SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Boys Varsity Soccer Top 3a teams

Beach teams pretty much go without saying. So is it MB or NMB that have 11 seniors? Either way they'll be good this season.

In the Lower State it seems to be a crap-shoot! No great teams, but some pretty good ones - no particular order: AC Flora, Bluffton, Brookland-Cayce, Chapin, Hilton Head Island, Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach, and Socastee. Appears to be wide open!

Myrtle Beach:

Graduated: 5 - 2 starters
Returning: 20 - 9 starters

(11 seniors) + (JV team went 14-0)

North Myrtle Beach:

Graduated: 9 - 8 starters
Returning: ? - 3 starters

Looks like Myrtle Beach has a good squad returning this year. They play Chapin in a scrimmage in the second game so they should know how good they are right off the bat.

What's the scuttlebutt on Eastside and Greenville this year? Now that Mann and Riverside are gone, I expect one of them to challenge. What's Fort Mill moving down going to do to 3A? How about Daniel and that region?

While FM moving into 3A should make the Upstate teams take a little more notice of the York county area, do not forget that Nation Ford and South Pointe are also coming to 3A. While neither of these schools has FM's history they both have put some good teams on the pitch the last couple of years, playing at 4A, and can be expected to provide some challenge to upstate 3A teams they face.

It will be interesting to see how Chapin will do this year. Hiller will definitely have his hands full after graduating 11 seniors, 10 of which were starters. There is ton of talent at Chapin but it looks to be a younger group this year.

Chapin has had spurts of large groups graduating at a time but still find a way to make it challenging for everybody else in lowerstate. Just look after 2008 when they lost in the State Championship and lost 9 of the starting 11 to graduation and then last year when they played pretty good in upperstate losing 11 seniors is never easy to rebuild from, but we will see how this young bunch do. I however see MB being the team to represent lowerstate this year in the big game. They look to be a solid bunch this year

I second that RWBfan8, they have great leaders in South Carolina United team players Sr. Hart Zwing and Jr. Ryan Arambula.

Although it is only a scrimmage, Chapin vs. Myrtle Beach in early February should be a great matchup. And quite possibly could be the lowerstate game.

Don't like the officiating? Take the course and become one yourself, but don't just take the high school test because the SC High School League teaches you NOTHING. You should take the USSF course first and start off with the U12 youth games. Trust me, it's not as easy as you think.

Also, how many of these poorly officiated games had a 2-man system? This system stinks and should be eliminated from varsity soccer, expecially the higher level games. The referees miss too many calls when there is only 2 of them on the pitch. And please don't spew the same old rhetoric about money. Referees are paid peanuts and the schools can afford one extra referee. If nothing else, they should get a 3rd man for Region games.

Are there less than adequate referees? Of course, just like there are less than adequate players and coaches, but that's part of the game. You have to be able to play/coach to that referees technique.

FWIW, I recently had the opportunity to overhear about 15 minutes of verbal give-and-take at the end of a certification session, during which a visibly overweight "veteran" official whined about the poor work by teenaged ARs. in my opinion, poor officiating is the scourge of all youth soccer, and more often than not, it's the self-important veterans on cruise control who are to blame.

Want to clean up officiating?

1) Annual required minimal fitness test.
2) Annual on-site, in-game evaluation by fellow officials.
3) Random on-site, in-game evaluation by anonymous panel of club/high school coaches.