SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Boys Varsity Soccer SCISA 2010

catscratch, what was your take on the team compared to last year since that seems to be a big issue on the thread?

As mentioned earlier, the school can not be in a different classification for different sports. I believe football drove the 1A classification along with economics as Christ Church and Southside Christian are both 1A and very close to St. Joes (right down the street). Starting next year when they go to 1A, they could dominate for several years in soccer as they have a slew of premier and challenge kids coming through. They never had a JV soccer team (just middle school), but they have so many kids coming up they are starting a jv squad next year. There non SCISA games for this season include top rated schools in 1A and 3A like JL Mann, Eastside, Riverside, Southside Christian, and Christ Church. Probably wont contend for SCISA title this year due to youthfulness of better players, but do not look past them.

This year's Pinewood team will definitely be strong, but they are also kind of young. They have kids who are very experienced and most of them have played a high level of soccer. I noticed that they seem to be small in some areas on the field, but they can move the ball pretty well.

Yes, Pinewood lost a lot from last year's squad, but it seems that they have moved on quite easily. They lost Brandon Ferro, Trey Reidmayer, Joe sweet, and Malcolm Reed but the midfield slots were filled this year by Taylor Katsanis and Blaise Rashtchian and Brandon Ferro's forward slot was filled by his younger brother, Thomas Ferro, who is a much better finisher. Despite the size difference, he can dribble well and is quick. And then of course, Justin White runs the Pinewood offense with his craft and speed.

They are solid down the center of the field but looked weak on the outside. Malcolm Reed is the only major loss that can't really be replaced, as he moved on to play at UCF. However, Brandon Phinney and Dillon Thies provide a strong central defense.

All the players mentioned have all played at the highest level of club soccer available.

Alright thanks for clearing that up a little bit for me. I just tend to see private schools dominate a lot of sports when they play in the public school leagues. So basically it's all about football. That's nice to know lol.

club soccer (especially elite teams) tends to be a middle to upper middle class sport due to costs (fees, travel, etc) so it makes sense that more of these kids are also the kids that end up going to private schools plus if a kid is a good enough (athletics or academics), they can also offer scholarships.

correlation or causation?

Either way it def gives them a leg up on the rest of the competition when they play public schools. I just don't see how it can be fair to play schools that can barely field teams. There needs to be a way around this happening to 1-A and 2-A public schools.

In soccer, I agree it is a mismatch, but they will not dominate all other sports like football, basketball, baseball, etc. Since this is a soccer forum, I guess it would be seen as unfair.

St Joes has one of the best (90+ percent rates) college placements out there, so I tend to believe more correlation.

Pinewood plays Wando tomorrow in a scrimmage at Wando.