SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Girls Varsity Soccer Post Week #3 scores and results in this thread (3/21-27) ...

Apparently Mauldin is not yet ready to just step aside and let Riverside take the title. Also looks like Irmo may be "fo real"!

good game between 2 evenly matched teams.

Pelion 8
Ninety-Six 0
@ Ninety-Six

Good Job by the Lady Panthers

Wed, 3/23, @ Gaffney

Rock Hill 5 - 0 Gaffney

3/22 @ The Swamp

Wando 2-0 AR

I do think the rankings have been adjusted since week 1 and reflect a more accurate (no one will ever be happy with rankings, no matter how they're done) portrayal in the current week.

For example, the first week there were 10 AA Girls teams ranked and 5 A teams ranked. This week there were only 8 AA girls teams and 2 A teams in the rankings, which is more in line with a top 10 Girls A/AA like last year.

Also, in TL Hanna's case, this might be their best team ever, but if their top win is over a Dorman squad that is far weaker than in year's past, then adding wins over Westside, Woodmont and Easley won't build their resume enough to keep them in the top 15. Once they face Greenwood, Wren, and other strong non-region competition, the quality wins will earn them a place.

Are the rankings actually done by people "outside" the state now? If so, this would make the early rankings of teams with good records, but who recorded wins over weak opponents, make sense.

The first week's rankings SHOULD be skewed, because people outside the state don't know which teams are traditionally strong. This is a downside, but the positive is that teams will no longer receive preferential ranking based on how strong they used to be.

What we should see in the long run is more teams being ranked, more teams being ranked highly that previously would have been "low-balled" by the powers that be, and more traditionally strong teams NOT getting ranked because they have losing records.

Change can be bad, and change can be good, and in the end most people both love and hate change. The new scoreboard represents change. It is not perfect. Some will critique it and some will praise it, and it in turn will serve to make things just a bit more interesting...

I believe the first week's rankings were skewed because a lot of the results to that point were from the Viking Cup which was greatly affected by the absence of key players who were at the ECNL event in San Antonio.

From today's Greenville News
Link would not work, so here is the article.

Riverside (10-1, 4-0), No. 3 in Class AAAA, took over first place in the region standings after handing No. 7 Mauldin (4-2, 3-1) its first conference loss.

“We knew it was going to be a hard-fought game,” Riverside coach Terry Archenhold said. “It's a good rivalry. I'm really pleased. I think this does both our teams a world of good to play this kind of competition. I wish we could do it every week.”

Kevin Czar, in his sixth season as Mauldin's coach, said the result was fairly routine in matchups between two of the state's powerhouse programs.

“I think we've probably gone to PKs more than it's been settled in regulation,” he said. “They're a great program. It was back and forth all night. Both teams laid it on the line, and they made one more PK than us.”

Each team had chances in regulation. In the first half, Mauldin's Gracie Boswell hit the crossbar, and Mavericks goalkeeper Caitland Considine made a diving save on a shot by Riverside's Kaleigh Kurtz.

In the second half, Mauldin's Sarah Tuggle blasted a shot from about 25 yards out that caromed off the left post and sailed across the front of the goal.

Riverside's Blair Worthington made a save during the penalty kicks, so when Kurtz became the fifth Warrior to successfully convert, Riverside had the victory.

Riverside, which won the Class AAA title last season, moved up in class and in with Mauldin, which was the Class AAAA runner-up.

“We see each other twice during the season, but I figure we'll meet again,” Archenhold said. “That third time is the one that matters.”

“To put it in perspective,” said Czar, “yes, this game matters. It matters more than when they're a AAA and we're a AAAA. But the bottom line is, everything we set out to accomplish at the beginning of the year is still accomplishable.

“It was an honest, genuine, great effort by both teams. The fifth shooter separated these two teams. We'll just come back tomorrow and start working even harder."

FormerRam

Did TL Hanna beat Dorman? If they did not beat Dorman a far weaker team then in the past should TL Hanna be in the top 15?