- East Bay Prep Corner
East Bay Soccer Notebook
By contracostatimesprepsportsstaff
Monday, December 22nd, 2008 at 12:08 pm in Boys soccer.
It’s pretty clear, just based on the rankings, that the East Bay Athletic League is the best league in the East Bay as the top four teams in this week’s Bay Area News Group’s online rankings are from that league.
The league is balanced, with six of the eight teams either ranked or under consideration. Last week, seven of the teams were ranked or considered.
Amador Valley moves up to No. 1 this week after a pair of wins over Milpitas and California, and a tie against San Ramon Valley that saw the Wolves tie the game on an own-goal with under a minute to play.
De La Salle moves up to No. 2 after a win over previous No. 1 Granada. The Matadors are still highly ranked, coming in at No. 4 with SRV at No. 3.
After tying Arroyo, Hayward Area Athletic teams San Lorenzo and Bishop O’Dowd move down two spots each to No. 5 and No. 6 respectively. Antioch, still hanging in there with Jose Cabeza hurt, are at No. 7. The Panthers are tied for the East Bay lead with eight wins.
Newark Memorial might have five ties, but they have only lost once, to Amador Valley, and have won three straight matches as the Cougars jump from No. 12 to No. 8. Despite a pair of ties last week, Richmond stays at No. 9. Monte Vista holds fast at No. 10.
The final five teams feature three new ones as Albany comes in at No. 11 after four straight wins. Castro Valley climbs up to No. 12 thanks to six straight wins while Campolindo comes in at No. 14 after jumping up to the top of the Diablo Foothill Athletic League with a 1-0 win over Las Lomas. The Knights are right behind the Cougars at No. 15.
The Farmers of Hayward might be sliding a bit with four losses in the last five matches, but they still stay ranked at No. 13, considering who they’ve lost to. They lost to No. 5 O’Dowd, No. 3 SRV, No. 10 Monte Vista and No. 12 Castro Valley. Three of the losses were by one goal.
1. Amador Valley (5-0-3)
2. De La Salle (4-0-0)
3. San Ramon Valley (7-0-2)
4. Granada (7-1-1)
5. San Lorenzo (6-0-1)
6. Bishop O’Dowd (8-0-1)
7. Antioch (8-2-2)
8. Newark Memorial (5-1-5)
9. Richmond (4-2-2)
10. Monte Vista (5-3-2)
11. Albany (7-1-0)
12. Castro Valley (7-3-0)
13. Hayward (5-4-0)
14. Campolindo (6-3-1)
15. Las Lomas (6-2-0)
Others considered:
League standings
More than likely they aren’t 100 percent accurate, but they will give people a good idea of how the league’s are shaking down. Hopefully people will help update their records after seeing these.
ACCAL
Team Overall League Points
De Anza 4-4-2 2-0-0 6
El Cerrito 2-2-1 1-0-1 4
Richmond 4-2-2 0-0-2 2
Alameda 1-6-3 0-1-1 1
Pinole Valley 2-1-3 0-0-1 1
Berkeley 1-4-4 0-0-1 1
Hercules 0-0-2 0-0-2 0
BSAL
Team Overall League Points
Albany 7-1-0 4-0-0 12
St. Mary’s 4-1-0 4-0-0 12
Piedmont 7-2-1 3-1-0 9
Encinal 2-3-3 1-1-1 4
Kennedy 1-1-2 1-1-1 4
St. Patrick-St. Vincent 1-1-1 1-1-0 3
St. Joseph-Notre Dame 2-5-1 1-3-0 3
Salesian 0-6-0 0-3-0 0
Swett 0-6-0 0-5-0 0
BVAL
Team Overall League Points
Antioch 8-2-2 2-1-0 6
Liberty 3-2-1 2-1-0 6
Pittsburg 2-1-2 1-1-1 4
Freedom 2-2-3 1-1-1 4
Deer Valley 2-2-5 1-0-2 2
Hertiage 2-7-1 0-3-0 0
DFAL
Team Overall League Points
Campolindo 6-3-1 2-0-1 7
Las Lomas 6-2-0 2-1-0 6
Alhambra 3-3-0 2-2-0 6
Miramonte 1-1-3 1-0-3 6
Dublin 5-1-4 1-1-1 4
Acalanes 4-3-2 1-1-1 4
Dougherty Valley 2-8-0 0-4-0 0
DVAL
Team Overall League Points
Ygnacio Valley 5-1-2 1-0-0 3
Concord 2-3-1 1-0-0 3
Clayton Valley 5-6-1 1-1-0 3
Northgate 4-5-2 1-1-0 3
College Park 2-5-1 0-1-0 0
Mt. Diablo 1-2-0 0-1-0 0
Berean Christian 1-8-0 0-2-0 0
EBAL
Team Overall League Points
De La Salle 4-0-0 2-0-0 4
Amador Valley 5-0-3 1-0-1 3
San Ramon Valley 7-0-2 1-0-1 3
Granada 7-1-1 1-1-0 2
Monte Vista 5-3-2 1-1-0 2
Foothill 5-6-0 1-1-0 2
Livermore 3-4-0 0-2-0 0
California 3-5-2 0-2-0 0
HAAL
Team Overall League Points
Castro Valley 7-3-0 4-0-0 12
Bishop O’Dowd 8-0-1 3-0-1 10
San Lorenzo 6-0-1 3-0-1 10
Hayward 5-4-0 2-2-0 6
Arroyo 4-1-3 1-0-2 5
San Leandro 4-4-1 1-3-0 3
Tennyson 1-5-0 0-3-0 0
Mt. Eden 0-7-3 0-3-0 0
Moreau Catholic 0-5-1 0-3-0 0
MVAL
Team Overall League Points
Newark Memorial 5-1-5 3-0-0 9
Washington 3-3-0 2-0-0 6
Mission San Jose 5-4-0 2-2-0 6
Irvington 4-6-1 1-2-1 4
Logan 3-5-3 1-1-0 3
Kennedy 0-2-1 0-2-1 1
American 0-4-0 0-3-0 0
Piedmont (7-2-1), Arroyo (4-1-3), Dublin (5-1-4), Foothill (5-6), Ygancio Valley (5-1-2), Liberty (3-2-1), Pittsburg (2-1-2), Freedom (2-2-3), Pinole Valley (2-1-3), San Leandro (4-4-1).
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December 22nd, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Campolindo on top 15 with a win over Las Lomas? Ygnacio Valley beat Campolindo 3-1. And their only considered. Richmond has 2 league ties and their #9? I’m sure Richmond is a strong team but they have to start producing results to stay ranked so high. Hayward with a 5-4 record shouldn’t be there either. Even if they lost close games. Didn’t Hayward start like 4-0? And they been 1-4 since then? In my opinion some teams are only in the rankings cus people know about them. It should be based on records and how they perform.
December 22nd, 2008 at 2:47 pm
It is based on how they perform. If Hayward played a weaker schedule, they’d be 9-0. You might be right about YV, but Campo deserves to be in the top 15 as well.
December 22nd, 2008 at 5:10 pm
No doubt EBAL is top league. Their record outside the league to date is 31-10-8. Nine of their ten losses come from bottom three teams (Foothill, Cal, Livermore). The top 4 teams have yet to lose outside of the league (DLS, AV, SRV, GRAN). We don’t know who the top seed for NCS will be at season’s end, but all bets are on it being from EBAL?
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:24 am
Hayward is pretty strong this year, they’ve had some bad luck against some good teams, in many of those losses, they were leading for a good part of the game.
Also FYI, San lorenzo smashed dublin the other day, it was either 4 or 5 to 1.
December 23rd, 2008 at 2:48 pm
The meat of the EBAL schedule starts on 1/6, with all the top teams engaging each other in the next 10 days. The rankings Jan 16th will be more meaningful. By then there will only be 1 more game left on the first rotation, with the first rivalry games (MV-SRV, FH-AV, LHS-GRA, CAL-DLS?) to follow.
Could Foothill beat AV this year? They have not beaten AV in 5 yrs (couple of ties, but no wins).
December 24th, 2008 at 9:54 am
I think determining the rankings within a certain league are relatively easy. The difficulty lies in trying to rank teams in different leagues against each other due to the fact that not many of them actually play in the pre-season. Thats what makes the tournament so important. I think the prep sports staff does a pretty good job of it all.
FYI, Los Lomas 3, Tennyson 0
December 27th, 2008 at 2:07 am
I would like to suggest a 3A top ten and a 2A top ten. This would result in a better prediction of what teams should make both divisions (3A and 2A) of the NCS Championships.
In regards to the current ranking, the Albany placement is high if you consider Campolindo and Las Lomas’ results. For example, one of Albany’s losses (they are 7-2 not 7-1) was to unmentioned Pinole Valley – a team that lost to Campolindo 3-0.
December 27th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
yes i agree with this person on top of me but i bet albany can take las lomas any day just schedule a friendly bring popcorn and come watch the show
December 28th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
SRV will win Ebal. how are they 3? right now it should be DLS, SRV then AV and GRanada.
December 30th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
Castro Valley 3, Amador Valley 0
It wasn’t even close. You guys give the EBAL too much credit. There is not doubt they are good, but going on and on about how they are guarunteed the top seed is nonsense.