SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Girls Varsity Soccer Post Week #3 (March 19-25) Girls Varsity scores/results in this thread ...

@ Camden

Varsity

CHS 4 v Darlington 0

Called in 2nd half due to weather

I have seen plenty of lopsided games. The coach after a 6-0 lead would have the players only use their weaker foot, or be required to have a certain number of touches before shooting, things like this to enhance their skills.

This coach did not see the value of putting 10, 15 or whatever... on the opponents.

As for learning how to win, this team won 3 State Championships.

This was a close game. Clover took advantage of their opportunities and made 5 shots. Lancaster did not take advantage of their opportunities.

The moral of the story here is never judge a team based on the record they have in early season/non-region games. Once region play starts you will get some idea of how good the teams really are. Of course for some teams the region play may still not tell how good they may (or may not) be. In this case putting Clovers opponents against Lancasters results in seeing a world of difference in the quality of competition they have faced.

3/23
West Florence 2-1 Conway

I must say that the keeper for Conway did an AMAZING job! She was very impressive! Wish I knew her name!

I would have to say that Lancaster has beaten some formidable opponents this year. An example would be Fort Mill High in a scrimmage. It can, actually, be smart in the long run to play teams that you can beat outside of region play because each region has its own rules for tie breakers. Lancaster has made the play-offs in the past ahead of other schools because of their overall record. Even though, they had split games with schools in their region. If the goal is to make the playoffs, this is a good thing to do. Playing a tough out of region schedule to prepare for the play-offs could quite possibly keep a team from making the play-offs. By the way, don't take the Bruins for granted, they have some very good players!

Not to nit pick but I would not hang my hat on a scrimmage for claiming quality play. The first scrimage of the season would be of little value in judging weather or not a team is "formidable". I would hope that the tie breakers would be pretty deep in region results before they would reward a team who played lesser competion so they could have a better record but I guess not based on your statement.
Lancaster does have some very good players and I would have to agree they should not be taken for granted, which it seems Clover did not do.

If I am correct, tournament games do not come into play with a tie breaker, only regular season games. So, to get good competition playing in tournaments can be a way to prepare for the post season. To maintain play-off eligibility, playing teams you can beat gives you a good record. Tie breakers with goals for or goals against, etc. can lead to teams running the score up.
At the college level, teams who have lost mostly conference games and won all nonconference games can be ranked ahead of teams that in conference play are ahead of them because of this. Bottom line is 8-1 is still 8-1...I believe thats why some high school teams are ranked above others because of wins / losses. (Record) Although, I could be wrong.