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I must admit I am biased about one thing...I love Woodruff. I want to be very careful how I say this, but they are easy to like because they homegrow their talent in a small mostly rural area. Nobody else will say it but I will...most of the private schools have students with more than just a little money for club soccer and the best of just about everything. I get tired of soccer being an elitest sport. I know we have talked about this a lot before but schools like Woodruff and BC in 3A show that it doesn't have to be that way. As I understand it and CC can correct me if I am wrong, most of their girls play together in a Spartanburg rec league. Isn't that the way it should be in a perfect world? You may not like it but I respect a team that will bring it every time you play them and punch you in the mouth and take your best punch. I think I have forgotten the point I started to make, but there you go...

Woodruff/BE in the final and I want to see it.



Agreed. It's hard not to pull for Woodruff. I was at the finals last year and was heartbroken when Woodruff didn't beat BE. I thought that was a superb team, led by Jessica Thomas who went on to be the MVP at the first Clash of the Carolinas by saving a ton of goals. [Admission of bias: Jessica was a club teammate of my kid from 2005-2007.]

CJ, I agree with you that it's the socioeconomic factor that doesn't get addressed here that's the "elephant in the room." There's a tendency for private schools to be much more affluent. And while that certainly doesn't translate into superiority in football or basketball, in girls soccer that's a huge factor. I'd like to see BE be forced to either play in SCISA or 3-A in girls soccer to even the playing field -- but that's one of those subjects we talk about every year.