Division I Final 4

[barbedad20]

Teams are set and I believe we are starting to see a pattern here. 4 teams from 2 districts shows how tough district 3 and district 5 are.

District 5- 1 seed Fontainebleau
District 5- 2 seed Mandeville
District 3- 1 seed Lafayette
District 3- 3 seed Barbe

Could it be that these teams play each other and other tough district games and this is why they are so successful in the playoffs?

[beauzeau]

Actually, its the coaching ! Lets face it all the kids are pretty even in ability. See my other postings on how I feel so strong about coaching !

Good Luck to Barbe ! By the way thanks for kicking the ---- out of MCA.

[sosoplayer24]

barbedad20 may have a point but I lean more towards beauzeau in agreement. Find out where these girls play club ball and I'll bet there are some great trainers and coaches involved. I know the high school coaches are working hard too but these girls didn't just blossom in high school. I'm sure theve been working hard for many years with tremendous support systems at home and at the club level.

If you look at the depth at these schools you will find club players growing up with a winning tradition and understanding what it takes to constantly succeed. These schools are not only blessed with talent and good coaches, they are blessed with good club programs to feed the schools. The parents need to be patted on the back for providing the support and the club coaches need a raise!

Good luck to all in the finals.

PS - Barbedad20 - the competition you speak of is just icing on the cake that makes it all come together.

[barbedad20]

Your comments are right on target. Barbe has 6 girls that play on the same select team and 4 or 5 more that play on another. It's pretty obvious in this part of the state that these girls go to their high schools well trained, and prepared to play at this level. I know Lafayette and Acadiana are made up mainly with select players so the select coaches have a lot to do with the level of play these girls have once they reach high school. And taking it one step further, these girls playing in a tough district against each other only makes them better players and prepared for the playoffs. So I guess if you blend both my answers and beauzeau you get a pretty compelling reason why these teams are so successful.

[observer]

While I agree that the coaching has some effect, it is not nearly as much a difference as it once was. Talent and athletic ability is still the main difference in most teams. The biggest differnce in Acadiana/Barbe game was the fact that Barbe had more team speed than Acadiana. They controlled tha midfield and while they gave up 18 shots, only 2 or 3 were really dangerous.

[observer]

The coaching I am refering to is the coaching received at the HS program. I would agree that club coaching directly affects ( both positively and negatively ) how good a player is in high school play. The negataive I refer to is a player playing a different stylel of play in HS as compared to club. I am familiar with club programs in Lafayette, Baton Rouge and New Orleans and of those three area's I believe Lafayette has the weakest coaching. and before you hammer me, I have been involved with coaching in lafayette since the early 80's and while we are finally getting away from "Dad" coaches, we still have a long way to go.

[beauzeau]

Thanks for all of the good conversation and thought ! I feel there are plenty of kids left behind or left out because of the schemes high school coaches impose versus the club coaches. It amazes me how a kid can make any club team, make all the cuts for ODP ( which is often supported by a wide array of area coaches ) and yet cannot make a high school team. It's happened many of times in the New Orleans area, girls and boys.

Thanks, and good luck to all remaining teams heading into the playoffs. I'd love to pick a winner, but the remaining teams are all worthy of the championship.

My feeling is all home teams will prevail, with the support of the fans, moms and dads etc,,, thanks !

[soccer4]

observer said:

Observer,

why did they control the midfield? What did you do to adjust for that problem, did you move your midfielder from forward to center mid? As for speed, yes they were fast, but they had the same speed when they played you at Acadiana and you dominated that game. What seems to be the difference in the last two games you played. Maybe that you were beat in the midfield positions and your best midfielder was in the forward position.

[hsplaya]

I must disagree Soccer4...the reason that Hofland was playing the top is because of her technical and finishing ability.. she was able to apply more pressure on their back line...the defender just did a great job of marking her....Had she been in the midfield she would have probably got eaten up because although she is pretty quick she does not have the speed that Barbe did, plus her stamina from getting pounded on would have gotten her worn down....She was put up front to create havoc and she did....she just did not finish and that is part of the game....the reason AHS dominated game one is because any team with the speed of Barbe on a typical high school field will be slowed down....and that is where AHS technically beat them....Barbe is a very good team and plays with tremendous heart and passion and that is why they are so successful...plus throw them on an international size field with that speed they are extremely tough eventhough they are not technically or tactically the best team that AHS faced.....Sliding Hofland to the middle would not have made a difference in that game because the end result was due to the fact that Barbe wanted it more and they capitalized on their opportunities and Acadiana did not....C'est la vie....I believe AHS had a pretty darn good season considering they lost only 5 games and all three teams are playing in the semifinals....It just was not meant to be....

[ballgirl09]

Holfland probably never gets tired. She is so good she can play 24/7. In fact she can play all positions on the field at once.