SC at regionals - SC Soccer

What SC team do you think has the best chance at winning regionals and why?

Aiken Fire. Most experienced in tournament play. Excellent work/conditioning ethic. Extremely focused. Incredible respect for each other and for their coach. Very, very talented players. And finally, a no nonsense, top level tactical coach! [Cool]

"Best of luck" to them and all the other SC teams.

GFC Black U18 has a chance to make a run at regionals. Not only are they talented and well coached,but I believe they have a favorable draw. I know they have been training hard and look to be well prepared.Good luck to all participants.

Agree with everything stated about the Aiken Fire except the coaching analysis. Good luck at Regionals!

U-15 to U-17 get hosed due to new format for them. allowing premier League teams in eliminates opportunity to go through as wild card.

Swimmer:
I suppose that is indeed one way of looking at it. Another way of looking at it is that the Region III Premier League winner is the most proven "best team" in the Region in each age group......and but for its automatic bid to Regionals, they probably would have been there anyway as a State Champ and thus they could have knocked out one of the teams that did get in from their state. In any event, regardless of who earns a way to Regionals, each team has to prove itself and win once there! Good luck to everyone representing our SC Clubs! [Cool]

Euro Fan:

You may already know this, judging from your use of quotation marks, but the "best teams" from some Region III states do not participate in the Premier League (On the Girls side, I know GSA 86(?)Phoenix Red (GA), a former National Champion, and CASL Elite did not participate in the U18 division this year). Perhaps the automatic bid will encourage them to participate. In general I think that would be a good thing for the Premier League.

I see the expansion to 16 team from 12 as a result of competition from the new organization - Club Soccer America (?). Some teams from strong states were getting left out in cold. Rather than let them go to other "regionals" - actually an open tournament - USYSA is trying to make it more attractive to keep them in their organization.

Just to recap, here's a listing of all the teams from SC:

BOYS
14 OSSOC 88 Hurricanes
15 St. Giles United Celtic
16 Aiken Fire 02
17 GFC 85 Black
18 GFC 84 Black
19 ----

GIRLS
14 St. Giles United Xtreme
15 GFC 87 Black
16 GFC 86 Black
17 MPSC Ice
18 GFC 84 Black
19 ----

And the tournament website:
2003 Southern Regionals

Good luck to all the teams.

SoccerWatcher -- I know former Brookland-Cayce boys standout Troy Lesesne is playing in the U19 Regionals with a MPSC team. And another former Bearcat, Jabari Seabrook, will be playing with NOSA-Louisiana in the U19 Regionals.

Both players are members of the College of Charleston men's soccer team. Troy is entering his junior year and Jabari will be a redshirt-freshman for the Cougars in 2003.

Uhh.... Well, all I can say is I copied the list directly from the Southern Regionals website. I seem to remember years ago the U-19's competed on a different schedule, maybe that's it?

EDIT: I went back and checked the team listing and most states list U-19 teams but some states had some vacancies, one state didn't have any teams listed, so, possibly, there's a paperwork issue. On the brackets page, there's a spot for both boys and girls U-19's from SC.

If I am not mistaken St. Giles has entered a U-19 girls team and I haven't heard about the boys U-19. The GFC '86 Boys Black were added last week in the Premier League slot.

U-19 Boys' Champs are the Mt Pleasant Crossfire. They won a play off series against an Aiken team.

Another member of the U19 Louisiana squad is former Ridge View standout Cody Perrot, who has also recovered from a knee injury and made the squad at Coastal Carolina University.

Good luck to all of the S.C. participants at the Southern Regionals!

I think the Mt. Pleasant team will do quite well. Lots of college players and local boys on the team.

Well, all I can say is that the Region III Southern Regionals webmaster should take a class in website design. After plowing around, I think I've finally found where the scores are going to be posted.

Boys: Boys Scores
Girls: Girls Scores

I wonder how quickly they'll be updated......

South Carolina (Mt. Pleasant) U19 (5-1) Tennessee
Louisiana U19 (8-0) Arkansas

LA has Jabari Seabrook of Brookland-Cayce HS (c/o '02)

SC has Troy Lesesne of Brookland-Cayce HS (c/o'01)

quote:
Originally posted by Soccer Watcher:
I wonder how quickly they'll be updated......

Apparently pretty quickly, scores are already showing up from this morning. In addition to the above:

U15 boys: St. Giles United Celtic - 2, Arkansas - 1
U19 girls: South Carolina (St. Giles?) - 4, Arkansas - 0
U15 girls: GFC 87 Black - 0, Mississippi - 5

MPSC Crossfire 5-1 Tennessee

Goals: Jake Hund (James Island) 2, David Ashe (James Island), Mark Frey (Bishop England), Troy Pinckney (Wando). Assists: Troy Lesesne (Brookland-Cayce) 2.

Will play Florida tomorrow and Oklahoma Sunday.

In U17 play:

SC (GFC 86 Black) 2
Premier League North 0

Way to go guys. Sounds like the SC teams are faring well. All but one SC entry has won or tied.

This year the winners of last year's premier leagues gained an automatic entry which opens up a spot for another team from that team's state. Not sure who the PL North entry is.

quote:
Originally posted by Paruthed:

Not sure who the PL North entry is.

Although the PL North listing was blank, here are the rest of the Premier League teams:

PL East 15 B Concorde Fire Silver GA
PL East 16 B GFC Black SC
PL East 17 B Brandon FC Flames FL
PL East 15 G Maitland Maulers FL
PL East 16 G Winston Salem NC
PL East 17 G Greensboro Twisters NC

PL South 15 B Cajun Fury LA
PL South 16 B American Jets Blue AL
PL South 17 B NOSA LA
PL South 15 G Mandeville Lakers LA
PL South 16 G Mandeville Lakers LA
PL South 17 G Wave Futebol Club FL

PL West 15 B Solar SC NTX
PL West 16 B Comets 87 Blue NTX
PL West 17 B Capital SC STX
PL West 15 G Texas Spirit 88 Red NTX
PL West 16 G Dallas Texans 87 Red NTX
PL West 17 G D'Feeters 86 NTX

2003 SNICKERS SOUTHERN REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
Greensboro, NC -- Bryan Park Soccer Complex
June 26 - July 1, 2003

***Through matches on Monday, June 30 @ 7:45 p.m.***

BOYS (9-6-4)
U14 (0-1-2) -- SC 1-1 South Texas / SC 3-3 Georgia / SC 2-3 Mississippi
U15 (2-1-0) -- SC 2-1 Arkansas / SC 1-3 Premiere League West / SC 4-0 Oklahoma
U16 (3-0-0) -- SC 2-1 Florida / SC 1-0 Arkansas / SC 3-0 Louisiana / Semifinals -- SC 1-0 Oklahoma / Finals -- SC vs. North Texas, 11:30 a.m.
U17 (1-1-1) -- SC 2-0 Premiere League North / SC 0-1 Premiere League West / SC 1-1 Louisiana
U18 (1-1-1) -- SC 0-0 Alabama / SC 3-0 Tennessee / SC 1-2 Oklahoma
U19 (1-2-0) -- SC 5-1 Tennessee / SC 1-2 Florida / SC 1-4 Oklahoma

GIRLS (8-8-4)
U14 (1-0-2) -- SC 1-1 Louisiana / SC 1-0 Arkansas / SC 1-1 Alabama
U15 (0-3-0) -- SC 0-5 Mississippi / SC 0-3 Oklahoma / SC 2-5 Alabama
U16 (1-1-1) -- SC 4-0 Alabama / SC 0-1 South Texas / SC 0-0 Georgia
U17 (1-1-1) -- SC 0-0 Alabama / SC 4-1 Mississippi / SC 0-3 North Texas
U18 (3-0-0) -- SC 3-0 Louisiana / SC 5-1 Mississippi / SC 2-1 Florida / Semifinals -- SC 0-1 North Texas
U19 (2-2-0) -- SC 4-0 Arkansas / SC 1-0 Tennessee / SC 0-2 Louisiana / Semifinals -- SC 0-1 Alabama

Teams representing the South Carolina Youth Soccer Association (SCYSA) as State Champions:

BOYS
U14 -- OSSOC 88 Hurricanes (Ocean Strand Soccer Club - Myrtle Beach)
U15 -- St. Giles United Celtic (Greenville)
U16 -- Aiken Fire 02 (Aiken Soccer Club)
U17 -- GFC 85 Black (Greenville Futbol Club)
U18 -- GFC 84 Black (Greenville Futbol Club)
U19 -- MPSC Crossfire (Mount Pleasant Soccer Club)

GIRLS
U14 -- St. Giles United Xtreme (Greenville)
U15 -- GFC 87 Black (Greenville Futbol Club)
U16 -- GFC 86 Black (Greenville Futbol Club)
U17 -- MPSC Ice (Mount Pleasant Soccer Club)
U18 -- GFC 84 Black (Greenville Futbol Club)
U19 -- St. Giles United (Greenville)

SC got 3 teams in the semis (on Monday):

Girls:
U-19: vs. Alabama
U-18: vs. N. Texas

Boys:
U-16: vs. Oklahoma

Just to clarify for everyone..South Carolina actually had two teams in the U16 Boys bracket...Aiken Fire and GFC (PL East winner I think) ...Aiken Fire is in the semis..

Great articles covering the Southern Regionals from the News & Record in Greensboro, N.C.

Southern Regionals a Recruiting Necessity
Aaron Fitt, 6.30.03

Soccer Club Hopping Becomes the Norm
Jim Young, 6.29.03

Humble, But Gifted - Dallas' Nunez
Jim Young, 6.28.03

Stormy Weather Stops Play Early
6.28.03

Major Soccer Tournament Ready to Kick Off Today
Aaron Fitt, 6.26.03

WOO-HOO. The U-16 boys from Aiken defeated the Oakies 1-0 in their semi and now face North Texas tomorrow in the final.

On the girls side, St. Giles United U-19 and U-18 GFC 84 Black both lost their semis 1-0. A great showing, nonetheless.

Good luck to the Aiken Fire U16 Boys Team tomorrow in the FINALS against North Texas. Kickoff is 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, July 1.

This will be the second meeting between the Fire and Dallas Texas Red as Dallas downed the Fire 2-0 at the Disney Showcase this past December.

The winner of this match will represent the Southern Region at the National Championships next month in the Washington, D.C. area.

Depth Helps Twisters Wear Down Austin Team
Jeff Carlton, News & Record, 7.1.03

Metro Dallas Area Becomes Magnet for Youth Soccer
Jim Young, News & Record, 7.1.03

Snickers US Youth Soccer Southern Regional Championship

SC u19 girls' team is the St. Giles United STORM (formerly UGSA Storm), a team who has won 8 consecutive S.C. state championships (2003 by default since no other u19 team surfaced). This was a great performance for a team who just came together in May, with very limited practice time. Nine former Storm players returned including collegiate players Stacy Simpson & Julie Einstein (Furman), Natasha Moore (Western Carolina), Priya Naik (Pennsylvania), Megan Smith (Presbyterian), Erica Devine (UNCC). They had 7 new players from PC, Furman and Western. To reach the semis was proof of Storm players' & coaches' abilities. Great job!

To correct 1 score -
U-17 Girls the MPSC ICE lost to North Texas 3-1 not 3-0.
Good showing by the ICE. Absolutley dominated Alabama but only had 0-0 to show for it. Easily beat Mississippi 4-1. Texas had revenge on their minds but it was still close at 2-1 with less than 5 to play.
On the girls side at least, the Regionals still seem to mean having to get by a N. Texas team.

In 4 years of going to Regionals , ICE still can claim an overall winning record. Way to go girls.

how did the aiken fire do in the finals?

aiken fire got beat 1-0