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Post by uhscubs1 on Jan 18, 2012 4:56:54 GMT -6
Just wanted to let those of us interested in Div III discuss our poll without the clutter of the other divisions.
Depending on when the next poll comes out which could be February based on the time it took to get out #3 we can do fan polls here for fun and discussion.
Current Poll January 25 DIVISION III 1. Newman 2. Episcopal (BR) 3. Catholic (NI) 4. Sacred Heart (NO) 5. University 6. Runnels 7. Loyola 8. Pope John Paul II 9. St. Thomas Aquinas 10. Holy Savior Menard ALSO RECEIVING VOTES: Hannan, Episcopal School of Acadiana, Country Day
3rd PollJanuary 12 Division III 1. Sacred Heart of New Orleans 2. Episcopal of Baton Rouge 3. Newman 4. Catholic of New Iberia 5. Pope John Paul II 6. University 7. Runnels 8. Country Day 9. Loyola 10. Menard Also Receiving Votes: St. Thomas Aquinas, Episcopal of Acadiana
2nd Poll December 15 DIVISION III 1. Sacred Heart (NO) 2. Newman 3. Episcopal (BR) 4. Catholic of New Iberia 5. Runnels 6. Pope John Paul II 7. Country Day 8. University 9. Loyola 10. Holy Savior Menard Also receiving votes; Hannan, Episcopal of Acadiana, Ouachita Christian, Northlake Christian
1st Poll December 7 Division III 1. Episcopal (Baton Rouge) 2. Sacred Heart (New Orleans) 3. Catholic (New Iberia) 4. Isidore Newman 5. Pope John Paul II 6. Runnels 7. Country Day 8. University 9. Loyola 10. Holy Savior Menard ALSO RECEIVING VOTES: Episcopal of Acadiana, McGehee, Northlake Christian, Ouachita Christian
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Post by tsc8510 on Jan 18, 2012 21:21:29 GMT -6
I agree. I feel like the D3 rankings are not completely accurate, or at least not up to date.
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hat
Bench Warmer
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Post by hat on Jan 19, 2012 7:00:24 GMT -6
Division III polls are a mess for several reasons in my opinion. If you look at the polls they are a based on what happened last year and the early season games from this year. The problem with that scenario is girls graduate freshman enter the picture and early in the season most smaller schools have girls participating in other sports, ie volleyball and cross country. So teams may not have 3-5 key players that may a big impact on the soccer field. Soccer needs to move more to the power ranking system that other high school sports use for seeding and rankings.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 19, 2012 17:21:10 GMT -6
You could pick the top 7 teams out of a hat and seed them at this point. They are all solid.
In the end, the top 7 teams will likely all make it to the quarters and begin playing each other. I think the wild card team in all this will be STA. If they do not get the 8th seed, someone in the top 7 will play them in round 2. They could be the PJP of 2012.
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Post by snokeman on Jan 19, 2012 20:34:22 GMT -6
Let's look at all this PJP and STA stuff in a different light. Both have played a very young Northlake team twice. Northlake starts two 7th graders and two 8th graders and two 9th graders. They have three 12 graders. With the exception of STA beating Northlake 7-0 first time around all other games were very competative. Both PJP games were 2-1 PJP. The second STA game was 3-0 STA. Northlake is 5-12-1 this season. I just find it hard to understand the debating about rankings with the two schools. Both are average teams at best. If anything STA has the edge. To be honest both Hannan and Northlake are the teams of the future.
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Post by cuttysark on Jan 19, 2012 21:20:22 GMT -6
The PJP results were 2-1 and 2-0 not to take anything away from Northlake. I agree they will be a force in the near future. I do however take exception with PJP and STA being average teams at best. With the exception of a 5-0 defeat to Episcopal of BR in Dominican tournament PJP has competed with every team they played. There record stands at 12-3-3 with 10 shutouts. Much tougher schedule this year. Well derserve to be in top 6 or 7. STA is very strong. I place them in the top 10 as well. I don't believe anyone would say top 10 is average at best.
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Post by tsc8510 on Jan 19, 2012 21:32:08 GMT -6
I believe Loyola has a chance to break into the Top 7. We have received very little credit thus far. We traveled down to the Mandeville tournament in hopes of playing some higher ranked teams in Division III but there were none there. Record is 13-5-2 with losses only to Top 10 Division I teams, the top Division II team, and a close loss (2-1) loss to Lakeshore. We look forward to getting our chance to prove ourselves in this Division.
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hat
Bench Warmer
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Post by hat on Jan 20, 2012 7:08:55 GMT -6
I understand the comment about Hannan and NLC being teams of the future due to young talent, but everyone is overlooking that the STA team has six freshman that are strong contributors. The two seniors on the team are very good players and will be missed, but the future is very bright at STA.
The STA defense has only given up 7 goals all season and the majority of those were early when somestartrs were still playing other sports. In the last month of play the only goal given up by the STA defense was to a very good Runnels team. The test for STA will be this Saturday when they travel to PJP in Slidell to face off for the district championship. Pope is a good team that will be ready for revenge of the first meeting of the two district powers.
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Post by snokeman on Jan 20, 2012 12:34:26 GMT -6
hat, your last sentence is what I am talking about. "meeting of two district powers". First, the district is rather weak. A district power would beat a 11-5-1 team a heck of a lot worse that 2-0, 3-0. Yes, STA did put a beat down on NCS 7-0 at the beging of the season. However, if both PJP and STA were "district powers" both would have beat down Hannan and NCS. Think both STA and PJP will get a quick reality check in playoffs.
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hat
Bench Warmer
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Post by hat on Jan 20, 2012 17:05:19 GMT -6
I don't disagree with your assessment that it's not the strongest district in the state, but my point is STA is having a great year with a very young team, so the future of STA is looking very good.
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Post by uhscubs1 on Jan 21, 2012 18:19:43 GMT -6
Here is my Top 10 1. Newman (15-1-0) (7-0) Beat ASH twice 2. Episcopal (15-3-1) (5-1) Difficult schedule with great results 3. Catholic NI (17-2-0) (5-0) Good results with tough schedule 4. University (14-0-2) (6-0) Great record, schedule a little weak 5. Loyola (13-6-2) (6-0) Tough schedule with results 6. Pope John Paul II (13-3-3) (6-1) Coming on strong 7. Runnels (12-3-3) (3-0) Tough schedule with small roster 8. St Thomas Aquinas (15-3-1) (6-1) Could be higher 9.Sacred Heart (5-9-2) (2-2) Hard to rank. Hardest schedule by far but losing in district hurts 10. Hannan (9-6-3) (2-2) No one else really stands out
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2012 13:01:55 GMT -6
I do not think PJP and STA are average at best. They are the bottom tier of the top 10. They are above average in D3 AT WORST. They are top 10 at best. I put them in the 8-10 range. That is not average.
There will be 32 teams in the tournament. They will not be seeded in the teens - which is where the average teams will be.
They are solid teams with a shot at the quarterfinals.
Another ranking should be out - or will the next thing out be the seedings?
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Post by workhard on Jan 24, 2012 13:27:58 GMT -6
Ouachita Christian has lost 8 games. 6 of the losses were against top 10 teams in one of the divisions. One loss is against DI Westgate ( 3 of the 4 goals were PKs) and the other was a district rival on a muddy field. We have a win against Runnels and a tie with Calvary. We have played a very tough schedule and played very well.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 24, 2012 14:51:06 GMT -6
Runnels played that game with 9 total players in the St. Amant tournament in November. One goal came with 8 players on the field.
All three of Runnels losses:
1 - came in tournaments 2 - came before Dec 5 3 - came without their full roster
Newman - (3-0) 11 players in semis on Dec 4 OC - (2-1) with 9 players Lutcher (1-0) with 10 players
Since Dec 5 Runnels is 9-0-2 outscoring teams 47-2
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Post by workhard on Jan 24, 2012 22:01:31 GMT -6
hkn, It wasn't meant to disrespect Runnels at all. I admire a coach that plays the game with what you have available. I am just trying to make a case for my team.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 25, 2012 9:05:26 GMT -6
Oh no, it wasn't taken as a disrespect at all. I didn't mean to put you on the defensive. It is totally ok. You should be making your case - I respect you for doing that. And I am sure your girls play so hard for you because you fight for them. They sure played hard that day. I just thought people should know the circumstances behind that RHS loss, and the other 2. They say something about where RHS is now and where they were in November. I guess I was trying to do the same and make a case for RHS. Good luck in the playoffs - but not too good!
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Post by workhard on Jan 25, 2012 17:38:04 GMT -6
We are a very young team and they haven't figured it out yet. The top 7 or 8 I would really like to avoid for as long as possible. We (being from the north) don't have the advantage of playing top notch teams in Div. III without travel. Parents that only play "school" are not as apt to go away to get noticed. So we play as many top 10 in the other Divisions as we can. This takes a mental toll on the kids and parents. And I have never been the one to "pad numbers" in blow-outs. So the numbers, for us, can be a bit misleading. And good luck to you and your team also....But I really wouldn't mind it if we didn't see you until late- if at all..
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jk52
All-District
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Post by jk52 on Jan 25, 2012 20:46:17 GMT -6
I don't disagree with the statement that District 7 is not the strongest district in the state in Div. III. However, after Districts 6 and 10, it may be the third strongest. Other than the losses to each other, the three top teams, PJP, STA and Hannan have only one other loss to Division III team between them. Their non-district losses in all divisions are PJP (Episcopal BR and Mandeville), STA (Hahnville) and Hannan (Cabrini, Ursuline and Barbe). PJP has wins over Sacred Heart, STA, Hannan twice and has tied Runnels among others. STA has beaten Chapelle, PJP, Hannan and has tied Runnels. Hannan has wins over PJP and STA twice. While these three teams may not be in the top 4 or 5, if you look at their whole bodies of work, they all deserve consideration for the top 10 in Div. III.
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Post by crazysoccerdad on Jan 26, 2012 10:23:01 GMT -6
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Post by b2b on Jan 26, 2012 11:28:11 GMT -6
IMO the most underrated team in DIII polls is Loyola.Played them this year in the Mandeville tournament.Good ball movement,can play physical,defend well,and aggressive. Would not want to meet them in the playoffs. Well coached and I feel they will be up to the challenge. Have not seen all DIII teams play, but have seen 7 of the top 10.If they play up to their potential they will cause problems for most teams.
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