SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Girls Varsity Soccer Games of the week, 3/7 - 3//11

Five 4-A games this week pit top 15 teams against each other:

Irmo (15) @ Dorman (8) on Monday

Lexington (6) @ Spring Valley (10) Tuesday

Summerville (9) @ James Island (2) Wednesday.

Lexington (6) @ Irmo (15) Friday

South Aiken (7) @ Richland Northeast (3) Friday


It looks like Irmo has a good stage from which to make its case that it should be in the top 10. Friday's SA v RNE game is the game of the week.

lpaf

In 2-A a great matchup:

Woodruff (6) @ Christ Church (4)

correction, Woodruff is now # (7). Maybe this want be such a big game after all. My bad.

This Saturday's match-up between Waccamaw(#2) at BE(#1) should be a great game!!!

Woodruff @ Christ Church will be a big game for Woodruff. This game starts a week where Woodruff plays CC(#4 AA/A), Emerald (#3 AA/A), Spartanburg (#11 4A) and Greenville (#6 3A).

Looks like the lower state is loaded this year. Only Emerald and Christ Church are very highly reguarded in the upstate. Can BE be dethrowned?

"won't"
"regarded"

Sorry rat, just a bad, bad habit.

TLH

If you guard a team twice with your best guards, doesn't that make them highly reguarded?

lpaf

ps: What about "dethrowned"?

Thanks for the spelling lesson.

rat15 --

You're welcome. Just watch it in the future.

To answer your last question about BE, I've heard that this is not their strongest team in recent times. This may be the year for a hungry competitor to knock off this misplaced giant.

lpaf

BE lost a lot of seniors last year, 12 I believe, but they are still my favorite for the 2A crown.

Picks for the week.

Dorman over Irmo by 1
Spring Valley over Lexington in Pks
JI over Summerville by 2
Irmo over Lexington by 1
SA over RNE by 4

None of by picks are based on facts, since that never seems to work for me. Instead I am using a system I purchased off of an Info-mercial I saw last night called "How to strike it rich betting on Girl's HS soccer." by R1C. It must be true because it was on television.

lpaf and TLH -

I think "dethrowned" is staying where you were to begin with. Here's how I came to that conclusion:

1. Throw - to be tossed
2. Throwned - bad way of saying tossed in past tense.
3. Dethrowned - to undo being "throwned"

I too have a poor sense of "corny" humor. Just thought I'd add my 2 cents.

RebelC --

Corny humor lightens the moments of boredom that sometimes prevail on the boards in between the periods of frenetic posting. It works for me and I welcome the posting of a kindred soul.

lpaf

To further this inspiring direction, what would be the opposite of "Dethrowned"? Potentially being "Dethrowned" could be a good thing if you were...say Wando. You would want to stay where you were previously. I like your two cents and will subcribe to your magazine.

Chapindad, make sure read the preface by my buddy Pete Rose. Due out next week is my anticipated best-seller "Bigger, Faster, Stronger, and More Harry: Girls Soccer and Steroids" Special foreword by my personal trainer Jose C.

Chapindad- Where's the respect for Lex. they haven't given up a goal since they got their starting keeper? oops!! I shouldn't have said that.

You're right..... This will be an interesting week for Lexington.

Pendleton 1
West Oak 0

and we didnt go into pk's this game

What about Eastside and Mauldin Tuesday night? Or are both upstate "has-beens" lowly regarded by the "down"-state and the mighty Fort Mill?

I have a lot of respect for Lexington but Spring Valley and Irmo are two great teams to have to go against. Lexington can prove a lot this week with two wins.

Fort Mill's not talking smack. As you saw, last match with Eastside was a great one. Eastside was up 2-0 in the second half and things looked pretty bleak. It took a gutty effort by the Lady Jackets to pull that one out.

Last FM-Mauldin matchup was for the Upper state championship last spring and Mauldin got the goal and earned the right to advance.

Chapindad - it was never even close to PK's for Lexington 2 - 1 over Spring Valley

I don't know 2-1 sounds close to me, our 12-0 win over Storm Thurmond is more like "never even close", but the score doesn't always paint the perfect picture. Lexington is on a roll and will probably be hard to stop. Congrats.

My picks are really sucking wind. I wonder if I can get a refund. I guess am just to much of a sucker for the under-dogs.

You're right that does sound like a close score but Lex was up 2-0 with less than 2 or 3 minutes left when we put our subs in and then a questionable no-call on a knock down to our defender led to the SV only goal. That's ok though as long as we got the "W". It was a pretty good game actually, and SV is a quick team with some good players.

LF- that wasn't even a questionable call. That was the worst no call I've seen in a long time.
A frustrated two hand push to the back, even the SV player had to expect the foul, maybe even a card.

Lexington look good they knocked the ball around the best I've seen this year, but at some point they have to start moving the ball forward to score.

Prediction: Summerville 0 @ James Island 2

lpaf

(ps: My roving fingers want to type JI 3 but I won't let them.)

I like it. My personal prediction is JI 3 Summerville 1. I think Summerville might sneak one on us. They always show up ready to play JI. Looking forward to a good game.

True - Ok, you're right. I was just trying to be little diplomatic here. That was a blatant foul that I can't believe was not called, especially since it was right in front of the ref. Maybe he was feeling sorry for SV. Last night I noticed that our midfield is starting to dribble the ball a bit too much and instead of passing the ball off to an open player they try to get by 3 or 4 defenders and either loose the ball or have to pass it backwards. We could have easily scored 3 or 4 more goals last night because quite a few times I noticed our forwards in the perfect position to finish off a goal if a cross was made, but instead an ill advised shot was taken. When those go in we all think it's great, but when they don't, as most of them don't, it was just a wasted scoring opportunity. Hopefully that is something that is being noticed by the coaches and worked on for the future. If they start passing to the open players a little better, look out.....

Summerville 0 @ James Island 4

The #2 ranked James Island Trojans dominated the #9 ranked Summerville Greenwave from opening whistle to the end of the 80th minute in a display of crisp soccer fundamentals, beautiful crossing shots and a midfield that denied the Greenwave the opportunity to move the ball down the field consistantly. Fully 80% of the game was played in the Summerville defensive half of the field. JI's four goals (2 in each half) were on beautiful hard crossing passes and each goal was high quality. Lisa Frawley, Kelly Gosnell, and Elyse Clark (2 goals) scored for the Trojans and 2 additional goals were called back for, to my eye, questionable off side calls.

The Greenwave was not without an offensive effort, moving the ball at times through the middle of the field before giving it up to the JI back line of Kelsey Riggs, Staci Ulichnie and Catherine Deden. Chelsea Terry (12), off an injury I am told, sat out the first 30 minutes of the game before coming in at stopper and providing even more speed and ball control in the the JI backfield. JI played Cortney Lasseter and Ashley Ingles, usually 2 of their starting back line, in mid and this seemed to pay off in terms of ball control without, at least tonight, giving up anything in the back.

This was not a case of a good team crushing a weak team. Summerville played well, but just couldn't overcome the swarming defense, fast back line, and explosive offense of the JI forwards. I think this is the best team play I have seen since the '02 Wando squad or the '03 Mauldin team.

JI weaknesses: none. OK, they didn't clear the ball as cleanly as they should have in corner kicks. How do you beat JI? You put together exceptional and unexpected offensive plays that catch them off guard combined with stellar defense. Go practice that...


lpaf

LF- I really have been pleasantly surprised by the great ball work out of the back field and into the mid field by Lexington this year. It's early in the season It might take them a little time to find their most effective way from mid field to their forwards. But I hope they find it soon my fingernails are getting short.

LF/Truefan: I've enjoyed reading your analysis of Lexington's tactics. It got me wondering enough to do a 10-minute review of some numbers. Here are some highlights:

Last year, at this point in the season Lexington was 1-5; this year they're 5-1.

Offensively, at this point in the season last year Lexington's offense was held scoreless in their first 6 games with the exception of the single game they won [5-0 against a not very strong Hartsville team]; this year they've scored 10 goals in 6 games [4 against a strong Brookland Cayce team].

Of the 10 goals, 3 have been the result of PK's or corners, 5 from the forward position, 1 from central midfield, 1 from wing.

Defensively, at this point in the season last year Lexington's defense had given up 10 goals while this year they've given up 8.

Last year Lexington lost to Spring Valley 0-3 and Brookland Cayce 0-1 [in PK's], this year they won at Spring Valley and have defeated Brookland Cayce twice.

Last year Lexington came back from a 1-5 start to finish runner-up in their region and into the second round of the playoffs.

This isn't meant to refute any of your tactical points per se, just to illustrate a few quantitative highlights. Seems like a good start for a young team of mostly returning players that has historically shown the ability to get stronger as the season progresses.

chico- wow, I feel like I owe you money or something. Nice work, checks in the mail.

Chico- those stats do not surprise me at all. I said after the end of the very first scrimmage this year when we beat AC Flora 9-1 that the difference between this year and last year is that we look like we now have an offense that can score some goals for us. With a little more work passing to the open players instead of trying to do it all themselves, the potential is there to really have a potent offense that should be able to keep up with the best of them out there.

Shannon (lex) is prolly one of the best midfielders in the state so no one better be "dissing" her.

What are you talking about?

I believe the "S" in "SB" is Shannon herself.

...that would explain it.

here's the sad thing - SB apparently registered yesterday just to make that brilliant post.

We're all better people for it.

This is Shannon Bigbie from Lexington and my friend made that post without my consent. I dont normally read these posts because I think their pretty stupid, but I just could not resist commenting on something that someone wrote about the midfield for Lexington. I dont normally try to take 5 or 6 players on the other team on, however my Coach was telling me to do this. That is what he was telling me to do and I have to obey what he says. I just dont really appreciate people talking about things that they dont know anything about. Thanks

Shannon - that post was not meant as an put down ("dissing her") for you or any other player. Merely an observation that when there or 3 or 4 (or 5 or 6 like you said) opposing players on you, that means some of your team mates are open and able to receive a pass and hopefully score. If that's how your coach is telling you to play you have to do what he tells you. I guess it really doesn't matter if you win 1-0 or 5-0, you have to do what the coach says. Keep up the good work you girls are doing great.

How would your friend make that post without your consent? Both have strikingly similar anger built up inside. Maybe it was you?

Either way, Lexington is looking fantastic this year (on paper for I have not seen in person) and any player that a coach feels capable of taking on 5 or 6 people is welcome on my team!

I believe her.
The misspelling of the word "probably", leads me to think that someone else was typing franticly to send the post without her knowledge. And in their hurry forgot to read back over the post, therefore missing a noticable misspelling.
I saw the same thing on CSI one time.

truefan --

Your misspelling of the word "frantically" makes me think that perhaps you are not you, but rather someone who wants to appear to be you. Could you help me here by listing all the persons who might, for one reason or another, want to appear to be you. Thanks in avdance.

lpaf

ps: Truefan, despite the fact that the above post has a certian "je ne sais quoi" appeal to it, you should note that it is vaguely hostile to you. I am working hard here to offend both east of the Coopah and north of the Broad Riva supporters in ordah to lowah my Chaleston rating to a foah. Please help if you still canh.

lpaf

That's right Chuck County...fight with one another. The Upstate will wait for the right moment to strike. This time the Bay of Pigs will prevail as we plant yet another CESA satellite project in Goose Creek to anoint our own person lowcountry representative. We will win state soon...just keep fighting.

Fort Mill 9, Lancaster 1

TLH, this could be the year Chuck County doesn't pull it out at the end!

TLH and H66 --

You're both guilty of pre-CESA old think. Like Bob said, the times they are are a changin', the paradigm it is a shiftin'. We, in the low country are just glad the upstate schools still let us play them, not having an elite academy and all down here to teach the girls. Thank goodness for the lower state - upper state system or the state 4A title match this year would surely be Fort Mill against perennial powerhouse Mauldin.

lpaf

lpaf,

If it's the "CESA way" that you are concerned with, then give the trophy to Mauldin. Geographically speaking, we are 90 minutes northeast of the "heart of the upstate".

The upstate is like the Old AFC before the merger. Finnerty will be our Namath...

H66 --

It is rumored that Fort Mill was actually ceded to North Carolina in exchange for a more favorable line placement through Carowinds when the theme park was being laid out. Very few people know this. But then your soccer resembles Charlotte soccer a lot more than it should.

lpaf

I won't deny the Charlotte influence. Two of our players were well-seasoned at, what you folks down south like to call, the "other" CSC.

Our best player still calls "Big Blue" home, while the other has defected to our little local club.

I'll spout out the attributes of our best player as soon as I see the thread...."Who Is The Best Player in the state of South Carolina".

LPAF: You've mentioned favorite authors before. May I recommend "The Poor Mouth: A Bad Story About the Hard Life" to you? With your stepping into the shoes of the retired Lou Holtz these days, I thought you might appreciate it [and it's a worthy read, apart from the message implicit in its title that might be apropos to some of your postings these days.]

Oh...and the illustrations to the latest edition [the non-Gaelic one] are by Ralph Steadman [illustrator for and participant in some of the late Hunter S. Thompson's works], so there is at least some local topical relevance as well.

Chico --

On your suggestion and with the click of only a few buttons and a credit card debit of $8.21 "The Poor Mouth: A Bad Story About the Hard Life" is preparing to leave the Amazon.com cyberspace warehouse and come to me. I don't know if it's the illustrated version or not. You lost me on the Lou Holtz parallel but then I'm not having a very good day anyway.

lpaf

ps: Still supporting our friend TLH with your Marx moniker, I see.

Chic0 --

As for the less than glowing assessments of my favorite HS team, I'm still watching and waiting. The good thing is they are clearly avoiding the trap of peaking too early. Lots of talent and lots of games to provide trial by fire....

lpaf

LPAF: I actually rather admire the understated approach.

Lou Holtz had a tendency to "poor mouth" his teams, i.e., when asked about a USC team at midseason:

quote:

---

"I have the radio on to keep me from thinking about suicide when I'm driving in the car." [Lou Holtz]

---

Chic0 --

I think I like this Lou Holtz guy's style...


lpaf

I enjoyed this old quote by Holtz when asked about the physical strength of the football team during his first year at USC...

"I truly hope we don't win a big game this year and these guys put me on their shoulders. There's not a doubt in my mind they'd drop me."