SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Boys Varsity Soccer Why!?!?!

The reason Irmo lost is simple. For 80 minutes on Saturday night, Wando had the better TEAM. Irmo's fans? Irrelevant to the outcome. The officiating? Mediocre BOTH WAYS, but irrelevant.
Wando's kids played consistently harder, more committed, and arguably more technical soccer for the vast majority of the game, even when absorbing pressure. Irmo played from behind for virtually the whole match, and that's extraordinarily difficult to do in 90-degree heat and the crucible of competition ... not to mention artificially high expectations.
FWIW, my biggest problem with Irmo's student/fans was the highly disrespectful way they treated the Class AAA kids, chanting during the previous game's awards ceremony. I expect adolescents to use profanity -- heck (sadly) that's now the societal norm. But at least respect the EVENT enough to let the Eastside/Mytle Beach kids receive their due uninterrupted.

Irmo does that every year because they think they are top class. Remember last year, the fans came in during the AAA game and began taunting JL Manns players and fans. It makes the school look bad.

it seems irmo is soccers cousin eddie from the old vacation movies.

All of this said, I have a great deal of respect for all of the players and parents I know from Irmo.

Well its all over and done with and like the Braves, Irmo always has a great season, bigtime national ranking, but just cant get 'er dun in the finals (at least lately)....Is it possible they get too up for the big games and lose some real game focus?
Anyway.......the most pressing question...is which school had the coolest female fans.........?

Any recent Irmo player has the reputation of Irmo's past to live up to. That's a huge burden.

Irmo used to win state titles like fat kids ate cake. Kids remember that. Boys that grow up in the Irmo community have relatives, older brothers, friends, etc. that won state titles and will look down on the current players if they don't win state titles. No school in South Carolina can recreate the pressure to succeed that an Irmo boy's soccer player goes through given the history of the program over the last 30 years.

Irmo's student section at boys soccer games can be horribly rude. Are they that rude when they travel outside of Columbia? It's an honest question. I don't know. Were they as rude 20 years ago, in the early 90s, when the dynasty was beginning its heyday, or did success go to the heads of the fans more than the players?

The rudest fans I have ever heard/seen in 20 years were at a Wando High boys game (given it was nearly a decade ago). But I have seen the Wando boys play outside of Mount Pleasant/Charleston and the fans were a class act.

Irmo has the best coach in the game, and their players train in a pressure cooker that demands performance.

Kudos to coach Savitz for maintaining a quality program for three decades.

They don't have to win state titles to be a quality team, and I hate that the (student) fans ruin what the boys have accomplished...

Former,

I concur with your thoughts about Irmo's illustrious past teams. With all the successes and accomplishments of Savitz and those teams, it is always hard to continue to fulfill those same successes. Some of that 'rudeness' and arrogance that you speak of may come from all that Irmo hype. It is fun to see the energy of the fans. (NW fans were that way in past years.) And a lot of it is totally OK, and great for soccer. But the blatant rudeness & disrespect by any team or its fans needs to stop. Just play the game you know how and how you have been taught and the 'Big Wins' will come as a result. It looks a whole lot more like fun when you win that way. And isn't that what it should all be about anyway???

Interesting comments.
I really don't buy the historical context/pressure theory. In my estimation, the sheer number of schools capable of winning a state championship has increased, as soccer has grown in popularity among kids, and more competent coaches enter the arena. The 2011 state title may have more actual "value" than a 2002 state title ... though I'm sure max effort was delivered in both instances. There are just more teams capable of delivering max effort on a given night.
Savitz is clearly a great coach who, no doubt, will add to his state title total before he retires. To do so, he may need to evolve/adjust ever-so-slightly to meet with changing times. For example, he should at least consider enhancing his strength-of-schedule to get his team ready for the state tournament. Undefeated regular seasons and winning percentages are irrelevant once a team enters the pressure cooker of a single-elimination tournament. Wando's coaching staff knew who could handle that kind of pressure, and played them extra minutes. I sensed that Irmo's staff DIDN'T know who COULDN'T handle the pressure, and played a few kids too much.
Similarly, I felt that Wando enjoyed and took advantage of some significant physical match-up advantages. Wando's first and third goals were clearly the result of power and/or speed mismatches that SHOULD have been scouted and foreseen. Indeed, Wando's third goal came after the Wando coach moved a kid forward to take advantage of a speed mismatch, and the kid made several potential scoring runs before netting the game-winner.
These are all surmises and theories. The facts remain. Irmo is STILL the measuring stick by which programs in our state can and should be evaluated. And Wando is the 2011 Class AAAA state champion, thanks to a well-played and well-coached victory over a great program.
Congratulations to BOTH sides for providing the showcase game the sport deserves.

Yes, I agree that more quality teams are in the mix than in the past. Look at BL winning 2A last year and Gilbert playing for it this year. And the 4A final could have easily been Mann v. Beaufort, 2 quality teams, and that woulda been a great final too. After seeing Beaufort play in early season I thought they may make it all the way to finals. They played a tough schedule and were very good as a result at end of season, and very good in playoffs. I did not see the 4A final, but sounds like Wando was more ready and seasoned for the big game.

Some observations after watching EASTSIDE capture the AAA state title on Saturday.

* I thought the on-rush of irmo (that is for Manchester) students was very unsportsmanlike and didn't allow the Eastside team and fans a proper celebration. That being said I thought Coach Scott Halkett took advantage of the unfortunate situation and had a mass circle huddle behind the goal toward the main entrance. Awesome feeling to celebrate with the faithful blue/gold Eagles!

* I felt like Eastside was the better team and actually a couple of goals better than Myrtle Beach. MB seemed to hit a wall after the first half hour and were ball chasing the entire final 40 minutes. Good team, but you just have to wonder about who they play down on the coast.

* There seemed to be an occurrence at halftime of the AAA game behind the home stands. A bunch of Columbia police showed up and made a horde of irmo students dump out their cups and disband their party. Unfortunate but it seemed to go pretty smooth.

* I stayed on the home side for the AAAA game. Simply put, Wando was better than irmo on this night. I do think the level of competition helped Wando and the quick start was all the Warriors needed to get a foothold on irmo. Once again I thought irmo was out coached and for some reason it seemed like their interests lied elsewhere. I didn't witness any poor sportsmanship from irmo mainly because the team (and fans) was taken out of the game so early. Wando impressed with the speed of play and the precise passing game. Again, I think that goes back to the caliber of teams they played all year long. The out of state teams that have beaten Wando must be very good! I thought #19 took over the game and #17, #20, and #21 were all over the place. Only player that I thought looked above level for irmo was #7. He is a fireballer and if the rest of that team played with his passion then perhaps a state title would be brought home by irmo. The goalkeeper had a nightmarish first half and a couple of the "players" are more athletes than soccer players (strange twist for a school that size with the soccer background). I thought Lunceford had a much better game this go around in the finals than last year but still don't understand why irmo shifted him up top for such long periods of time. That played right into the ball controlling midfield talents of Wando and left a gap from the top of the box to midfield of nothing but black jerseys that played 1-2 touch all night.

* Good season for everyone that made it to the weekend. That was some good soccer and more importantly it looked like most teams were healthy at the final whistle with no major injuries.

* Again, congrats to Eastside which made its fourth straight AAA Semifinals and second trip to State in the past four years. Finally, CHAMPIONS!