Division III Champion: Sacred Heart

[CaddoMagnet]

Division III Girls
March 7, 2003
Tad Gormley Stadium
Sacred Heart 2 Newman 0

Sacred Heart captures Division III soccer title
Times-Picayune, The (New Orleans, LA) - Saturday, March 8, 2003
Author: Jim Rapier Staff writer
It seemed the girls Division III state soccer championship brought about a role reversal between Academy of the Sacred Heart and Newman.

Unlike two matches earlier this season, Sacred Heart was the team that had less shots on goal but won. The Cardinals made the most of fewer chances Friday to defeat Newman 2-0 at Tad Gormley Stadium.

Sacred Heart (20-3-5) outshot Newman by a total of 29-8 in two regular-season matches, but the Greenies (20-3) won both times. The Cardinals turned the tables on Newman by winning despite being outshot 9-5 in the title match.

The state title is Sacred Heart's first since 1997, but is its third in eight years. Newman missed a chance to win its third consecutive championship.

"I feel really good for our group of seniors," Sacred Heart coach Sean Moser said. "They all played really well.

"From the beginning we really wanted to put a lot of pressure on them. We played more long ball than we usually do."

The strategy may not have equated to more shots for Sacred Heart, but not one of the Cardinals was arguing.

"The shots on goal were definitely reversed," said Sacred Heart's Ellen Logan, who scored both of the Cardinals' goals. "We finally finished our chances."

"Everything was reversed," Newman coach Patrick Summerour said. "It just was not our night and it wasn't meant to be, but no one can blame it on lack of effort. Our kids worked really hard to get here."

Logan scored her first goal in the second minute on a penalty kick. The penalty kick was awarded after a foul was called on Newman on a throw-in inside the box. The score remained 1-0 until the 72nd minute, when Logan, deep in the box, gathered a deflected free kick from Carolyn Ramelli and placed another shot to the corner.

"I almost collided with (teammate) Amy Leefe before getting the ball, and then I had the shot," Logan said.

Sacred Heart's Emily Leefe, who was selected the Most Outstanding Player, and Meg Leblanc helped lead the defense, which fended off numerous shots by Newman from close range, especially in the second half. It was the ninth consecutive shutout for Cardinals, who outscored four playoff opponents 15-0.

---

Rivals meet in final - Greenies, Cardinals square off for 3rd time this season
Times-Picayune, The (New Orleans, LA) - Friday, March 7, 2003
Author: Jim Rapier Staff writer
Newman's girls soccer team is striving to win its third consecutive state title when it plays Academy of the Sacred Heart at 7 p.m. today at Tad Gormley Stadium in the Division III Nokia Sugar Bowl state soccer championship.

But to do that Newman must defeat long-time District 8-III rival Sacred Heart (19-3-5) for the third time this season.

Newman coach Patrick Summerour said he thinks his team is playing its best soccer , but he knows it is hard to defeat any team three times in one season, especially when the teams involved appear evenly matched, and are rivals.

Newman defeated Sacred Heart 1-0 and 2-1. The Cardinals outshot Newman 18-4 and 11-4.

Summerour said he is not worried about his team's motivation, but it must stay focused on doing the things that got it this far.

Newman players Nikki Sorrels, Katie Couvillon, Artemis Antippas and Allison Lindberg said that will not be a problem. Antippas said familiarity between the teams is motivation enough, and Couvillon plans to play off the excitement.

"We have to go in there like we have not played them before," said Sorrels, a senior. "We should be mentally ready. We have been in two state title matches before; it is possible."

"They (Sacred Heart) may think we will be overconfident because we have beaten them twice already, but that is not our frame of mind," Lindberg said.

Sacred Heart coach Sean Moser said his team has played well in the playoffs, and he will depend on his seniors' experience of having defeated Newman in past seasons. Sacred Heart captains Meg Leblanc, Amy Leefe, Emily Leefe and Carolyn Ramelli feel the third match may be their charm.

"People may feel they (Newman) will defeat us again," Leblanc said. "We feel ready to prove them wrong. I am sure they are ready, too."

"We've had chances against them; we just have to finish them this time," Ramelli said.

Sacred Heart-New Orleans 2
Newman 0
-Sacred Heart-New Orleans becomes the 2003 Louisiana High School Division III Champion

Semifinal Results are:

Newman 4
Episocopal-Acadiana 0
- Newman moves on to play Sacred Heart-New Orleans

Loyola 0
Sacred Heart-New Orleans 3
-Sacred Heart-New Orleans moves on to play Newman

Regional Results are:

Sacred Heart-New Orleans 7
ED White 0
-Sacred Heart-New Orleans moves on to play Loyola

Loyola 2
Episcopal-Baton Rouge 0
-Loyola moves on to play Sacred Heart-New Orleans

Parkview Baptist 0
Newman 2
-Newman moves on to play Episcopal-Acadiana

Episcopal-Acadiana 3
St. Fredericks 2
-Episcopal-Acadiana moves on to play Newman

Bi-district results are:

Loyola 6
Redemptorist 0
-Loyola moves on to play Episcopal-Baton Rouge

Episcopal-Baton Rouge 6
Sacred Heart-Grand Coteau 3
-Episcopal-Baton Rouge moves on to play Loyola

ED White 7
Pope John Paul 1
-ED White moves on to play Sacred Heart(NO)

Opelousas Catholic 1
Episcopal-Acadiana 3
-Episcopal Acadiana moves on to play St. Frederick

Newman 5
University 0
-Newman moves on to play Parkview Baptist

Sacred Heart 3
St. Louis 0
-Sacred Heart move on to play ED White

Parkview Baptist 1
St. Martins 0
-Parkview Baptist moves on to play Newman

St. Frederick 1
St. Thomas Aquinas 0
-St. Frederick moves on to play Episcopal-Acadiana

[CaddoMagnet]

If anyone has questoins about directions to/from the fields, feel free to ask me. I may not know ALL answers, but I'm sure I could help.

[THINKABOUTIT]

Sacred Heart beat Dominican 3-0; beat Franklin 2-0, tie 2-2. Thus, Sacred Heart is the best team overall in the state!

[CaddoMagnet]

What Division III rankings should look like now (NOT official):

1. Sacred Heart
2. Newman
3. Loyola
4. Parkview Baptist
5. Country Day
6. Episcopal-Baton Rouge
7. Episcopal-Acadiana
8. St. Louis
9. University
10. Sacred Heart-GC

[st louis fan]

I don't think we should be that far down in the rankings.. yes we did lose out in the first round but we had some pretty tough competition as you can tell...congrats ASH ...we had a pretty nice record this year and i think we need to get recognized for it.. we had strong players and it shows on the records for who made all district and stuff... im eager to see who made all state...well im going to go! goodbye...congrats again ASH

[CaddoMagnet asleep]

CaddoMagnet you are usually well informed about the girls teams but you were asleep on this one. St Louis finished their year 26-3. Their only losses were to Sacred Heart ( best team in the entire state), Mt Carmel (who was ranked No.1 in Div I at one time) and Destrahan (a strong Div I team). Half of their wins were against Div I or 2 teams. 8 against Div I teams including Acadianan, Baton Rouge Magnet, Carrencro, Sulphur and Barbe. 7 against Div II teams including Dutchtown and Parkway. No disrespect to ESA but St Louis beat them twice including a 3-0 win right before the playoffs started. St Louis had the toughest draw in the playoffs playing Sacred Heart in the first round. ESA by finishing second in our disrict played Opelousas who St. Louis beat this year and St Fredricks who St. Louis beat twice this year. If you are trying to rank the teams on ability and record you have missed the boat. If not you need to take Country Day out because they didn't even make the playoffs. (that would not be fair either). St Louis is the only team that Sacred Heart did not score on in the first half of a playoff game. It was 0-0 at half. Their first score came 18 minutes into the second half. Sacred Heart scored three goals on Loyola in the first 26 minutes of the game according to a previous post. Study the records of the teams and I think you will reconsider your choices. Congratulations to Sacred Heart.

[THINKABOUTIT]

St. Louis played Sacred Heart in L.C. their small, narrow field after not playing for almost 2 weeks. Sacred Heart had three great scoring chances in the first half and missed them, but not due to the St. Louis defense. Also, St. Louis' keeper kept them in the game with incredible saves after her defense let her down. After wathcing the Sacred Heaert-Loyola game (yes I am a Sacred Heart person), Loyola would win on a neutral field.
As to the best team, remember, Sacred Heart beat Dominican 3-0, and Franklin 2-0 (with another 2-2 draw). Sacred Heart is the best team in the state regardless of division.

[non ASHparent]

Guest-THINKABOUTIT said:

As to the best team, remember, Sacred Heart beat Dominican 3-0, and Franklin 2-0 (with another 2-2 draw). Sacred Heart is the best team in the state regardless of division.

Newman beat Sacred Heart 2-1 AND 1-0 before losing in the finals. Newman lost just before the playoffs to Franklin 2-0. Franklin tied SH 2-2 in their most recent matchup. SH's best win may have been against Dominican, but WHEN was that?

On any given day...

[CaddoMagnet]

These are mainly just playoff rankings, if you used the playoffs as a template. The rankings should basically stay the same as they did in the 2/7 rankings, except Sacred Heart should be number one and Newman, number two.

[AICWildcat]

It's pretty hard to go strictly by the play-off rankings because of some bad first round draws by some teams. Since there is no ranking system for making the brackets good teams played good teams in the first round and were consequestly eliminated, case in point St. Louis and Redemptorist.

RHS beat #6 ranked Episcopal 5-0 and lost a hard fought 5-4 decision to U-High late in the regular season. I think those three teams were pretty equally matched this season.

So I'd agree. The previous poll looks just about right with the exception of SH of NO being at the top.

[lookgaround]

I disagree - Remove Country day and move everone else up one and add St. Fredrick

1 Sacred Heart
2 Newman
3 Loyola
4 Parkview
5 St. Louis
6 Episcopal (BR)
7 University
8 Episcopal (ACAD)
9 Redemptorist
10 St. Fredrick

[loyolaparent]

TO: THINKABOUTIT

You said:
(After wathcing the Sacred Heaert-Loyola game (yes I am a Sacred Heart person), Loyola would win on a neutral field.)

Are you saying that Loyola would beat Sacred Heart on a neutral field? If so, that's nice, but to me, clearly Sacred Heart is the best team in the state. Loyola could have played better, but I'm wondering why you might think Loyola could beat them. Please explain. Thanks.

[lookgaround]

Not sure were that came from - I placed SH as #1 - just remove Country Day from the poll since they did not advance. I added St. Fredrick, but after thinking about more could put CD back in as #10 - But I have coached agianst both and believe St. Fred is the better team.

[Saintsfan]

To: Loyola parent

I think what THINKABOUTIT meant was that Loyola would beat St. Louis on a neutral field. Apparently the sacred heart fan was offended because of the earlier comment from another St Louis fan about the 0-0 score at halftime of the St Louis - Sacred Heart game. I saw Loyola play two games at the Louisiana Showcase. Coleman of Loyola is a great talent. St. Louis may not have had an individual player to match up with her but I think their team was just as strong. It would have been a great game between the two had they had the opportunity to meet in the playoffs and I think the game could have gone either way.

[Disagree]

i totally disagree... no one is giving Epicopal (ACAD) and credit i can a sure you that they are much better then University and Episcopal (BR) hands down.. and i think that country day should be added back into the list... the rankings should look more like this...

1. Sacred Heart
2. Newman
3.Country Day
4. Loyola
5. Parkview
6. St. Louis
7. Episcopal (ACAD)
8. Episcopal (BR)
9. University
10. Redemptorist

- is Sacred Heart moving up next year.. to another divs.?

[any]

any* and credit i can

[any]

any* credit i can