SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Girls Varsity Soccer Going for the Treble

Viking Cup Champions.
Lady Rebel Invitational Champions.
One prize left and they get the Treble.

Can anyone stop them in May? Lexington and Mauldin will probably get a shot. Of Wando, James Island and West Ashley, only one will get an opportunity.

Still #1.

Maybe Fort Mill is just so good that they can think about who they would meet in the Upper State Finals or State Championship - and, what the brackets look like, or who has home field advantage. Lexington, however, has North Augusta on Tuesday and South Aiken on Friday with a whole lot of soccer to be played before anyone on the Wildcat team (or its fans) can worry about any match-ups down the road.

Keep in mind, it was South Aiken that came within a goal (against Mauldin) of facing Fort Mill in last year's Upper State finals. Continue to concern yourself with all of these others, and it just might be the Thoroughbreds that are Fort Mill's undoing. If that happens, I hope your family remembers to keep all of the sharp objects in the house out of your reach.

deahls,

As you know, anything can happen in one game. If Kansas and Syracuse can fall on the big stage, I'm certainly aware that Fort Mill can be had in the state playoffs.

Just fun bragging about the body of work up to this point.

H66 --

I'm guessing you watch FM play on a regular basis. I only saw them play in the mudwrestling match against Wando at Taco, and then the JI v FM final at Taco. Who do you see as the key players, and do you feel the team as a whole is improving as we move toward Region competition? Thanks.

lpaf

The team continues to get better and better and is gaining confidence as they beat these good teams in tournament play. As I said before, the three Charlotte schools on the schedule are very good, chock full of girls who play club ball at the highest level for Charlotte Soccer Club and Charlotte United.

Important thing is to stay healthy and have the breaks go your way in close matches. When you get down to the Final 8 in May, anything can happen. Any team that is well-coached, disciplined and athletic can play good defense and stay in a game. It's all about who gets the goal.

H66 --

Key players?

lpaf

lpaf,

See the threads that contain the All-Tournament teams for Taco & Lady Rebel. That's a start.

Bruce......did you forget to take your medicine?

Bruce,

You hit the nail on the head. You exposed me!

BOY, IT'S HARD TO BE HUMBLE!!!!!!

I guess the rest of us "loser" teams should just throw in the towel - hail to Fort Mill.....

Wow ,Some hot talk here . I remember how impressed I was when I saw FM last year . There was alot of speed and great players . I assume most players play in the Charoltte area . Frickin has shown her stuff with SC ODP for several years. The player that impressed me most was the hustle of DeLillis (spell). Who is now at Winthrop . I think she has started every game .
That said and forgetting the pre-season tournament , My vote will still go with James Island because of the senior leadership with some outstanding player. 2nd would be West Ashley because of there skills . If Jordon is at sweeper and with Brothers at Keeper there will not be alot of goals scored . Danny is the fastest player in the state and huge left foot. Coming in on Brothers may result in injury.
Mauldin can not be forgotten in the upstate . Very good 15 or so players but they have no super stars as they have had in the past .
Semi upstate Mauldin v Fort Mill
lower state James Island v WA
state James Island 3 Fort Mill 1

Interesting thread. Regarding strength of schedule, in an earlier thread, I saw a statement that three NC teams [2 4-A, 1 3-A] might be better than three of the top SC teams [James Island, Wando, and West Ashley]. I am far from an expert on North Carolina women's high school soccer [or for that matter South Carolina women's high school soccer], but in spending five minutes pulling up the state championship results it appears that the Raleigh/Greensboro area dominates North Carolina to an even greater extent that CASL dominates CSC [Charlotte]. Thus, the premise that Providence [last state championship, 1997; runner-up, 2001], Weddington and Myers Park [no appearances in the state championship since 1986, which is as far back as the records I found go] are better teams than James Island, Wando, and West Ashley appears to be rather hypothetical at best and specious at worst. Currently, Providence is ranked #3 in NC [4-A], Myers Park #8 [4-A], and Weddington [3-A] is not ranked. If I'm wrong on this I hope someone will correct me.

My guess is that these three SC teams, while at a disadvantage because only one can go forward from their region, are at an advantage in playing much tougher competition than any other teams in SC regardless of the quite valiant efforts of teams to go out of state to GA or NC.

Upstate,

I like your prediction, and agree with your opinion about West Ashley. They are a great team never, ever to be counted out. I have seen a player or two taken off on a stretcher over the years of club play after entering Alechia's box thinking they could go up against her. Let Fort Mill brag and think they are the best of the best. All I know is that they beat the injury ridden squad of JI in overtime of a pre season tournament and now brag about beating up on non ranked teams. WA, JI and Wando will remain the quiet underdogs and get lots solid practice against ranked teams for whomever may be headed our way in the final. Good luck to all.

Careful, Chico. In Region III Premier play, here is the way the last season ended (comparison only of the Carolinas):

U-18 Girls (12 teams)
#2 - Winston Salem, NC
#4 - Charlotte Soccer Club, NC
#6 - CESA, SC
#8 - Charleston, SC
#12 - Aiken, SC

U-17 Girls (12 teams)
#1 - CASL, NC
#8 - Charlotte Soccer club, NC
#11 - CESA Premier, SC
#12 - CESA Challenge, SC

U-16 Girls (12 teams)
#3 - CASL, NC
#4 - Greensboro, NC
#9 - Charlotte Soccer Club, NC
#11 - CESA, SC
#12 - Columbia Soccer Club (Force), SC

U-15 Girls (12 teams)
#3 - CASL, NC
#6 - Charlotte Soccer Club, NC
#7 - Winston Salem, NC
#11 - CESA, SC

While CASL may have finished ahead of Charlotte, it looks to me like Charlotte finished ahead of all SC teams. And most of the SC teams in this league are from the upper and mid-state.

Let's not make this a debate of NC soccer vs. SC soccer. The point I think H66 has been trying to make is that the Fort Mill team is playing competition outside their region that will challenge them as much as the competition in the lower state. Good move on the coach's part, if you ask me.

buzzmere: Perhaps my post was confusing; let me try again. The discussion is not about club soccer; the reference to CASL beating CSC was made only in the context of NC high school soccer domination by the Raleigh/Greensboro area. Club and HS both seem to show similar characteristics within the state of NC. I knew about this at the club level; I didn't understand it at the HS level until I looked up this information. This is very different than SC where lower population density coupled with widely differing approaches to school districting lead to much less correlation between club and high school results. I apologize for any confusion in the original posting.

I understood the point that was being made previously which you quite concisely summarized as "...the Fort Mill team is playing competition outside their region that will challenge them as much as the competition in the lower state...". My point is that it doesn't appear to me that competing against a non-ranked 3-A NC school, the #8 ranked 4-A school, and the #3 ranked 4-A school is equivalent to competing against the SC 4-A #2, #3, and #5 ranked schools who have a pretty strong history in state championships and playoffs. A previous posting advanced the theory that each of these schools was better than than the three SC low-country schools; I'm stating that this isn't clear at all from the data on high school performance that's available.

If I'm wrong, I'd love to understand how I'm wrong with respect to high school teams -- but respectfully I don't think that region III team rankings do much to illustrate your point.

Chic0 --

Nice to see you joining in this conversation. Your trenchant analysis is always appreciated. Read any good books recently?

lpaf

LPAF: I've recently begun former best-sellers (e.g., Clancy, Crichton, King, etc.) because my son was reading them; he checked them out from his middle school library. I've been more impressed than I thought I'd be; particularly by King whose Dark Tower stuff is as literate as anything I've read [I've now ordered the seven volume set]. But I've been amazed at how course the language is -- it's resulted in a lot of discussions with my son.

By the way, regarding your quest for information regarding the very impressive Fort Mill team and their players -- while I realize that ODP participation doesn't mean everything, you can at least get some insight by doing a roster comparison. Counting last year [which includes the 1987 squad] and this year, Fort Mill seems to have 5 ODP players, which includes 2 alternates [note: this doesn't include any players on the NC ODP squad; those names if any aren't publicly available]. The Fort Mill roster is here.

West Ashley seems to have 5 ODP players as well; two of whom have region pool experience and one of whom is named as an NSCAA All-American. If "upstate sc" is wrong, and it's West Ashley and Fort Mill in the finals, it ought to be an exciting game. Then again, I think that James Island, Wando, or West Ashley versus Fort Mill would be an exciting game!

Wando doesn't have it this year. Eliminate them from conversation.

(come on S1, you can bite on this one!)

Chico, not trying to ruffle your feathers. I just followed your lead on the club soccer thing (CASL vs. CSC) because you seemed to recognize a correlation between good high school teams and good club teams within state regions. Makes sense because it's usually alot of the same players. Given the reputation of the Charleston 3 (high school), my conclusion is they must not play club ball in that area since I only found one team (Charleston) in top level club play. If so, my assumption is nullified and you are right, club performance has little to do with high school performance. Sorry for any confusion out there!

As for state, there are others out there that will contend... RNE, SA, Lex. And right now they're enjoying being out of the message board spotlight and are probably working some "surprise tactics."

TLH --

S! has already posted somewhere that this is a rebuilding year for Wando. You'd probably get a quicker response from him by heaping praise on the team, giving him room to downplay. Tonight is West Ashley at Wando. The rain has stopped -- hope the field is dry enough to play...

lpaf

(Alright, watch this!)

After recent observations, I will make the bold conclusion that Wando will blow the doors of West Ashley. What was originally labeled as a "rebuilding" year has actually proven to be a "reloading" year. I look for a repeat this year.

(TLH -- Do you think he'll go for it?

lpaf)

(Does Hemmingway enjoy water with his Whiskey?)

(Did West Ashley Repeat?)

(Am I slowly drawing nearer to your post total?)

"Does" Hemmingway? Do you know something about Earnest that we don't know?

Earnest has passed from vogue in HS literature, I think. Very politically incorrect, though there are some parallels between him and the recently deceased Hunter Thompson. I seem to remember the former R!C was a fan of Papa's. One "m" if memory serves me right. (Right, Dex?) Yes, TLH, I feel you breathing down the neck of my post count. Lunch time.

Sadly, I have only one author I know a great deal about. A man has to start somewhere. I find the most interesting "Hemingway" fact isn't even about Earnest. His son had a sex change right before parading around town drunk/naked. Later he died in jail due to (alleged) lack of distribution of heart medicine by the cell attendant.

p.s. I recommend Firehouse...

p.s.s. 748

(TLH -- We didn't get him, did we?

lpaf)

(Patience is a virtue best enjoyed over time)

HURRY UP S!