Coach J: W&E gets mad at me when I post things about high school soccer, and he gets mad at me when I don't post things about high school soccer, so I am a bit tentative over here.
Looking at the rankings, here are my observations:
- Irmo is ranked too low. Not only did the team do well last year, but it has a strong crop of younger players from the CUFC U16G Elite team (the first non-CESA U15+ girls team to win a state championship since 2003) and as always a wonderful coach.
- T.L. Hanna is ranked too low. Very strong team with some very good players and coaching; I don't believe that the 2005 results were a fluke.
- I agree that Wando will be very good with a core of very good players. I believe that one of their freshmen in particular will be a difference-maker on this team.
- Riverside is clearly the team to beat in 3-A; incredible talent all the way around. What a great program! I think Eastside will have a wonderful team but agree with their #2 ranking given the strength of Riverside. Chapin has some wonderful players and will benefit to some extent from players playing better competition within CUFC. I'd have placed Hilton Head ahead of Airport. J.L. Mann seems to me to be ranked too high; the loss of Mattern in that program will obviously hurt them.
- It is truly a shame that Bishop-England continues to play in 2A; picking them for #1 in 2A is like shooting very large fish in a very small barrel. I'd love to see them in 3-A with the incredibly strong (and getting stronger) Riverside; I think Riverside is a much stronger team.
