i'm gonna have to go with irmo to win the tournament. it's been too long. i think we'll find a way to win it. but i think everybody should keep an eye on westminster from atl, georgia. i believe they have a couple of all americans on their team.

Really? That should be fun to watch!

yea check their school athletics site. its pretty sick how many state titles theyve won in all sports since 1963 i think it was. like 250. theyre a private school, but the second largest in the u.s. at over 2000. i believe theyre called westminster schools of atl georgia.

Ill take Irmo in an upset over Northwestern 3-2 in OT.

Nation Ford HS has had to withdraw from the LMC due to their coach signing up the first year varsity program for two preseason tournaments. So, the LMC is in search of a team -- immediately!

Please contact Chapin HS boys soccer coach Dick Hiller via e-mail at rhiller@lex5.k12.sc.us or call 803-269-6787 (cell) if your team is interested in filling this spot.

Any news as to who has filled Nation Ford's spot?

Might as well add my predicitons:

Group A: Chapin
Group B: NW
Group C: Socastee
Wildcard: Irmo

NW takes it all...

Lookin forward to this weekend...anyone attending?

I will be there hopefully!

ill be there too. watch the westminster team guys. ive heard good things. course, they could be a joke too. never know

this might be the best tournament in a while, it proves to be very competitive. While I like Northwestern's odds, Irmo is definitely a team to watch.

Alot of questions about teams will be answered this wk-end, for sure. Very competitive tournament. With the addition of Emerald makes group A solid. And the game Socastee vs. Westminster, GA should be a very good match. Don't know much about the GA. team but they seem to have a good reputation of playing good soccer. Let the games begin!

Yes the Socastee Westminister game shall be a good match, so will the other games, Westminister Vs. Irmo, Irmo Vs. Socastee. All games in that bracket prove to be a challenge. Not just the Westminister/Socastee Bracket, but all brackets. No team makes it out easy. It is definitely gonna be a great and trying tournament

I agree, the Irmo, Westminister, Socastee, and Dreher group looks to be extremely challanging. Should be interesting to see how these teams measure up to each other.

Emerald is no longer in the LMC as I hear. I have heard that Mauldin have taken there place.

Where did you hear that from?

I was at the Lexington Vs. Chapin game last night and I overheard a parent speaking about it. I am guessing that she knew because Chapin has been the team that has been wondering who they are going to play for quite some time with all the changes.

Thanks to Bill Tooley of SCSoccer.com Media for providing this preview for Northwestern HS:

Northwestern Ready for the Test at Lake Murray Challenge

Dominic Wren is excited about the test that lies ahead. Although a good chunk of last year's Northwestern boys soccer team has graduated, he’s still in the hunt, but doesn't necessarily feel like the hunted.

Spring Valley is the team that is getting the most attention as the preseason (4A) #1, but coach Wren can't wait to throw his young squad into the midst of the fire. He's very interested in seeing how his boys will react when they kick-off the season this weekend in the highly-competitive Lake Murray Challenge.

"It's a good test early in the season and it will be nice to see how the boys react this early against good competition”, says Wren. "It will give me a good picture of just where we are at".

Senior captain Corey Parks will start at right defender and it will be his job to lead a very young team through a challenging early schedule. Directly in front of him will be two of the most talented sophomores in the state. Alex Martinez will provide the creativity from the center of the midfield while newcomer Javier Bonilla will have Alex's back and provide a physical presence as the holding center midfielder.

Scoring has never been a problem for the Trojans and junior Enzo Martinez, arguably the best player in South Carolina, has 97 tallies to his credit in just two seasons. A couple of youngsters up top, sophomore Jeremy Dobbins and freshman Ricky Garbanzo, should also hit the scoring column quite frequently while running with Enzo.

Sophomore Ryan Foster is being pushed by junior Clayton Gladden for the starting goalkeeping duties.

Wren is in his third year as head coach of one of this decade's most successful high school soccer programs. The Trojans have been to the 4A state championship match four of the past five years and won the title in 2006. Last year the Trojan's were upper state champions and finished the season with a record of 25-4-0.

As for this weekend’s tournament, Northwestern took the crown at the Lake Murray Challenge in 2005 and 2007. "This is a great challenge for our young guys who will gain valuable experience," says Wren. "We have a lot of competition for places, I still don’t know our best line up. Experience will be our biggest obstacle. We need the younger players to step up."

Does anyone know anything about this Javier Bonilla fellow?

I agree with you mus mus. And I heard as well about Mauldin taking over for Emerald.

He's new this year apparently very talented according to the martinez boys. Not the biggest player but quick and very skillfull. I havent personally seen him play but from what I hear hes a very good player.

Hmmm. Maybe your right.

As tomorrow marks the start of the Tournament, what are everyones opinions on tomorrow nights match between Socastee and Westminster. I do not know much about this Westminster team, but i do know that Socastee is very strong. Any opinions?

Post all 2008 Lake Murray Challenge information in this thread. Thanks!

Are games still being played today? It is just very wet and no thunder or lightning. I hope they are played! I will be at the Northwestern-Greenwood game tonight.

All games tonight have been postponed according to the CUFC website. It looks like they canceled any consolation games and will play two games tomorrow and one/two Sunday if your team makes it that far.

Ok thanks for the update!

In the club soccer forum it talks about Joey Demare going to Spain with the Region 3 team next week.. Is he missing the tournament? If so, i might have to change my predictions on Chapin doing well. He's a huge part of there team they look for him a lot and he is arguably one of the best players in the State. Hopefully he can play this weekend, he is a joy to watch!

Joey will not be a part of the LMC. He will be in flight to Spain. Congrats Joe!!

Please post game scores whenever anybody finds out. I had to miss this morning's Northwestern game and I am eager to know the score and how the game was played by both squads!

NW-5 Greenwood-0
Enzo with three goals, didnt play the whole game got wacked early. Rough game a couple of cards given to each side, but overall a good showing for NW.

Games at Chapin
10 o'clock game
Hammond-1 SA-0
12 o'clock game
Chapin-1 Mauldin-0

Hammond and Chapin play at 6 while Mauldin and SA play at 4

At Irmo
Westminster 5 socastee 4 (overtime)
Irmo 5 Dreher 2
Irmo vs. Westminster at 6pm at Irmo Practice fields

ugly win for irmo. socastee was def the better team when they played westminster. the captain for westminster is sick though.

Socastee and Westminster are very good and solid teams. I heard that several of the Westminster defenders could not make the trip. Socastee has a great deal of speed and talent up top.

Dutch Fork beat AC Flora ... I think 3-2
So, NW plays Dutch Fork at 6pm

K got a question! If Joey Demare is going to Spain to play, does he break the amateur rule? I am going to England and France in March to play and they say I break the amateur rule and will not be able to play next year.

Irmo: 6
Westminster: 1

great game for irmo. the goal from zach acree was one of the best ive ever witnessed from a high school player. irmo has a potent offensive attack. ive seen most of the teams play and right now, irmo and northwestern are in a class of their own.

At Irmo,
Irmo 6 Westminster 1
Socastee over Dreher ?(3-1)

NW-3
DF-1

Enzo with 2 maybe three i don't know if they credited him with the third. Alex got a double yellow red card and misses the next game. Ref's had a hay day with cards, just throwin them out left and right. NW must of had 5, DF 2 or 3. Cates did not look very good at all even though he did score on a phantom pk call, he had a tough time with the young NW midfield. Overall, another solid performance from NW and a below average showing from DF.

so when and were is the finals?

tomorrow Group "a" winner plays gorup "b" winner
Group "c" plays wild card thus
1pm
CHAPIN VS NW @ DF HIGH
IRMO VS DF @ Irmo practice fields
5pm
Final at Chapin HS

any predictions?

DF 2-1 Chapin
Dutch Fork wins the championship.

haha really? no love for irmo or northwestern huh?

Who else scored for Irmo? What was Zach's goal like?

irmo against northwestern in the final and northwestern should and will probably win either by at least two goals, maybe 3-1

Irmo scorers:
1. Taylor Varney 11th min
2. Kyle McEwan 21st min
3. Zach Acree 7th min in 2nd half
4. Taylor Varney 11th min 2nd half
5. Zach Acree 15th min 2nd half
6. Parris Richardson 36th min 2nd half
Westminster scorer:
#25 at 8th min 1st half

Zach's goal was scored with a lot of skill. It was passed to zach but number 9 i think (oliver nobles?) zach was at the corner of the 18, he flicked it passed a player, ran passed the player and finished. it was a much better goal watching it then how is sounds

i dont care what anyone says, that goal was amazing. you had to see how the ball was flicked to appreciate the genius of it. and the finish off the angle he had was just incredible. and the entire play was in stride, and he made it look too easy. just a great goal.

ive seen northwestern and irmo play, and irmos def the better team. you take enzo off of northwestern, and theyre not even in the top five teams in the state. way too one dimensional. if irmo can mend some defensive errors, theyll win the game against northwestern...providing those are the teams in the finals of course.

I agree NW is way too one-dimensional. And now that Alex is out against Chapin that won't make things much better. I would say Chapin could pull off the upset but with Demare gone it might just be a little over their head. NW and Irmo in the final. Irmo wins 2-1.

for the people who have seen northwestern and irmo play in the tourny, what are your thoughts on these two teams?

Irmo, Irmo, Irmo, blah, blah, blah ...

Chapin 2
NW 1

Amazing game to watch. Refs weren't very good but the bad calls went both ways in my opinion. So much heart displayed by the boys on the field for both teams. #8 for Chapin scored an amazing goal with 2 minutes remaining to win it for Chapin. Chapin's keeper Greg Demare played very well. Both teams are very very good even when missing a key player. (NW- Alex and Chapin- Joey)

Great game to watch!

Irmo 2
DF 1

Danny Cates with a double yellow=Red card

Northwestern also didn't have Zack Clark and another key player was not at full strength.

Great game by both squads. Poor officiating which led to the second goal by Chapin but an AMAZING finish regardless.

Chapin is a strong team. Great game boys!

AWESOME job, Eagles!! Sick, nasty goal #8, Tyler Williams!!!

Great game between Northwestern and Chapin! Awesome finish! Should be a good final, but I have church duties tonight. Hope for a good report.

I was in the Dutch Fork/Chapin area today and I was able to catch the NW-Chapin match.

Great game by both teams, all three goals were quality. Can't imagine either of these teams at full-strength, they are both very solid right now.

Good atmosphere, fans were vocal and they got their money's worth.

Another note, #8 from Northwestern is a very talented player. It was the first time I saw him today and he looked very good for a freshman I believe.

any word on the chapin - irmo game?

they lost 4-2

who lost Irmo or Chapin?

i believe chapin lost, but from what i understand it was a good final

Irmo 4 Chapin 2
A very close game..hard fight for both teams, but both teams were spent physically by the second half. Congrats to both squads on a great tournament showing.

thanks for the recap shrink, from what i saw at this tournament it looks to make for an interesting season,a lot of teams look really good already but many will have to improve and build on last year. irmo and chapin already look like theyre ready for excellent seasons

irmo is the best team in class 4A at the moment from what ive seen, although ill give spring valley a little more time to gel together. and i dont see how chapin isnt ranked higher in class 3A. they were clearly better than socastee during the tournament. and they def gave irmo a run for their money. irmo has regained the fire and passion thats been lacking the last couple of years. in all of the games during the tournament the scores could have been in the teens for irmo. if they work on finishing, theres no stopping them.

and let me just throw the fact out there that irmo has some athletic beasts on their team.

Awesome tournament even though I only got to watch the semi's and final. But that was quite enough, Irmo looks to be back on track and Chapin looks like they will also challenge for the state ring, although it was obvious they missed Demare in the final against Irmo. Nonetheless a great final and good luck to both of those teams during the season.

I see some teams actually got to play and get better this weekend

That's good.

citiesangel- the rankings right now are only preseason, made before anyone had even played. don't worry, once the season gets going, it will all work itself out.

and we all knew that it was only a matter of time before irmo reloaded.

Northwestern will still be a dominant team when they are at full strength.

well said henry

Pre -Season Tournament. Don't count Socastee out. Won Lower State 2 of the last 3 years.

I personally don't think anyone will count Socastee out. You have a very strong team and it would be foolish to take you lightly. Best wishes for a fun season.

Irmo vs Chapin was a great game for the Lake Murray Challenge Championship as longtime school rivals and many current and former club teammates competed for the title. An excellent display of competitive fire and good sportsmanship by every player.

Quality goals, saves and midfield play on both sides of the ball leave no doubt these two teams are prepared to compete very well at the 3-A and 4-A levels this season. Best of luck to both teams.

Congrats to Irmo and to Chapin. It seems as if there are probably four or five AAAA teams that have legitimate shots at a state championship this year. I am still predicting an Irmo/Spring Valley final. It all depends on who gets hot/lucky/unlucky...in the playoffs.

Anyone who thinks Irmo is good this year (and I clearly do), should be salivating over what they will be like next year. Acree, McEwan, Mukofsky, Padula, Arneson, Sieverding, Nobles, Lunceford ("the black sheep" - we still love you Emmett), etc.

Overall, a quality tournament with many competitive squads. Here are a few thoughts of mine in regards to what I saw over the course of the weekend:

Chapin- A very good team. I believe that this team has everything in place to compete for the AAA State title: talent, speed, leadership, passion, and coaching. They were very solid in the midfield, and with the addition of Joey DeMare up top, look out for the Eagles.

Dutch Fork- Decent is the one word that comes to mind. They defend well, but they seem to play more of a "bunker" type of defense. No aspects of their team seem to stand out as being great, but they seem to do most things well. A solid team that will challenge the top teams; however, I do not envision them competing for the AAAA title. Also, as a side note, Danny Cates, while a very talented, needs to get his head screwed on straight. In the Irmo game, his second yellow card should have been a straight red, and I was shocked at the way he handled himself after the incident and after the game. Come on, Danny, you have got to be better than that. Talent will only take you so far...

Northwestern- I don't think that anybody is sleeping on Northwestern, and they definitely should not start now. Northwestern should once again be considered one of the frontrunners in AAAA. A very talented team that lost an extremely hard-fought match to a very good Chapin team. A loss in a preseason tournament is hardly cause for concern, and the Trojans with solid play from Enzo and Alex should find themselves, once again, in the thick of things come playoff time.

Socastee- One word comes to mind: Speed. The amount of speed the Braves possess up top is incredible. This team is extremely dangerous. They may not try to build the attack as well as some, but they have some game-changers at forward, and they know that is where their strength lies. This team should definitely be in the mix for AAA, along with Chapin and all the Greenville area schools.

Irmo- They're back. The fire, passion, and determination that the Yellow Jackets have lacked since 2005 seems to be back. The offensive attack of Irmo is very potent and they have a few players that complement each other well. From a solid, strong player (McEwan) to a lightning quick slasher (Varney), Irmo has the ability to score in bunches. However, nobody should be annointing this team AAAA champions. Irmo's major weakness seems to be in the back and goalkeeping. Daniel Lynch had a sub-par performance this weekend, for his standards, and the goalkeeping just seemed shaky. Multiple times over the course of the tournament, their keeper (Arneson?) just seemed out of it mentally, and his decision-making was not too good. Overall in the back they just seemed to be lacking the speed of play and tactical awareness needed to compete for a AAAA crown. However, if they can improve their shape, speed, and communication in the back and net, look out for this team in May.

Northwestern loses virtually nothing this year so they should be in good shape next year as well.

Socastee had their chances in the first match. Within the first 10 min. they had 6-7 shots on goal. Westminster, GA goalie had the game of his life. Socastee answered them goal for goal though but just couldnt come out on top. Losing 5-4 in overtime. And this was there first match of the year, so not bad for a team with only 4-5 club players. They did beat Dreher there fellow 3A team so that was a positive. They will regroup and make a run like last year.

Is there an all tournament team?

There should be one coming out soon, but here's mine...

GK: Greg Demare
DEF: Daniel Lynch, #31 from NW, Tyler Willimas
MID: Danny Cates, David Slaughter, Zach Acree, Bobby Beliar
FWD: Taylor Varney, Kyle Mcewan, Enzo Martinez

I know that's a lot of players from Irmo, DF and Chapin but that's pretty much all I got to see play.

I would put fwd Orlando Clarke, #8 from Socastee.

I don't about the entire All-Tournament Team, but Kyle McEwan (Irmo) was named Tournament MVP.

Mcewan the tourney MVP and Demare the tourney's best keeper.

http://www.midlandspreps.com/news.asp?t=

I think that is just the Midlands coverage of the team not sure about the rest.

2008 Lake Murray Challenge All-Tournament Team and MVP

GOALKEEPERS (3)
Greg De Mare, Chapin, SR - LMC Goalkeeper MVP
Shane Hoover, Mauldin, SR
Eric Speese, Westminster-GA, FR

DEFENDERS (7)
Robbie Benson, Northwestern, JR
Lee Knudsen, A.C. Flora, SO
Daniel Lynch, Irmo, SR
John Robert Taylor, Dutch Fork, SO
Jordan Troyer, Hammond, SR
Tyler Williams, Chapin, SR
Tyler Young, South Aiken, JR

MIDFIELDERS (6)
Zach Acree, Irmo, SO
Bobby Belair, Socastee, JR
Ben Bosco, Chapin, JR
Danny Cates, Dutch Fork, SR
Matt Firmin, Greenwood, SR
David Slaughter, Chapin, SR

FORWARDS (4)
David Kellogg, Dreher, SR
Kyle McEwan, Irmo, JR - LMC MVP
Enzo Martinez, Northwestern, JR
Taylor Varney, Irmo, JR

No love for the Socastee strikers?

no love for the four keepers of irmo?

why would there be love for socastee strikers?

Four of the last five years the 3A Lowerstate rep has been a beach team. Two of the last three it has been Socastee.

All credit is due.

However, due to their performance in the LMC they probably were only eligible for one All-Tourney selection. Coaches select their representatives - a tough task for Coach Suarez to be sure.

I'm not arguing the fact that Socastee is a great team/program. They most definetly are. Possibly the best program overall in the Lowerstate, but they don't need their players and/or fans on here to build their team up in an immature way.

Neither do they (or anyone) need you to reciprocate.

Platini, Just lettin you know Socitome is not a Socastee Player trying to build his team up

I don't disagree with Bobby Belair being the lone pick for Socastee. He is the key link for that team. Those two fast little black kids (Watson being one of them, not sure of the others name) are very good. But a lot of time they only score because Bobby either makes one of the Defenders commit leaving the forwards free, or plays a ball over top that they run on to and settle. With out Bobby I'm not sure how many goals the forwards would net, but with out the forwards, I'm sure Bobby would figure out a way to either put it in the net, or set someone else up to.

That is true some of the time, although belair does not complete the entire team. Socastee is a strong team indeed, but does not need to be compared immaturely to other talented teams in the area

Belair is a solid player. From what I've seen from Socastee in the past, their forwards are amazing as well. They have some other unsung heroes that get little recognition because belair and those two forwards over shadow them, but overall they are a solid team. I haven't seen much out of them this season but I think they will do well in 3a.

socitowho,
He is indeed a Class Act! He even traveled to Iraq to give some free instructions on taking goal kicks to the local militia.