, Coach Eudy and his staff had them ready to play and they executed the plan well. They just couldn't crack the Pinewood defense during the run of play. They were in the match up to the end, and it was an entertaining match. I look forward to seeing them again next year.
It sounds like a cliche, but, defense wins championships, at least this particular championship game anyway.
BEAR,
I simply asked the question,"how many are returning".Not that anything we discuss here really matters, just curious.
Thing is, that question is really hard to answer. The starting line up and player positions has been somewhat dynamic. Over the course of the year, I think 8 or so of the returning players have started matches. Consistently, probably 5. Yesterday, 7 players with significant minutes. That's why I tried to explain it the way I did, not trying to be elusive.
A lot can happen between now and next year.
Quote:
In no way, shape, or form did Pinewwod dominate anything in this game except for fouls. Pinewood got lucky to walk away with this one. Cardinal Newman outworked them, outshot them, and flat out outplayed them. Granted, PP had the better chances in the first half, it was pretty even play. But the second, PP never even threatened. They had two shots in the second half, and those didnt come until the last 10 min when CN was pushing to score. CN just couldnt get anything to fall.
The first pk for PP was clearly a dive. The first goal for CN was called back for offsides; I guess the PP player on the post doesnt count. CN clearly made a mistake on the second one that was indirect. But what a freakin hit. PP keeper had no chance on that rip. The last pk was just frustration on CNs part.
Fact is, PP had one true goal and two pks(one questionable). CN had one true goal and a questionable offsides call. I wouldnt exactly call that domination by PP. Especially when CN controlled the second half.
I give CN some credit here. They couldve/shouldve won this game.
i will give cardinal newman credit. definately one of the better teams in scisa. but seriously..the first pk called came from a late, sliding tackle in the box. plain and simple. if anything the pk called in favor of cardinal newman was the most questionable call. the CN forward kicked the back of the PP defender's leg as another PP defender cleared the ball...how you can explain that, im not sure. Also, in the second half, CN had pushed up four forwards to make up for the 2-0 PP lead at half. this forced PP in a more defensive stance in the second half which is why they were not as great a threat as in the first half. the refereeing was disappointing especially for a state championship match. congrats to both teams for a great season.
BEAR-
You think that every card PWOOD got was a good call? I did'nt think they were good calls when i was playing but after the game i watched a recording and my opinion of the ref. dropped even more. mabey two of the cards were good calls, others were ridiculous to say the least. And the the goal called back for CN was b/c it was an indirect kick, not an offside.
Allstar,
First, in the 2nd half, there was a ball that ended up over the goal line, cleared by a defender before reaching the back of the net, after an off side call. My response on that was to the CN poster who said they had 2 called back. It was the indirect kick that the entire stands knew about.
As for the cards, let me put it this way. I can understand the cards, but I don't know how the ref coded them, nor what he said to the players.
There was a double yellow given, 1 to PP and 1 to CN. At that particular time, the center had followed the play away, and the AR saw the after the play stuff between the two players. My opinion, good card to keep those two players from getting too involved and seeing red.
No question on the delayed restart, and he knew it when it happened.
There were two tackles in front of the PP bench. Both of those plays the PP player had cleats up. On one the tackle was perpindicular to the CN player and touchline, however, his lead leg was cleats up almost waist high on the attacker. Reckless tackle, and if he had made contact, could have easily been serious foul play, red. Similarly, on another tackle, the PP player was coming from in front of the attacking player, again, cleats up and reckless. Two different players, similar cards.
There was another card given, that could have easily been persistent infringement due to the number of fouls committed by that particular player throughout the game. In that case, the last foul doesn't have to warrant the card by itself.
I'm not sure what the other one was for, but persistent infringement would/could also make sense. That particular player had committed several pretty hard fouls in close succession. Again, the play when the card was given doesn't have to warrant a card by itself.
As I said in an earlier post, the card given in the second half to the CN player, central defender, could have been given about 10 minutes earlier on a direct push near the touchline, or the leading elbow on a header in the middle of the field, but he eventually got one.
So, knowing who the referee is, and his level of certification, having worked with him, having observed him at other times, and my ability to rationalize the cards he gave, yes, I think they were all good cards.
I think both teams will agree on this- it was an OVER-officiated game. The center-ref in particular seemed intent to bring the early minutes of the game to a standstill by calling every last little bump. He was calling it that way on both teams the whole game. We've all seen similarly-played games that had maybe 1 yellow card a team. This crew made it clear from the opening minute that this wasn't going to be one of those games. It got to the point where I think both teams played overly cautious soccer not knowing what might be called next.
As to the PKs, 2 of them (CNs and one of PWs)could have been ignored in a more loosely officiated game. They appeared to be the result of more or less incidental contact in the box where there was no pending shot on goal. But that last Pinewood PK came about because of pure desperation on the part of a Cardinal Newman defender who got burned and reached out and pulled the Pinewood forward down in the box. That one was a no-brainer and of course it sealed the victory for Pinewood.
Cardinal Newman has some very strong players and its easy to see how they would have physically dominated the other Columbia schools this year. But as impressed as I was with CN's strong legs, I didn't really see any crisp passes from them nor did I see much in the way of defense pressure on the ball. To be fair, Pinewood was not on their A game in those areas either. Add to the mix an over-active referee who apparently wanted to be the star, and the game was kind of ugly. The real star of the game, the ref's efforts notwithstanding, was Pinewood keeper JD Spearman. He was the difference-maker no doubt.
Congratulations to BOTH teams - who clearly played soccer at a level high above the rest of SCISA this year.
bear-
the first two cards u talk about are the two that i agree should be given. the little fight between the two players and one of the dangerous plays. The second dagerous play was a very bad call, both players went into the tackle the same way, cleats in the position u normally trap a ball, not in a dangerous position. As for persistent infringement, no player on the field was constantly fouling players. The player with the most fouls was a PP player and he certainly did'nt have a dirty game. Like the guy before me said, it got to the point where players were playing cautiously due to the constant babyish fouls.
The only additional thing to say with the "babyish" fouls is, it was clear the referee was calling a tight game. It's been said in several other posts over time, that the players need to be able to recognize that and play accordingly, which for the most part they did, resulting in what has been termed cautious play.
Nowhere have I said it was dirty play by any player, and it doesn't have to be to be persistent infringement.
It really doesn't matter at this point, the match was exciting and is over, with Pinewood being the 4 time SCISA State Champion.