3/25/08

16th Palmetto Cup soccer tournament opens Wednesday at B-C, Airport
John Devlin, The State - MidlandsPreps.com

From humble beginnings in 1993, the Palmetto Cup has grown into one of the top in-season boys soccer tournaments in the Southeast. Four teams made up the inaugural field, including local entries Brookland-Cayce, the host school, and Dutch Fork, which was then in its second year as a varsity program. The event was a four-match affair at Lexington District Two Stadium at Airport.

The 16th edition of the spring soccer classic, which begins Wednesday at Airport’s Eagle Stadium and “The Cage” on the Brookland-Cayce campus, features 16 teams and 33 matches though the championship showdown Saturday at The Cage.

The tournament has had a variety of names through the years, beginning with the Brookland-Cayce Classic. It eventually was dubbed the Palmetto Cup in 2002 to reflect the diversity of the field, which has increasingly been attractive to out-of-state teams from as far away as Alaska and Wyoming.

About the only thing the Palmetto Cup has not had in recent years is a Midlands champion. That could all change this season with unbeaten, Class 4A defending state champion Spring Valley in the field. The Vikings, in fact, were the last Midlands team to win the tournament title (2003), which was also the last year an area team even advanced to the tournament finale. Spring Valley went 2-2 at the Cup last year, finishing in 10th place.

Riverside beat Christian Brothers (TN) for the championship last season, and neither team is entered in 2008.

Four out-of-state teams are entered this season, including familiar Norman North (OK), which will be making its sixth Cup visit since 2000. Norman North has the highest tournament winning percentage on the books amongst teams that have made more than one Cup appearance (16-4-2, .722) and is the all-time leader in championships with three titles in five tries.

Dobyns-Bennett and Farragut from Tennessee and Kempsville, VA are the other out-of-state teams on hand. This will be the third straight appearance for Farragut and the first in eight years for Kempsville.

Dobyns-Bennett, Emerald (ranked No. 2 in Class 2A) and North Myrtle Beach (No. 5 in 3A) are the three teams making their Cup debuts.

The field also features Lexington (No. 2 in 4A), Dutch Fork (No. 15 in 4A), Wando (No. 7 in 4A), Eastside (No. 6 in 3A), Brookland-Cayce (No. 8 in 3A), Bishop England (No. 1 in 2A) and Cardinal Newman (No. 3 in SCISA).

PALMETTO CUP NOTES
Bishop England, which won a Cup championship in 2002, is returning for the first time since 2005 ... Wando is seventh on the all-time winning percentage list (10-4-2, .688) but has never finished higher that fifth place ... Lexington is 10-10-4 in six previous Cup appearances, never placing higher than fifth place ... Spring Valley’s all-time Cup mark is 14-10-3 ... Only host Brookland-Cayce has played in more tournament matches than Dutch Fork ... The Silver Foxes are 18-16-7 in 12 appearances, and have finished second three times ... B-C has a 27-15-11 tournament record and two championships, the last coming in 1997 ... Cardinal Newman is back for the first time since going 0-4 in its 2000 tournament debut.

PALMETTO CUP SCHEDULE

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26
EAGLE STADIUM
Airport vs. Cardinal Newman, 1 pm
Eastside vs. Lexington, 3 pm
Emerald vs. Farragut (TN), 5 pm
Norman North (OK) vs. Spring Valley, 7 pm
THE CAGE
T.L. Hanna vs. North Myrtle Beach, 2 pm
Kempsville (VA) vs. Wando, 4 pm
Dutch Fork vs. Dobyns-Bennett (TN), 6 pm
Bishop England vs. Brookland-Cayce, 8 pm

THURSDAY, MARCH 27
EAGLE STADIUM
Wando vs. T.L. Hanna, 1 pm
Dobyns-Bennett (TN) vs. Bishop England, 3 pm
Spring Valley vs. Airport, 5 pm
North Myrtle Beach vs. Kempsville (VA), 7 pm
THE CAGE
Cardinal Newman vs. North North (OK), 2 pm
Farragut (TN) vs. Eastside, 4 pm
Lexington vs. Emerald, 6 pm
Brookland-Cayce vs. Dutch Fork, 8 pm

FRIDAY, MATCH 28
EAGLE STADIUM
Farragut (TN) vs. Lexington, 1 pm
Eastside vs. Emerald, 3 pm
Bishop England vs. Dutch Fork, 5 pm
Airport vs. Norman North (OK), 7 pm
THE CAGE
North Myrtle Beach vs. Wando, 2 pm
Cardinal Newman vs. Spring Valley, 4 pm
Kempsville (VA) vs. T.L. Hanna, 6 pm
Brookland-Cayce vs. Dobyns-Bennett (TN), 8 pm

SATURDAY, MARCH 29
Semifinals @ The Cage & Eagle Stadium, 9:30 am
Placement Matches @ Airport & Brookland-Cayce, 12 pm, 2 pm, 4 pm
Championship Match @ The Cage, 7 pm

Last edited by Kyle Heise; 03/26/08 08:23 PM.