The amount of misinformation in the initial post is incredible...
Here's the bottom line. Spring Valley won the game. This was just like Lexington versus Dorman loss in the regular season last year; people tend to focus on who was hurt instead of focusing on the end result. It doesn't matter who was hurt; all teams have players who are hurt and can't play games at some time or the other. (As an aside: to the best of my knowledge, no Lexington player has ended her season. Also, to the best of my knowledge, USC has been incredibly supportive regarding club and high school play...somehow they keep taking the blame for players leaving Lexington early or forcing kids out when I've seen nothing of that. I can't imagine the Smith's ever doing anything like that.)
Is it surprising Lexington lost? It's certainly disappointing; but I'm not sure it's surprising. Lexington has one of the most difficult schedules in the state -- on purpose. This isn't a team which has 18 returning players -- it's a team that has to learn how to play consistently and well. The coach created a schedule that wasn't designed to produce a great record -- instead, it's designed to get a group of players ready for the playoffs. I haven't seen Spring Valley play, but their ranking and performance to date certainly shows that they are a very, very good team.
I can't remember the last time that Lexington went to PKs -- so if they missed them all, then it probably speaks to a lack of experience than anything "psychic." But who knows...
Here's Coach P's strength of schedule calculation from another thread.
Rank – Team - # top 15 games – average rank of top 15 opponents
1 - Wando - 6 - 9.17
2 - Lexington - 11 - 7.50
3 - Dorman – 10 - 8.70
4 - Byrnes - 9 - 7.67
5 - Spring Valley - 5 - 5.00
6 - Dutch Fork - 10 - 7.10
7 - T.L. Hanna - 4 - 5.50
8 - Fort Mill 4 - 11.50
9 - South Aiken - 7 - 7.00
10 - Irmo – 11- 6.20
11 - Spartanburg - 8 - 5.88
12 - North Augusta - 6 - 7.00
13 - Mauldin - 9 - 7.00
14 - James Island – 3 - 5.00
15 - Nation Ford – 2 - 8.00
