Overall, a quality tournament with many competitive squads. Here are a few thoughts of mine in regards to what I saw over the course of the weekend:
Chapin- A very good team. I believe that this team has everything in place to compete for the AAA State title: talent, speed, leadership, passion, and coaching. They were very solid in the midfield, and with the addition of Joey DeMare up top, look out for the Eagles.
Dutch Fork- Decent is the one word that comes to mind. They defend well, but they seem to play more of a "bunker" type of defense. No aspects of their team seem to stand out as being great, but they seem to do most things well. A solid team that will challenge the top teams; however, I do not envision them competing for the AAAA title. Also, as a side note, Danny Cates, while a very talented, needs to get his head screwed on straight. In the Irmo game, his second yellow card should have been a straight red, and I was shocked at the way he handled himself after the incident and after the game. Come on, Danny, you have got to be better than that. Talent will only take you so far...
Northwestern- I don't think that anybody is sleeping on Northwestern, and they definitely should not start now. Northwestern should once again be considered one of the frontrunners in AAAA. A very talented team that lost an extremely hard-fought match to a very good Chapin team. A loss in a preseason tournament is hardly cause for concern, and the Trojans with solid play from Enzo and Alex should find themselves, once again, in the thick of things come playoff time.
Socastee- One word comes to mind: Speed. The amount of speed the Braves possess up top is incredible. This team is extremely dangerous. They may not try to build the attack as well as some, but they have some game-changers at forward, and they know that is where their strength lies. This team should definitely be in the mix for AAA, along with Chapin and all the Greenville area schools.
Irmo- They're back. The fire, passion, and determination that the Yellow Jackets have lacked since 2005 seems to be back. The offensive attack of Irmo is very potent and they have a few players that complement each other well. From a solid, strong player (McEwan) to a lightning quick slasher (Varney), Irmo has the ability to score in bunches. However, nobody should be annointing this team AAAA champions. Irmo's major weakness seems to be in the back and goalkeeping. Daniel Lynch had a sub-par performance this weekend, for his standards, and the goalkeeping just seemed shaky. Multiple times over the course of the tournament, their keeper (Arneson?) just seemed out of it mentally, and his decision-making was not too good. Overall in the back they just seemed to be lacking the speed of play and tactical awareness needed to compete for a AAAA crown. However, if they can improve their shape, speed, and communication in the back and net, look out for this team in May.
