going through brackets

[Deleted]

Only two lower ranked teams won so far in all three brackets,
Pearl river beat cabrini and ed white beat leesville, Both from DII
Not many upsets yet that i can see!
Why is that?

[div1coach222]

unless I missed something Caddo Magnet beat Zachary(Div.1) and that is a 17 beating a 16. Tonight you have 1 or 2 closely matched teams so the upsets may increase and wait till next week!

[barnacle13]

Sounds like coaches did a pretty good job of seeding! Cinderella always shows up somewhere, but if the seedings are on the money you should have few upsets. So far that appears to be the case.

[Deleted]

sorry missed that one also one in DIII went to PKs too, But still think its strange that not many for that mant games. no big huge shockers yet maybe next round. Reenforces my thoughts that only district champs are a sure lock in to playoffs and everyone else be ranked from then on would. let the coaches and soccer gods decided. alot of good teams didnt get in but three team district place two of the three due to automatic qualifiers, But a good 6 team district gets left out!

[Deleted]

in D3 #21 Northlake Christian beat #12 Archbishop Hannan in PKs. I think in the first round you are probably only going to see an underdog win who finishes third in a strong district. Their district record will look bad losing to the top 2 teams, but they have played a solid schedule and are ready to prove people wrong. NC is young, so after a regular season now those younger players are a little more experienced and confident. I don't think there were any upsets in round 1 of D3 last year. Only 1 in round 2, #11 PJP over #6 Runnels. In the end, the top 4 teams made the semis and #1 beat #2 in the finals. So... we need to either give credit to the D3 coaches for their brilliance seeding the girls, or ... the underdogs are having a difficult time with mental side of the game. Being intimidated or tight when they play a higher seed on paper, especially if they have never seen the team before.

I realize this is getting WAY ahead, but if you look to the quarterfinals it looks like a few BR area teams and NO area teams are grouped in the same half. The regular season results are interesting.

Newman (1) beat SH (5) in PKs both times. So no team really goes in with a huge mental advantage. Now CHNI and SH met in finals last year and could meet to play Newman in that semi.

On the other half the top 3 seeds are some BR teams who all play each other regularly. Who has the edge there? It may depend on who got the best night's sleep. The teams are very evenly matched. Of course they all have to win the second round for them to start seeing one another. And that didn't happen last year, as I mentioned.

[BVB 09]

Just because a lower seed wins a game it doesn't necessarily mean they are seeded to low. Maybe they just played better that day and pulled the upset.

[kevin]

The reason for the lack of upsets is that there are huge gaps in quality between the top teams (especially the top 5-10) and the teams that barely make it into the playoffs. The difference in the skill level is quite drastic. The top teams can put 11 players on the field and every single one is comfortable on the ball and can pass it well. The bottom-tier playoff teams may have a few good players, but they will also have several who struggle on the ball.

Furthermore, there's a huge gap between those bottom-tier playoff teams and the teams that don't make the playoffs. I'm sure if you look through the schedules of most of the #24-#32 teams you can find a handful of blowout wins over the teams that finished at the bottom of the district standings.

For the most part, it's simply that the best teams have lots of good players, the average teams (the ones who barely make the playoffs) have only a few good players, and the worst teams are from schools where soccer isn't played much or where other teams in the area pick up the best players, leaving them with virtually no good players.

[offsides]

Kevin, good point. Several of the top 10 teams have depth and most of the players play soccer all year. I know a couple of the Lafayette and New Orleans area teams have players on the same competitive teams. Makes a huge difference.
It does appear more teams were able to field JV teams and that is always a good sign.

[bhssoccercoach]

Kevin is spot on with his post. I only have 3 club soccer players (1 out for season with ACL) to put on the field. The rest play some rec. soccer and we just do our best to compete with what we have. We are in that in-between bunch of top tier teams and bottom level playoff teams in DII. At least half of the top 8 teams in DII are private schools, loaded with club players. Hard to compete against those type teams. Just the way it is. My girls give it their all every time they step on the field and that's all I can ask of them.

[Deleted]

great points!! can there or will there be a system to accomadate these types of teams,
Football has the 1a, 2a, 3a, 4a, 5a, classifications by school size.,Harder for small schools to field teams when enrollement is lower. How are the Divisions compiled? You all are correct that more talented soccer players play all year round. Yet year in and year out The tops teams in ever Division dont change much at all. i still think two divisions with a may work, like the LSA has gone to for competative leagues with a AFC/ NFC SUPER BOWL HAHAHAHa...thats the crack talking

[Steven Gerrard]

Feb 3, 2012 10:03:41 GMT -6 kevin said:

The reason for the lack of upsets is that there are huge gaps in quality between the top teams (especially the top 5-10) and the teams that barely make it into the playoffs. The difference in the skill level is quite drastic. The top teams can put 11 players on the field and every single one is comfortable on the ball and can pass it well. The bottom-tier playoff teams may have a few good players, but they will also have several who struggle on the ball.

Furthermore, there's a huge gap between those bottom-tier playoff teams and the teams that don't make the playoffs. I'm sure if you look through the schedules of most of the #24-#32 teams you can find a handful of blowout wins over the teams that finished at the bottom of the district standings.

For the most part, it's simply that the best teams have lots of good players, the average teams (the ones who barely make the playoffs) have only a few good players, and the worst teams are from schools where soccer isn't played much or where other teams in the area pick up the best players, leaving them with virtually no good players.

What he said.

[cuttysark]

Kevin that was a great post and very accurate. We are a team that has 6 club players. It is difficult to hang with the upper teams with all club players. The quality across the field usually will win out but you all know soccer sometimes the better team doesn't always win. Health and luck to all remaining teams.

[div1coach222]

hkn- your premise for a third place team in a tough district is exactly what happened in Div.1- District 6. Mandeville is a talented team where 4 of their losses were to SSA and Fontainebleau (1 and 2 in district). All games were very competitive and could have went either way except the last game of year against SSA. They were rewarded with a top ten seed in which I might add the seedings look to be dead on this year. All involved did a very good job and I feel you will see some upsets starting this round. Only time will tell....

[Deleted]

saying the best teams have lots of good players, the average teams have a few good players etc, seemed trite, so I tried to take a different angle. Consider a top 10 team in D3 with only 4 club players and 2 of them are 8th graders. The other 2 are sophomores. I'm sure there are many other teams both ranked higher and lower that have more than that. It isn't just about good (or club) players. It is how well they play together. This comes from playing lots of matches, and then lots of tough matches. Upsets happen when a team like this is buried in a tough district and seeded low etc, as I mentioned above.

[div1coach222]

hkn- if Northlake Christian has the same coach from last year then they are in good hands. Good coach and the athletes will progress as the year goes on. I feel from a stand point of last year he is starting from the ground up. That whole area has a large talent pool, but we are seeing more schools tapping that source and spreading the wealth. In the end I see only two maybe three continuing to be power houses in the years to come.

[snokeman]

Northlake does have a very good coach with a very young team. It is a rebuilding year. Northlake is starting four club players. The rest only play at school. Starting line up consist of two 7th graders (club players), two 8th graders (club players), two 9th graders, one 10th grader, two 11th graders, (one playing keeper for the first time), and two 12th graders. It has been a tough year. However, the girls are fighters. Their coach has patiences and understand the position he is in. Northlake is very proud of the these young ladies!

[workhard]

Last year there was another lower seed that won in #18 Ouachita Christian over #15 Catholic PC.
This year again Ouachita Christian got an #18 seed and again beat the #15 Country Day.
The bad thing about that seed is when you advance you get the #2. Last year a very strong Catholic NI and this year an equally as strong #2 Episcopal BR.