Congratulations to Mauldin for winning the Cup (watch the jinx!) and congratulations to the Spring Valley staff for once again putting on the best HS tournament that I have ever seen.
32 teams....unbelievable.
After correctly picking the final two teams in 2005, I couldn't even pick a single bracket winner in 2006. Should be an exciting year.
Observations:
The best game I saw, from a spectators perspective, was the Emerald - Hilton Head first round match on Friday night. HH looked amazing. They possessed the ball for 90% of the match knocking forward, sideways, and backwards all night. Constant motion. Emerald realized they were a little overmatched and just sat in and waited to counter. No counters came, but Emerald did a tremendous job of defending and playing real smart. Emerald's center defender, #4 (I think she's heading to Frances Marion) broke up EVERYTHING near the 18-yard box. HH couldn't penetrate and despite all the possession, never threatened. Emerald did what they needed to do and took it to penalties....nearly pulled it off.
