SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Girls Varsity Soccer Taco Bell Viking Cup 2008

Looks like the Brackets are out

http://www.columbiaunitedfc.com/hstournaments/vikingcup/index_E.html



Any predictions?

GOOD LUCK to all!!

Dorman and Lexington will each win their groups and make it to The Final 4.

Irmo anyone?

Im gonna go with-
Bracket A winner- Spring Valley
Bracket B winner- Ridge View (for the upset)
Bracket C winner- Lexington
Bracket D winner- Dutch Fork

Bracket A vs Bracket B- Ridge View
Bracket C vs Bracket D- Lexington

Championship: Lexington vs Ridge View- Ridge View ( another upset)

Sharpe,

Do you get out of the Midlands much?

haha not really i like going with the underdogs, and i think Ridge View is capible of shocking all the other teams.

Are expectations high at RV this year?? You seem pretty high on them. Are they returning most of their team?

were they (rv) any good last year?

The Only real big loss was Lisa Jennings they had mostly freshman playing for them last year so i expect them to be more experienced this year with ball skills and shots.

I wanted to update the website this morning, but the ISP is still trying to get some issues resolved so I thought I would post this contribution from Jack Rozier in this thread.

2008 Taco Bell Viking Cup
Spring Valley Girls Preview
Interview with Coach Steve Lea

Few prep programs in the Palmetto State have the privilege and burden of hosting a first rate invitational tournament. None carry a burden quite as hefty as Spring Valley Vikings coach Steve Lea. The 2008 Taco Bell Viking Cup boasts a field of 32 teams, 29 of which are ranked in their respective classification. Included in the mix are 2007 SCHSL State Champions (4A) Wando, (3A) Eastside, and (2A/1A) Bishop England.

SCSOCCER.COM MEDIA spoke exclusively with Coach Lea in an effort to put an event of this magnitude into perspective.

Quote:

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SCSOCCER.COM: What is the origin of the Viking Cup? How did it expand to the current 32 team format?

COACH STEVE LEA: Started as a four team tournament by coach Tony Thompson, the original and only other girls coach in Spring Valley history, a couple of years before my arrival. In 1996, I ran my first Taco Bell Viking Cup as an 8-team tournament. What happened is that girls soccer grew in participation and quality by leaps and bounds, and we had the capacity to expand. We have three fields on campus and two across the street that the local club, Columbia United FC, is always gracious enough to lend to us. As the quantity of great teams increased, we tried to keep up by expanding. We grew to 12 teams, then 16, 20, 24, and 32 over the years. We've been at 32 for, I believe, four years now.

My volunteer staff, composed primarily of parents and ex-parents (graduated players) do a great job, and the convenience, quality, and competition have kept teams coming back year after year.

The Cup is a beast to put on, but it sure is awesome to see 32 top SC girls teams on campus on Saturday!

SCSOCCER.COM: How did Taco Bell come to be the title sponsor?

CSL: I inherited Taco Bell as the title sponsor. Fred Kotoske, owner of all of the Columbia area Taco Bells, was instrumental in the early days of the Cup. When I came on board in 1995-96, we had an initial meeting along with one of our booster club members, and we have been doing this annually ever since. Obviously, as we have grown and as inflation has kicked in, Taco Bell's support has risen over the years. They cover a multitude of tournament expenses to the tune of many thousands of dollars annually, and we could not host this without Taco Bell's support.

SCSOCCER.COM: Elaborate on the logistic partnership between Spring Valley soccer and Columbia United FC that allows this event to occur.

CSL: Basically, CUFC blocks out the Cup weekend for two of their fields for us. They also allow us to utilize their website as an information clearinghouse during the Cup. For them, we are able to do two things. First, we try to reciprocate on field usage if they need it. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't, and the school district's rules can be a tremendous challenge as well to work around. Also, we advertise on the cover of the tournament program for CUFC, and we also generate a ton of traffic for their website (last year, the first we used their site, generated something like 18,000 hits for them).

SCSOCCER.COM: What college soccer representatives will be in attendance?

CSL: All local (tri-state and beyond) coaches are invited. We usually get a good number in attendance. Some contact me ahead of time, and many do not. We have had as few as about 20 and as many as about 40 in the past several years. Our primary traffic is in the smaller schools, but we do get some of the bigger ones as well (USC and Furman, for example, are here every year). Most coaches here are either looking towards the future (underclassmen) or looking to fill the needs they missed on signing day. We always get a lot of kids into college through the Cup, though. Often, one or two of our own SV girls will end up playing because of Cup exposure.

SCSOCCER.COM: What plans are there to increase exposure?

CSL: Exposure within the Columbia market is a battle, and I cannot for the life of me figure out why. We notify the State each year, and they often completely ignore us. Sometimes we receive some limited TV coverage, but not typically. It's not like it's a surprise when the Cup occurs, and there are annually a dozen midlands teams involved. Ironically, we get more medial coverage out of Charleston, Greenville, and even the small towns than we do in Columbia, and we typically have to beg for what we get here. I will see reporters and talk with them, and they will invariably be from Greenville, Anderson, Aiken, etc., etc.

We have discussed having an additional committee position to focus solely on media coverage, but it seems that the interest level (from the media) is so low that it might be a waste of energy.

Last year, we received a ton of coverage during the aftermath of Ashley Dent's death. We were thankful for that as Ashley was a wonderful teammate and young lady and deserved all of the positive coverage. Still, we always believe that the Cup itself is also worthy of coverage. With 18,000 hits on the CUFC website in the first year we used it, it appears that there is at least a "bit" of public interest as well.

Not only does Coach Lea coordinate the four day tournament, but he also prepares his 11th ranked Lady Vikings for a tourney line-up that does not hold any punches. After a 2-0 exhibition victory over fellow Viking Cup participants Dreher, Coach Lea took a moment to size up his squad thus far.

SCSOCCER.COM: How will the teams play through scrimmages translate to the regular season?

CLS: We have definitely improved throughout our scrimmages, which is certainly a good sign. I hope that this will translate into success during the season, but time will tell. Half of our schedule includes matches with powerful rival teams like Irmo, RV, RNE, and Dutch Fork - not to mention our tournament schedule. If we are successful in the early rounds at the Taco Bell Viking Cup, for example, we could face both Riverside and Wando on Saturday - a daunting task, to say the least.

SCSOCCER.COM: What did you see in your team tonight that will help/hurt you going into a tournament like the Viking Cup?

CLS: I liked most of what I saw. Dreher pretty much jump on us in the first half. They took us out of our game with their quickness and physicality, and they controlled plenty of the first half. I was happy that our defense was able to absorb most of that with very few opportunities allowed. I challenged the kids at halftime to step up to Dreher's pace and reestablish "our" game, and they did. I gave them three specifics that would change the game, and they implemented them all. We spent most of the second half in control, so I was very happy that my team responded. I really liked Dreher's team, though. For a scrimmage, that was a really exciting game!

A special thanks to coach Steve Lea for his comments and his contributions to South Carolina soccer. For the latest on the 2008 Taco Bell Viking Cup visit:
http://www.scsoccer.com/forum/postlist.php?Cat=0&Board=UBB3 (SCSoc Girl’s Forum)
http://www.columbiaunitedfc.com/hstournaments/vikingcup/index_E.html (CUFC site)

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