Strongest high school soccer ever this season?

[timaeus]

I've been watching high school soccer for many years now, and this has been from top to bottom the strongest year I've ever seen. There are 15 teams in Division I that are very strong, as well as five teams in both of the lower divisions that I believe could beat, say half, of the past state champions on a good night.

For those who have kept up with high school soccer for a few years, what are your thoughts?

[hdkjga]

I would agree......I don't know if what you say about past champions is right but, I would say as an overall division, Division I is the strongest I have seen. Division II is kinda weak compared to what it used to be, Division III is stronger than in the past.

[Bish]

I will say that this is true for Division I. I don't see how you can say that DIII is stronger though. There is no competition in the playoffs anymore. Hell, St. Louis blew out everybody last year. Maybe the top two teams in Division III are good, but there is a huge gap between those teams and the 3rd and 4th place teams. I mean, Teurlings was a good team, but they wouldn't even be top 25 worthy in Division I, that goes with most teams in the top 10 of D III, say below the 4th place rank. I know these are bold statements, but I've seen these teams first hand. Division III hasn't had a good number of quality teams since about 99-00.

[scout]

Last year Div III was alot more competitive than this year. Although, I don't think Opel.Cath. made it this far last year, Good Luck to them. Teurlings did fair considering that this is their first season, they played pretty well against St. Louis. I know St. Louis has played quite a few Div I teams this year, and though not always victorious, they did very well considering they were playing up. I agree that Div I is very all-around strong. I'm really looking forward to seeing this championship. I think in Div III, the best game will be played in the Semi's. I believe there will be a little rival starting between St. Thomas Aquanis and St. Louis, considering that they both make it. It could very well be Newman, and either of these two teams. This will be very interesting as well.

[m]

I would tend to agree with you on your statement Timaeus. Division I is very competitive this year without one team being absolute dominant like in years past. I also think that 3 possibly 4 teams from Div II and III combined could be thrown into Div I and compete quite well.

[Bish]

m said:

I also think that 3 possibly 4 teams from Div II and III combined could be thrown into Div I and compete quite well.

Yeah, that's pretty accurate.