SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Girls Varsity Soccer Question for those of you more experienced and well traveled

There's a lot of talk about who the prohibitive favorites of any given season are: the Mauldins, BCs, Wandos, Clovers, Ft. Mills, etc. etc. (and I apologize for anyone I've left out. It's only eight in the morning) of the world. These gals all have a tough task in front of them because they know they always get everyone's best shot, always get the creative coaching from opponents and always have the added weight of high expectations.

My question, though, has to do with the opposite direction: What are the teams that will be excellent but fly under the radar and shock some folks in the playoffs? I know that Robles does a great job with the girls at Northwestern, but since I'm coaching in my own little bubble, I have little knowledge about the rest of the state.

In short, who are the potential surprise teams this spring, and why are they going to be so good?

I think, over the next couple of years, Barnwell will be a Final Four team in 2A.

In 4A--I think North Augusta and West Florence are 2 teams loaded with talent but don't get the recognition of some of the bigger schools. N.A. should be a senior loaded team full of experienced club players. W.F. was young a couple of years ago but showed a lot of young talent. Nation Ford is another team to watch at the 4A level.


From 3A, South Aiken, Swansea, and AC Flora. Swansea proved it could be very competitive against some very good teams last year. A lot of their kids are playing club ball at the challenge level. AC Flora has some good talent and with stable coaching I think they could be a team on the rise. South Aiken--despite losing 2 seniors last year they are a very talented team. Look for them to bust onto the 3A scene this year despite their coach(just kidding Dale).

There's my 6 picks...only two of these teams ended up in the final rankings last year (SA #13, NA #14).

Coach Morris

Barnwell is a strong pick to excel in the coming years, as well as Swansea, which has a lot of girls playing for Lower Lexington I think. These two schools may be the best examples of RURAL schools whose high school programs have improved thanks to the forming of local clubs over the past 4-5 years.

You also have schools in a more urban setting that are benefitting from larger, established clubs. Blythewood and Blue Ridge were hyped teams in the last two years that benefitted from an influx of CUFC and CESA players respectively. Woodruff came on strong 3 years ago and maintained its high level of performance thanks to strong coaching and increasing club participation.

West Florence and North Augusta have had strong teams before and are simply back on the upswing, as traditionally smaller clubs in those cities are unable to provide a consistent number of strong club players every year for 10-15 years like an Irmo, Spring Valley or Lexington.

The same can be said for South Aiken, which was a very strong program in the 90s, ranked in the top 15 7-8 years in a row, before hitting a slight downturn. The Aiken club has proven more stable than Florence or North Augusta's over the years.

I think the question you are asking is who are the programs that are up and coming, and that's a tough one. A new coach who pushes club, rezoning (look at the change in Woodmont's record from 05 to 06 when that high school gained about 500 students from Hillcrest, and the subsequent drop-off of Hillcrest's once strong teams), or the building of a new high school, see Nation Ford, in an area with high level club available.

Teams like a Barnwell or a Swansea are the anomaly. Logically they should not be as strong as they are due to their distance from a metro area (I know Swansea isn't too far from West Columbia). Smaller schools like Walhalla in 08 or Emerald in 06, can have 1-2 year runs where they are title contenders thanks to a handful of strong club players, but do not consistently stay top 5 teams for 10 years.

All of that said, I do not think there will be a school that is currently not strong that will become a consistent top 5-10 team at any classification over the next five years. Teams may make a RUN for 1-2 years, but that is it.

The exception to this would be a new coach, or proven coach at an already strong school, taking over a program that has the potential to be a top 5-10 contender. A good example would be our very own coach Michael Young, who turned TL Hanna into a contender and helped South Aiken to a resurgent season in 08. Both schools had the club support and right demographic to be successful, but it took a determined coach to get results.

So if we see the re-emergence of one of South Carolina's coaching elite, say a Jim Finnerty or a Josef Lorenz, at any school that has the elements to be successful but is currently not Top 15, then and only then do I think we could see a new dark horse contender truly come out of the woodwork. Until then, Barnwell may be our best bet!

Coach M,

I don't know. Barnwell has some affluent families that work at the Savannah River Site. I imagine some of them witnessed the success of Aiken, South Aiken, North Augusta, the Georgia schools, etc; and stirred up enough interest to start a girls club program.

Laurens is rural and has a high Poverty Index and no club program and is a program that has traditionally struggled.

I think teams can overcome the Poverty Index, see Brookland-Cayce or Spartanburg, when there is a large enough contigent of middle or upper middle class students attending that school who have the funds or "interest" in soccer. Spartanburg High has very rich and very poor, but enough rich to middle class students to make them a strong 4A program.

Both of those schools are not rural, so I think it is harder to overcome distance from an established club than it is to overcome a high Poverty Index.

At Westside High, where I coach, of the twelve girls that I had play at the classic or challenge club level with CASA, 8 of them received some amount of scholarship money. Without it they wouldn't have been able to play, but the poverty index was offset by club funding. Of the High Schools that have girls playing at CASA (TL Hanna, Wren, West-Oak, Walhalla, Seneca, Easley, Daniel, BHP, and Westside), Westside is the poorest, but still benefits largely bc Westside and TL Hanna are located in the closest proximity to training fields. If my kids were 45-60 minutes away from a training site, I think the club participation would be much lower.

So in short: rural is harder for a school with a high PI, but able to be overcome by one with a somewhat high PI if there are sufficient middle class students; high PI limits club participation in schools located within cities, but their proximities to clubs makes it more feasible that some students will play club.

The toughest thing from a coaches standpoint in Barnwell is being able to compete in club soccer. Yes we made to the State Cup championship this season(u-16) losing 1-0 but it's tough to bring that Cup home when we're competing against a great Coast FA team with girls from Waccamaw, Carolina Forest, and N. Myrtle Beach High Schools. Having only lost 1 game this season, it's tough being from the small town especially when all my girls live within a mile and a half from eachother (literally). However, please know I'm not looking for excuses cause they were the better team by far, On top of that we play u-16 cause of three fifteen yr olds so we're always out-sized and out-powered but the key is progress. As long as I can see the girls making progress and are developing into better players, I'll consider my job a sucess. Do I think we'll contend(2A) when my girls are on varsity in a few years?...I hope they will, but please know we appreciate the fact that others on this site recognize that Barnwell is making that development. Thank you very much, I consider it a priviledge to be their coach.

I think you benefit far more than Waccamw, Carolina, N. Myrtle Beach by having a higher number of players on the team practing together. While it may not be a blessing during club season, it's a big help come High School. Good luck Barnwell this year (except for two games)!

Only CESA player last year at Blue Ridge was Marissa Sumwalt. We had three club players total in 2008, will have 8+ this year.