- East Bay Prep Corner
East Bay Girls Soccer Rankings (Through Feb. 1)
By Matt Schwab
Monday, February 4th, 2013 at 9:01 pm in Uncategorized.
Greetings, East Bay soccer aficionados. You are witnessing some of the country’s very best in girls high school soccer, judging by the more than 50 local players who will be signing with colleges this week.
The talent pool is deep around here. … Great goals and goalkeeping. Well-organized defenses and lots of spirit are on tap each weekday night.
There were some interesting high-powered battles last week. Bishop O’Dowd rebounded from a 2-1 loss against Castro Valley to outscore Berkeley 5-3 in a huge week in the WACC-Foothill Division.
Miranda Nild had two brilliant finishes for Castro Valley against the Dragons, and impressive Stephanie Zuniga had a hat trick for the Dragons against Berkeley.
EBAL and DFAL teams continue to beat each other up, although San Ramon Valley has five straight shutout wins and has clinched another EBAL title. Camplindo looks like the class of the DFAL. O’Dowd remains atop the WACC-Foothill Division, but the Yellowjackets and Trojans have kept the heat on all season.
College Park has clinched a second second consecutive DVAL title, and Freedom remains in charge in the BVAL.
In the EBAL, Amador Valley and Monte Vista have locked up NCS Division I at-large berths. The Dons’ storybook season got even better as they earned back-to-back shutout road wins last week over Monte Vista and California, which followed Amador’s shutout win over Granada. Amador Valley has a huge game at home against San Ramon Valley on Tuesday.
California, Granada and Foothill are all on the NCS bubble.
In the MVAL, Logan and Washington battled to an entertaining 1-1 draw, putting the surging Colts in position to earn a third straight MVAL title. But it’s not a done-deal yet. Great long throw-ins by the Huskies’ Maddie Cook. Washington played hard. Expect the Huskies to rebound well.
Here are the latest East Bay Girls Soccer Rankings.
Rankings (Through Feb. 1)
1, San Ramon Valley (15-0-4, 9-0-3 EBAL)
2, Bishop O’Dowd (18-2-1, 13-1-0 WAC-Foothill)
3, Berkeley (12-3-2, 11-2-1 WAC Foothill)
4, Castro Valley (17-2-2, 12-2-0 WAC-Foothill)
5, Amador Valley (11-6-2, 7-4-1 EBAL)
6, Monte Vista (8-5-4, 6-3-2 EBAL)
7, Campolindo (11-1-2, 9-0-1 DFAL)
8, California (7-7-5, 3-5-4 EBAL)
9, College Park (13-2-6, 8-1-0 DVAL)
10, Logan (10-5-3, 9-1-2 MVAL)
11, Granada (5-6-0 EBAL)
12, Foothill (5-6-7, 3-5-4 EBAL)
13, Washington (12-1-3, 8-1-1 MVAL)
14 (t), Freedom (11-3-2, 6-0-1 BVAL)
14, (t) Livermore (6-9-4, 2-7-4 EBAL)
14 (t), Piedmont (12-5-1, 10-3-0 WACC Shoreline)
Also noted: Alhambra, American, Carondelet, Clayton Valley, Encinal, Dublin, Heritage, Liberty, Ygnacio Valley.
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February 4th, 2013 at 10:42 pm
I really ygnacio valley deserves more credit
They are 16-5-2 and are 2nd in dval, which is a competitive league housing players from diablo fc, heritage, and mustang. League is not as competitive as the ebal but its on par with the dfal
February 5th, 2013 at 12:09 am
Hi Matt,
Wondering if you could do the same NCS predictions for the girls that you do for the boys? It would be helpful.
Thanks
February 5th, 2013 at 7:28 am
Seems if the any of the top 4 teams has a hick up this could be a wide open run to the finish.
February 5th, 2013 at 7:33 am
@Soccerplayer It’s a different Matt. I do the boys, and Mr. Schwab does the girls.
February 5th, 2013 at 9:08 am
Going to be an interesting finish to the regular season in EBAL with several on the bubble that could easily be top 6 seeds…..lots of great games this week…MV/SRV, Carondelet trying to keep Cal out of NCS, Foothill trying to get in V Amador all on Thursday
February 5th, 2013 at 9:37 am
Carondelets Coach should be fired on the spot. How can such a powerhouse not make NCS? That’s the biggest joke I’ve seen. And to the person who said Ygnacio deserves more credit. Just no. They are a sub par team at best and will lose in the first or second round of ncs. They lost to the second to last DFAL team (Las Lomas) 4-0 and barely beat the last place team (Acalanes) 2-1 off an own goal.
February 5th, 2013 at 9:46 am
Just a quick shout out to the College Signing Night Seniors for the Pleasanton Rage:
Sahar Arghandiwal, U18 Rage ECNL, CalState Los Angeles, Dougherty;
Tamara Aboumrad, U18 Rage ECNL, Cal, Mission San Jose;
Gabrielle Ko, U18 Rage ECNL, UC Irvine, Castro Valley High;
Haley Chow, U17 Rage ECNL, Princeton, Amador Valley;
Alyssa Devine, U18 Rage ECNL, Marquette, Marin Catholic HS;
Nicole Heller, U18 Rage ECNL, UC San DIego, Foothill;
Alyssa Holsworth, U18 Rage ECNL, Fresno St., Cal High;
Amanda Nunes, U18 Rage ECNL, Fresno St., Livermore High;
Marisa Rodrigues, U18 Rage ECNL, SE Louisiana Univ., Cal High;
Emmy Rodriquez, U18 Rage ECNL, Oregon, Foothill High;
Marissa Scheid, U17 Rage ECNL, UC San Diego, Livermore High;
Kylee Southwell, U18 Rage ECNL, UC San Diego, Livermore High;
Zoe Rogers-Lemke, U18 Rage ECNL, CA State Monterey Bay, Dougherty High;
Shayda Haddad, U18 Rage ECNL, UC San Diego, Cal High;
Congratulations to all of these young ladies!!
February 5th, 2013 at 10:05 am
No. YV barely beat the last place team in the DFAL (Acalanes) with the help of an own goal. They also lost to Las Lomas, the second-to-last placed team 4-0.
February 5th, 2013 at 12:29 pm
@has been—-Thats a bit harsh don’t you think? Do you have inside knowledge on Carondelet and why they haven’t lived up to your powerhouse standards? Last I checked, the coach has been there for like 10 years and seems to have a pretty good record to show for it. If you look at maxpreps, you see they, along with the rest of EBAL has beat each other up all season while the college parks of the world play powder puffs week in/week out
February 5th, 2013 at 1:07 pm
YV is having one of their best seasons ever and have the ability to make the D2 final four and maybe further with some good fortune. Don’t let the loss to Las Lomas fool you. They will get past the first round and probably need to beat a DFAL team to get to the semis. Outside of Campo and BOD the rest of the field is very even.
February 5th, 2013 at 1:38 pm
Is it possible to make NCS with a sub 500 record in both league and overall for an Ebal team?
February 5th, 2013 at 3:37 pm
Yes….If they have a 500 record agaist Division 1 opponents is 500 they can qualify
February 5th, 2013 at 3:46 pm
DII Playoff Picture
Based on Maxpreps records here are the teams that have pretty much locked up NCS berths:
Locks (11 teams)
Albany (12-5-2)
Alhambra (10-6-1)
Bishop O’Dowd (17-2-1)
Campolindo (11-1-2)
Dublin (7-7-7, 5-3-3 league)
Encinal (9-4-1)
Northgate (9-6-5)
Piedmont (13-5-1)
St. Mary’s (9-3-4)
St. Patrick/St. Vincent (13-3-1)
Ygnacio Valley (16-5-2)
At or close to .500 record (6 teams)
Acalanes (9-9-4)
De Anza (6-8-2, 4-4-2 league)
Hercules (9-8-1)
Las Lomas (4-6-3)
Miramonte (5-6-2)
Moreau Catholic (7-7-2)
That is a total of 17 teams for 16 spots. However, more than one of these .500 teams may not qualify. Note that Miramonte and Las Lomas play each other tomorrow, so the winner may have the inside track. or with a tie and loss in their next game neither team may get in. So it looks like 11 teams for sure and more than likely 3 or 4 of the remaining 7 will get in. So it is possible that the top seed(s) may get a first round bye.
February 5th, 2013 at 4:07 pm
KFC, can re word your comment, I don’t understand what you are saying?
February 5th, 2013 at 4:26 pm
Girls signing letters of intent from DFC tomorrow:
Larissa Rodrigues (Carondelet) – Holy Names
Melanie Hines (Carondelet) – Sonoma State
Linnea Wikander (Las Lomas) – UC San Diego
Sam Boeger (Clayton Valley Charter) – Chico State
Jasmine Bandayrel (Clayton Valley Charter) – Academy of Art
Brianna Rosselli (Ygnacio Valley) – San Francisco State
Daisy Bonilla (Ygnacio Valley) – UC Merced
Mackenzie Delorefice (Rodriguez High/Cordelia) – Chico State
This team has a few other girls still sorting out offers. Congratulations to them all and good luck with the next step in your soccer careers!!!
February 5th, 2013 at 5:04 pm
Here is the list of signees that has been shared with the newspaper so far. It looks like we’re missing a few names on our list based on some of the comments in this chain. I’ll look through and add to our newspaper list tonight. Be sure to email your signees to prepscores@bayareanewsgroup.com if you don’t see them in this list. Thanks, MS (I’m at Pebble Beach today doing prep work for the AT&T tourney this week).
Girls soccer
name (high school) college
Alyssa Alarab (San Ramon Valley) UCLA
Nadia Alaiyan (Berkeley), Pomona College
Stephanie Amack (Dougherty Valley) Stanford
Monica Barrios (Castro Valley) Notre Dame De Namur
Reyna Buzon (Alameda) Cal State Stanislaus
Rory Chipman (Head-Royce) Vassar College
Ashley Christensen (Carondelet) San Diego
Hannah Clark (Monte Vista) BYU
Ryan Daniel (Bishop O’Dowd) University of Hawaii-Manoa
Rachel Feldman (California) Navy
Nicole Fetsch (Amador Valley) Pepperdine
Sophie Fuller (Miramonte) Westmont College
Nina Gerson (Berkeley), Washington University-St. Louis
Alyssa Herwatt (Carondelet) Colorado
Lauren Holden (California) Oregon
Lynsey Hromatko (Monte Vista) Cal
Morgan Idso (San Ramon Valley) UC Santa Barbara
Jessica Jara (St. Mary’s), Santa Clara
Gabby Ko (Castro Valley) UC Irvine
Hannah Koski (San Ramon Valley) Cal
Makenna Kummer (San Ramon Valley) UC Santa Barbara)
Sophia Leksan (Campolindo), Loyola Marymount
Bianca Lowe (Bishop O’Dowd) Cal State Northridge
Brianna Lujan (Kennedy-Fremont) Humboldt State
Coco Pearce (Miramonte), Pomona
Hailey Mamizuka (Monte Vista) Saint Mary’s College
Nathalie Marie (Berkeley) Stanford
Kylie Moltzen (Mission San Jose) Southern Oregon
Kristin Moyer (Mission San Jose) Portland State
Devon Mulholland (Monte Vista) Azusa Pacific
Bianca Munoz (Arroyo) Portland State
Darby Nordin (Bishop O’Dowd) Chico State
Kristen Pavlick (San Ramon Valley) Ohio State
Kate Ranahan (Bishop O’Dowd) UC Davis
Shannon Stabler (Campolindo), Cal Poly
Katie Tao (San Ramon Valley, Pomona
Roxie Teichman (San Ramon Valley) Cal State Northridge
Emma Tinloy (El Cerrito) UC Davis
Megan Turner (San Ramon Valley), Stanford
Kayla Utley (Castro Valley) Cincinnati
Alexa Vandevanter (San Ramon Valley) Cal
Audrey Walke (Livermore) Arizona
Ryan Walker-Hartshorn (Bishop O’Dowd) Stanford
Camille Watson (San Leandro) Cal-State Northridge
Claire Winter (Acalanes), UCLA
Paloma Zermeno (James Logan) Portland State
February 5th, 2013 at 6:39 pm
Sorry for the jumble….
To clarify
3 ways to qualify for NCS (does not guarantee entry)
1 %00 or above overall season record
2 500 or above League record
3 500 or above against Division opponents (in this instance D1)
The third option may be critical as EBAL tends to beat each other up pretty good as this year defines. Some schools schedule d 2 games to help their overall record but they don’t count toward Division games As of this point there are several teams that may not qualify via overall or league but can make the cut via D1 record
February 5th, 2013 at 10:52 pm
@ ET Thanks for getting the ball rolling. FULL DISCLAIMER based on Max Preps…
El Cerrito is a lock they haven’t updated their results in max preps. Great job coach. Hope they don’t forget to turn in their at large application.
Moreau is a lock their record vs D2 teams is very good. Only two losses vs D2 opponents.
Acalanes should make it they have a tough game vs Alhambra at home. If they lose that game they have a very winnable game vs Concord scheduled for Saturday.
Miramonte plays Las Lomas and Alhambra and needs to win one of those games to qualify.
Las Lomas has to beat Miramonte and they will be in. Their last game vs Dougherty Valley won’t hurt or help them because Do Valley is a D1 team.
If Miramonte and Las Lomas pull it out you have your 16 team field. If either don’t qualify you have Hercules and even Kennedy Fremont ( terrible record but 2-0-1 against D2 opponents).
February 6th, 2013 at 9:52 am
@ Has Been-
He who has never coached high school soccer needs to pipe down. I know Carondelet’s coach, Rick Morin, well and he has done an unbelievable job this season based on the circumstances (injuries, turn-over, lack of overall talent). Just because you coach at a private school does not mean you are guaranteed to get the best athletes EVERY year and produce champions EVERY year. De La Salle is the exception to the rule. The EBAL is bar none the toughest lesgue around. There can be no denying that. Case and point, Livermore beat MV and AV, as well as Heritage, Deer Valley, and Newark Memorial…all teams that will make NCS this season. And Livermore, unless they beat Granada tomorrow night, will likely come in LAST place in the EBAL. What does that tell you? It tells me that ANY team in the EBAL could win NCS. Bottom-line.
February 6th, 2013 at 10:23 am
The CHS coach might be ok however his asst.’s are down right insulting and rude to players. Over 50 % of the team and parents are not happy with their behaviors.
Since Morin is the head coach it falls on him. He’s the one who cuts returners and seniors to bring in his club team players. I am not for off campus coaches at private schools. He and the assts. need a better connection with the students and the school’s mission statements. When I hear about parents and asst. coaches going at it in the parking lot after games and hear the berating of players on the sidelines, that’s crosing the line. The big problem at CHS is the atheletic director. She has a made some bad hires the last several years, water polo and track for instance, and stuck by these un-professional coaches and under performing results. Again, off campus coaches who come with little or no qualifications. I have heard this from numerous parents in all 3 sports. There is definately a connection, bad decisions and bad hires. The CHS parents usually take it on the chin and dont push the envelope like Miramonte and others have done in the past. Mabey they should, starting with the AD.
February 6th, 2013 at 11:03 am
@#9 KFC
Cream puff College Park could give Carondelet a good game or not? They tied Campo and Castro Valley, have winning record vs. DFAL, BVAL and won their TVC division.
Also, is it possible that CHS girls teams are suffering from other things like lack of talent? So many of the talented club soccer players in rich EBAL and elsewhere are choosing to stay with their intended HS instead of CHS these days.
Lastly, don’t sleep on YV in D2. The have explosive offensive players and have an excellent playmaker in Bonilla.
February 6th, 2013 at 11:36 am
@ Big Dog…I hear you.
I am not close enough to the CHS program to comment on the issues you have raised..only can speak to the character of their head coach. What I can say is that, unlike club soccer, where parents are paying lots of dough for their kid to get “equal playing time”…high school appeals to a lot of coaches, like myself, who are given the authority to make decisions on players based on who is the best. Parents get too caught up in things that have zero relevance in the high school game. High school coaches don’t care which club team you play on, how many years you have played varsity, if you play D1 or D3…or how well your momma can bake a cake. We only care about one thing…putting the best players on the field that produces the best product to represent the school. I would NEVER condone a coach confronting a player or a parent…just as I would never condone a parent confronting a coach. But trust me, THAT happens all the time….the other parents just don’t see it. Trust me when I tell you, coaching high school soccer these days is about 10% actual coaching and teaching and 90% dealing with BS. Fact.
February 6th, 2013 at 1:30 pm
@big dog. CHS coaching staff probably most qualified trio of coaches in NCS. CHS has been competitive in every match they have played (only one blowout vs powerhouse SRV). The current squad is not as good as they have had in the previous three seasons, but they have always been well organized & hard to breakdown. Rick deserves a lot of credit for the product he has put on the field.
Btw: how many qualified coaches do you think are on campus at CHS?
February 6th, 2013 at 1:32 pm
@top of the box. Last sentence #22 is spot on.
February 6th, 2013 at 1:55 pm
DVAL future fan—-Never called College Park a Cream Puff, just said they schedule cream puffs. Look at their schedule…not a single game against an EBAL opponent while Clayton Valley played three. We’ll see come playoff time
February 6th, 2013 at 5:54 pm
@bigdog….i am pretty sure there isn’t a single club player on cha from Coach Morins club. Not sure why the slam on his club ties as most every team has a coach with club ties as well
February 6th, 2013 at 7:44 pm
For D1, Projected NCS eligible (meet 1 or more of 3 criteria):
BVAL: Freedom(11-3-2), Heritage 11-4-3) and Deer Valley (7-6-4) and likely Liberty (9-8-4)
DFAL: Doughrty Valley (5-4-8)
DVAL: College Park (16-2-6) and Clayton Valley 6-5-5)
MVAL: Logan 11-5-3), Washington (12-2-5), Mission San Jose (11-10-1), Amerian (11-7-2) and Newark Memorial (6-10-2)
WAC-FH: Castro Valley (17-2-2) and Berkeley (12-3-2)
EBAL: San Ramon Valley (16-0-4), Monte Vista (9-5-4) and Amador Valley (11-7-2)
On the bubble (all in EBAL): Foothill (6-6-7), California (7-8-5) and Granada 5-7-0).
Before anyone yells at me, I may be missing a game or two(but not many) and the above overall records and some are locked on a 0.500 or better record versus D1 or League records.
By the way, the above listed non-EBAL teams are 4-11-0 versus the EBAL.
Lastly on Carondelet, subpar year for them but losing 4 returning starters at the start of the year to injuries and playing 15 games versus EBAL teams tough hill to climb. I give the Lady Cougs credit for keeping at it and improving over the year. Might even help the non-EBAL teams out with the 4th straight win over California tomorrow meaning Cal falls short by a game of qualifying.
February 6th, 2013 at 7:56 pm
I would commend carondelet for still competing after losing a couple key players at the beginning of the seaon
February 6th, 2013 at 9:21 pm
Just a heads up. I believe Piedmont girls just took the shoreline division and will get an automatic seed into NCS after win tonight.
February 6th, 2013 at 10:52 pm
Miramonte beat Las Lomas 2-0 so they are in.
Acalanes tied Alhambra they are at 9-9-5. If they play Concord on Saturday they need to win or tie to qualify.
Las Lomas is out.
Piedmont should be the highest seeded team west of the hills they played their D1 league opponents tough.
El Cerrito vs St Mary’s and Albany vs Hercules tomorrow. Winners play Saturday for league championship .
February 7th, 2013 at 12:21 am
So Acalanes is in then I assume? Disappointing on Las Lomas’s part.
February 7th, 2013 at 7:20 am
BigDog -
The CHS coaching staff have been around and around from league to league and they do recruit from their club teams, period. Is that a bad thing, I don’t know but it plays into the fair chances of other players from outside Mustang. Having said that it is not unique to CHS as most but not all other HS teams have the same bias when choosing players to start – boys and girls. I think a big issue is the club coaches are also coaching their local HS teams and that creates issues on many fronts for players / parents and then it carries over to club then back to HS and the cycle continues…..again this is not at every school and not every coach.
I hope everyone enjoys NCS it will be a great show as usual.
February 7th, 2013 at 9:37 am
The Coaching staff at CHS Rick and Rob aren’t that great of coaches. They have been lucky to coach players with load of talent and have gotten by on that alone. As far as them recruiting from the club they coach any decent player leaves impact soccer to play for a better club Mustang,DFC or Rage even west coast is taking the best players from impact. Truth is those guys have a few fans and a lot of people who can’t stand them. They have issues every year at Impact soccer parents constantly complaining to the league but somehow they manage to stay on at the league I’m sure finally people will get smart or they will move to another club for more money Rob follow Rick around like a puppy and does what he says while Rick gets to collect the money. They sit back on all the players that they claim they have helped get to the college level as if the parents or players don’t have anything to do with it. This is just another example of how soccer in America lacks true quality with people like Rick and Rob.
February 7th, 2013 at 11:07 am
Las Lomas didn’t schedule many non league cream puffs. Like Miramonte they played a limited schedule and were vulnerable to missing out on NCS even though they could beat half the teams that will make it.
February 7th, 2013 at 11:33 am
D II NCS seed predictions with a lot depending on El Cerrito-St. Mary’s and Albany-Hercules outcome.
#1 – BOD
#2 – Campolindo
#3 – Piedmont
#4 – Alhambra
#5 – Ygnacio Valley
#6 – Dublin
#7 – Albany, El Cerrito or St. Mary’s Winner in Finals
#8 – Albany, El Cerrito or St. Mary’s Loser in Finals
#9 – Miramonte
#10 – Northgate
#11 – El Cerrito or St. Mary’s loser in semi’s
#12 – Encinal
#13 – St. Patrick/St. Vincent
#14 – Acalanes
#15 – Moreau Catholic
#16 – Hercules or De Anza
Now maybe that will start some conversations. Picked Alhambra over Dublin because Alhambra beat Dublin twice in league. Ygnacio could be #4 seed, but toss-up between those three teams and St. Mary’s-Albany-El Cerrito league champ for #4 through #7 seeds. The next four seeds are pretty close, but Miramonte or Northgate probably deserve #9 and #10. Last 4 seeds are about right in some order or another. Agree that Las Lomas got the short end of the stick as Acalanes scheduled and beat a lot of D II teams (Pinole Valley, Irvington, Redwood Christian, Berean Christian, St. Patrick) and if they beat Concord to possibly qualify. Although Acalanes did beat Albany in the Tri-Valley Classic. Las Lomas did themselves no favors although they did beat Concord and YV, and tied Northgate they needed to schedule more games against other D II schools to offset their DFAL schedule. Good luck to all the teams that qualify for NCS. Brackets out on Sunday.
February 7th, 2013 at 1:42 pm
So if foothill ties or wins against Amador they qualify for NCS, but a loss and they are out since they will not have a .500 record in any of the 3 scenarios. Is that how it goes. Only if Newark would of played Foothill instead of not showing up this amador game might not of meant so much.
February 7th, 2013 at 1:56 pm
@ET
Unless the NCS website is incorrect, Irvington is not a D2 school. They are D1.
February 7th, 2013 at 2:25 pm
@MVAL
You are correct. I was just looking at the non-league teams that Acalanes played and beat to get to an overall .500 record or better to qualify. Acalanes still needs to tie or beat Concord to finish with an overall record at or better than .500. Although the Irvington win for Acalanes doesn’t count towards their record against D II opponents it does count towards their overall record. FYI, Acalanes has an overall record of 9-9-5 with a DFAL league record of 1-8-3. For comparison, Las Lomas has an overall record of 4-7-3 and a DFAL league record of 2-7-2. Both of Las Lomas’ league wins came against Acalanes………….
February 7th, 2013 at 5:22 pm
Bob, you are correct, for Foothill to get into NCS, they have to win or tie to stay 0.500 versus NCS D1 opponents. California must win over Carondelet to reach 0.500 and Granada must beat both Livermore tonight and Monte Vista in a league game makeup. Field issues caused the reschedule.
So looks like 17 teams now are qualified to file for NCS plus none up to three of the EBAL bubble teams.
February 7th, 2013 at 6:09 pm
So is Acalanes eligible or not? Because win that win against Irvington, they are below .500?
February 7th, 2013 at 6:53 pm
Soccer Fan, it looks like Acalanes is eligible for NCS based on their Overall Record of 9-9-4. Interestingly, they are 4-0-1 versus D1 teams with wins over Dougherty Valley (4-1), Antioch (6-2), Irvington (4-0) and Mission San Jose (1-0). The tie came against Dougherty Valley (1-1). So If I’m their HC when I file my application, I make I mention that my girls were undefeated versus D1 including beating 2 NCS D1 eligible teams.
February 7th, 2013 at 7:57 pm
California scores 2 late to beat Carondelet 2 to 1 so they’re eligible and in per my opinion.
February 7th, 2013 at 9:13 pm
Acalanes lost to College Park this season. Thank you for your rankings. CP played 5/10 of your ranking. 3-0-2 record. Maxpreps is updated and impressive for high flying falcons.
Don’t sleep on my sleeper YV. Senior MF Bonilla is talented and will propel the Warriors in D2. Maxpreps is not updated yet but shows a sea of goals scored.
CVCHS is weak offensively. They have the best kept secret in GK Megan Elms.
February 7th, 2013 at 9:32 pm
Foothill wins 2-1 over Amador making them a lock for NCS my guess 7-9 seed.
February 8th, 2013 at 12:03 am
@ SoccerFan
Just to be a little honest beating D1 isn’t as important as league and Division 2. It just helps when seeding 4th or 5th.
If De Anza and Hercules don’t have any more games left they should get in based off league records. Beating D1 teams doesn’t have a huge pull unless they are top teams and none of those wins are against quality D1 teams.
@ET looked over your rankings. Against D2 Schools:
Moreau 4-2-1 (should get in)
Acalanes 4-9-2 (Most significant wins against St. Pat/St. Vincent and Albany)
Hercules 9-7-1 (6-3 in league also should be a lock to get in)
De Anza 4-6-2 (4-4-2 in league)
I think your 16th seeds should be between Acalanes and De Anza. That would be a tough decision however if Acalanes goes over .500 overall or stays .500 I think their 2 big wins will carry them over into NCS as a 16th seed with a horrible 1-8-3 league record. You have Encinal rated far to low. Dublin have a far worse record in league and overall. Encinal with a tie to Berkeley and 1-0 losses to Piedmont and BOD they should be snug in the top 5 IMO. I think YV should be #4. I see why you placed Alhambra up so high but the loss to Miramonte and tie to Acalanes shows inconsistency, or the league is stronger than it appears on paper. I think Albany/St. Mary’s/ Encinal/ Alhambra/ Northgate will earn #5-9 and St. Pat at #10.
I don’t think the tournament determines automatic bid for the TCAL, if it’s the same as the guys. I heard they have a league winner already determined than play the tournament. Correct me if I am wrong.
February 8th, 2013 at 6:36 am
MVAL Alum… agree I’d rather win league or do really well in my division but from the committee’s standpoint if they have to break a “tie” between two teams to get into NCS and/or for seeding, playing “up” and going undefeated will have an influence.
In D1, Granada lost to Livermore so 2 of th 3 EBAL bubble teams should make it (California and Foothill) giving EBAL 5 teams in NCS.
February 8th, 2013 at 10:35 am
Unlike last year the west of the hill teams (other than BOD) did not win a single game vs their Valley cousins. Thus it is hard to seed Piedmont (best of the non BOD Bay teams) higher than #8. A loss to Miramonte sealed their fate. So just for fun…
#1 BOD
#2 Campo
#3-#5 Take your pick Alhambra, Dublin, Ygnacio Valley
#6 Miramonte
#7-#8 Northgate or Piedmont
#9 Winner of Albany El Cerrito
#10 Acalanes
#11 Loser Albany El Cerrito
#12-#14 Encinal, St Mary’s, Moreau take your pick
#15 SPSV
#16 Hercules
February 8th, 2013 at 3:24 pm
In reading some of the comments about CHS I have to pause. I would like someone to explain to me how a team with 15+ NPL players can’t reach a record of .500? Rick as a coach is all about Rick and NCS Championships. All you have to do is look up the word narcissist and it will all make sense. Anyone who believes Rick fielded the best players this year is badly misinformed. Rick knew at the beginning of the season who his starters where going to be and only kept the seniors to avoid the same backlash he experienced 6-years ago when he cut 5-seniors who had played their first 3-years to make room for freshman. Rick Morin could care less about the athletes, the team, the program or CHS. His training this year (or lack thereof) was a joke. No technical training at all, he just took the players he intended on playing, played them in games and the rest just stood around. I agree regarding the AD. This happened 6-years ago and there should have been some rules put in-place then to avoid the same experience this year. CHS has traditions, principals and expectations of ethical behavior that were not demonstrated by Rick or his assistants. NCS has rules by which coaches are to conduct themselves and clearly those were not followed either. If you don;t know what I mean look them up on the NCS website. It will be interesting to see whether or not CHS investigates this situation objectively and takes the appropriate action.
February 8th, 2013 at 3:49 pm
No chance on the AD doing anything just like previous bad hire coaches. Takes an entire season or more to get any results, usually blames the students. Over hall the AD office is the right result. They even eliminated cheer leaders for the DLS football teams 2 years ago over some rift and talking to cheerleader parents it was the AD, not DLS.
February 8th, 2013 at 5:07 pm
@ BigDog I think this year might be different? Worst record in years, no NCS berth, many parents upset… Some of these people posting can say what they want, problem is CHS wasn’t competitive all year and ALL the players never got a chance when the team clearly was not performing. “Competitive” sports means all players are allowed to “compete”, that is according to the NCS Coaches Code of Conduct. Now winning obviously wasn’t a priority this year, an NCS title down the road was, just like it was 6-years ago when 5-Seniors were cut to make room for 8-Freshman. New President at CHS and the Principal (LIBBY) was in the middle of the firestorm 6-years ago. I ran into one of the Administrators who was in the middle of this then and I can’t imagine Libby who was present will deny what happened. I think we should give the school the benefit of a doubt! I do believe they care about their students, I just don’t think they thought Rick would pull a stunt like this again. CHS is better than this and the AD knows that too…
February 8th, 2013 at 5:21 pm
@ DVAL Future Fan: do you know how many NPL 1 players are on the CHS roster that never got a chance to play? Do you honestly think 5-Freshman with 3-years less experience, who are smaller, not as quick or as strong can compete with many of the seniors on the other EBAL schools? There is no substitution for experience. Many of the mistakes made this year or the lack of ball control / first touch and be attributed to experience. Further because of the way this team was trained, i.e. 2-teams, they never gelled. Will these girls be great and competitive in EBAL down the road – absolutely. Were they this year – no… Let’s take a U19 NPL 1 Team and let them play a U15 NPL 1 Team and see what happens?
February 8th, 2013 at 6:14 pm
Nitro…were you at the game yesterday when CHS was in complete control with 10 to play over Cal and Rick brought in the Seniors? That should tell you all you need to know.
So tired of the crap that has happened this year….all drawn out by dillousional parents. Rick played his best squad, consistently made changes at positions where he felt they could be better and grinder all the way to the last games in an effort to get to NCS. Im guessing he may manage future years rosters differently after the crap he went through. Enough of the slamming…its a freakin high school sport…get over it
February 8th, 2013 at 6:28 pm
Acalanes cancelled their game against Concord Saturday for “injuries” according to the Concord coach.
February 8th, 2013 at 6:40 pm
@RUKidding… So what players were playing in what positions when the goals were scored last night? Who was playing defense and who was the GK? Were the goals scored against the players who hadn’t seen much playing time or players who had? Rick played the best squad – give me a break? Many of the players were never given an opportunity in training or in games all year. I doubt he will manage the roster any differently unless CHS mandates it. This season got away from CHS BECAUSE of the players Rick played. With the worst season in 10+ years you want to make a case the best players were on the field and that Rick made good coaching decisions? The record did not boil down to 1-game, or 1-half. CHS likely won’t make NCS because of a season, not because of “delusional parents”. No slamming here, so if you can’t take the discussion you shouldn’t engage.
February 8th, 2013 at 7:11 pm
With carondelet out, what EBAL teams will be in ncs?
February 8th, 2013 at 7:16 pm
One additional comment from a “delusional” parent. I think the players who played have a future at CHS and will all be ready to play someday. I was in no way “slamming” those players, only legitimately engaging in comments made by a RUKidding that I disagree with. So no disrespect towards any player or their efforts. I just think this season was a waste because of many coaching decisions that had nothing to do with the players, the program or the school. The players that were never given a shot cannot be judged the way RUKidding stated. There were only a couple of Seniors brought in and they were in positions that did not impact the outcome in any way, so to suggest otherwise is simply… well I will leave it at that…
February 8th, 2013 at 7:22 pm
Sounds like CHS has serious drama. I hope for that fine school and program that these folks are graduating.
I wouldn’t be surprised if players go back to their intended HS.
February 8th, 2013 at 7:35 pm
Only drama from a few….I know exactly who was on the field….the season is done and it is completely unfortunate that a few bad apples had to spoil a competetive season. Yes competitive….CHS played 20 Games…19 against quality D1 opponents and the last against a D2 opponent that is going to be a top seed that the girls handled easily. One blowout game vs the best team in Norcal (SRV) and wins against MV, Logan, and draws against Amador and Cal Ricks biggest issue was the fact that he didnt have a less difficult schedule that would have given the girls confidence and let the less skilled girls a bit more playing time. I agree with one point you make…the practice situation was not very good. No field time and little organization….NUFF said…move on
February 8th, 2013 at 8:11 pm
Wow didn’t realize this was a “reality blog”. Bottomline is it was an unusual year for CHS after 9 straight years in NCS, the last in the semis and a championship. Over those 9 years, CHS has won over 70% of it’s games. Yes there were multiple injuries to returning starters, a few freshman who played (think Monte Vista won it all last year playing loads of freshman) and a few seniors who were first time varsity players. Guess I’m confused, some seem to think you play the best you’ve got and try to win, some think you should play only the upper clansman no matter what (hold hands and sing and have fun). By the way, those “8 freshman who displaced seniors a few years ago had the best winning % over 4 years in CHS history and won an NCS title”.
But either way, here’s the deal, any team from anywhere is WELCOME to sit 4 of the starters on the bench and come over to EBAL and play 14 games and see how you do. In fact, bring all you got (get up early, pack a lunch and bring help) and come get you some. See how do then talk. Or do what some teams do, avoid the EBAL like the plague, run up a “big” record and PRAY the committee seeds so you won’t see an EBAL team. It will be tough since the EBAL teams owns 30 of 31 NCS championships.
February 8th, 2013 at 8:17 pm
By the way, for those who don’t know, CHS doesn’t have a field, they use DLS when they can and find other places as best they can. No excuse, they’ve done it forever, but it does make training and having lots of new faces playing together for the first time just a bit tougher.
February 8th, 2013 at 10:41 pm
Anybody care to put up their top 16 for NCS d1???
February 8th, 2013 at 10:54 pm
Nice try… The conditions at CHS relative to fields, playing in EBAL have been the same for years. Fields had nothing to do as to why the team never gelled. Problem for all is no one will really know what the outcome would have been if all players at CHS were given a chance to play and Rick truly played the best players. I like your point regarding the Freshman class that eventually won NCS a few years back. Problem with that statement is those players didn’t win their Freshman, Sophomore or Junior years so I suppose for some of you that justified cutting the Seniors regardless of talent. Too bad you really don’t get the value in treating all players with the respect most have earned which is what competitive sports is all about, especially at CHS. Rick made up his mind who he was going to play regardless and everyone will have to live with his choices. No drama here, as Sargent Joe Friday used to say “just the facts ma’am”. Anyone on this blog who thinks CHS was competitive in the majority of their games their season should stick to Futbol spelled Football. This thread just illustrates the season at CHS, the problem for Rick and those who support him is that pesky record. Can’t run and hide from that now can you…
February 9th, 2013 at 1:29 am
Wow!
@nitro: can you explain to the blog how you have this great insight into the CHS program? Are you a parent of a current player? Are you a parent of a cut player? Did your kid not play a lot? Were you at every practice to see the coaches in action? Did you attend tryouts to see personally the difference in ability? More so, how different would the season of been with these “cut” players? Did you attend multiple schools to see how all the programs are run?
Soccerfan is right, MV won last year with 8 freshmen. To do that, seniors & juniors were passed over or cut. The foothill program has done the same in recent years going with higher number of freshmen players at the expense of seniors/juniors. They won EBAL but never managed a NCS title. The Castro Valley team that won NCS was the same. Strong group of frosh that finally won as seniors. Before that, MV did it again with 7 freshmen. Even SRV has done it, seven years ago, with the first of their four straight – the fab five freshmen that started it all. (at the time, coach Jones got some heat for the selection…now he’s the most successful coach/program in recent history – 7 straight NCS finals, 4NCS titles)
High School soccer has a lot of luck to it. Don’t kid yourself into thinking otherwise. Unlike club, you are restricted to what players are in your school zone. Some years you will get a lot of talent , other years not so much. So what do you do if one year you have one class 1/ECNL player in the program, then next season you get seven stud class 1/ECNL freshmen (same club team)? Do you take them all on Varsity, don’t make any cuts and carry a larger squad? That leads to unhappy people complaining about playing time. Do you cut upperclassmen & bring the freshmen up? Leads to unhappy players cut. Do you not take the freshmen? Leads to unhappy players who know they are better than varsity players, a really good JV team that blows away the competition but doesn’t actually improve because of the lack of competition and, a weaker varsity team. Do you only bring some of the freshmen up? Leads to unhappy parents who think their kid is begetter than their peer, splits teammates up..
Also, a freshmen female is more likely to be able to handle playing varsity soccer than a freshmen boy. Sure, not all but many. Nitro brought up the time CHS cut seniors to place 9 freshmen on the team. He said the coach learned from that & kept the seniors this time. So he got heat for cutting seniors and now he’s getting heat for keeping them?!? Talk about a lose lose situation.
If you think disgruntled parents/players are restricted to CHS and all other schools are great, think again. Every school has a parent/player who either thinks they should of made varsity, should be playing more, the team should be more successful, should play this person in this position, the coach is too mean (we live in a way too sensitive time), too soft, etc. As a coach it is IMPOSSIBLE to keep everyone happy. Go to any school & ask the parents to rank the top 10 players on the team (go to Cal or MV, their parents seem to be most vocal during games). You may get a consensus one or two, but most likely you will have multiple variations. Every player, every parent, every bystander has an opinion. That’s what makes this game great – moving parts, varied opinions.
*for the record (and as I asked Nitro to come forth), I am not a parent of a HS player at any school. My daughter played varsity 2 seasons ago (not at CHS) but now watch my neighbors kids play (one at SRV, on at CHS). I have seen 13 of the 14 EBAL play days & watched every EBAL team (& listened to the parents of each school).
February 9th, 2013 at 1:49 am
@soccer frau
Piedmont won their division and will get an automatic bid to NCS as a league winner. That’s why they shouldn’t drop below #5. I agree those loses didn’t help but Alahambra didn’t handle bottom teams in their own division also and didnt win league. It’ll be interesting to see what comes out.
February 9th, 2013 at 2:02 am
According to one of the Concord coaches, Acalanes cancelled on them as of today because of injuries…
This means Acalanes will be a top12 seed
February 9th, 2013 at 6:28 am
D1 automatics
BVAL – Heritage
DVAL – College Park
EBAl – SRV
MVAL – James Logan
February 9th, 2013 at 8:32 am
@HSJ
Well said…
@David
Here’s my prediction for D1 entrants and rankings. What do you think, close or out of my mind???
1. San Ramon
2. Monte Vista
3. Berkeley
4. Castro Valley
5. Amador Valley
6. College Park
7. Cal
8. Logan
9. Foothill
10. Heritage
11. Washigton
12. Freedom
13. Liberty
14. Doughtery Valley
15. American
16. Deer Valley
February 9th, 2013 at 8:36 am
HSJ – Let’s just say I have a wee bit of experience relative to CHS and to observe games from a coaching perspective. Am I aware of how try-outs and training went; yes. Let me offer you a couple of examples; 1) 6-years ago Rick pulled the same stunt. Cutting Seniors to play Freshman that were not ready their Freshman year. Did these players eventually become ready and win an NCS Title yes! Like I wrote I do believe the current Freshman players will be ready to play against other EBAL players down the road. Rick’s goal is pretty transparent and to suggest many of us are simply “disgruntled” is a way to simply the discussion and turn the focus on the parents instead of a coach and a season. 2) There are excepted methods of training and that starts with training sessions being “competitive”, which by the way is required of all High School Coaches (read the NCS Code of Conduct for Coaches). Each training session all players should enter that session with an expectation of competing for starting positions and playing time. This creates a much more aggressive, competitive training session (read Anson Dorrance) The training sessions included no technical training whatsoever and just involved “games” when the theme of the training was never communicated. Ever attended a college training session? Technical, tactical, small sided games and full scrimmage. College coaches never “assume” players are fully developed and don’t require on-going technical training. Being the expert you are; how do your rate CHS 1st touch this season? Also during training the team was separated into (2) groups; the players who started and were rotated and they players who weren’t. Teams will NEVER gell this way! The entire season Rick started the same players (with a very few exceptions) and rotated the same players. The “other” group of players often went multiple games without being given a opportunity regardless of when players were consistently getting beat or were not effective when they had the ball. This process continued during warm-ups when the team was separated. Now if want to know why the team never gelled, you should understand why. How do you think the players who weren’t in the regular rotation felt during training and during pre-game warm-up being separated. Does the work humiliated come to mind? Probably not for you. 3) If you were at the games and paid any attention to any of the 1-v-1′s you would have taken notice that often we were out-sized, clearly out-skilled and we lacked experience. I would suggest we lost well over 50% of CHS 1-v-1′s and 50/50 balls. Example; how often was CHS successful mounting counter attacks, maintaining ball possession for more than 2-3 players? Possession is key in any soccer game and CHS simply wasn’t successful with possession. How often did CHS just boot the ball out of the back instead of hitting players to feet, or for that matter how many times did players show for passes or anticipate the counter and get open? Again an experience issue not playing at this level and just REACTING under pressure. If you read the paper every week and looked at the number of saves CHS GK had verses CHS opponents you could only conclude CHS defense was ineffective stopping their opponents taking shots on frame and conversely CHS attacks did not result in too many shots on frame. 4)When you look at the games in EBAL CHS beat Livermore 2X and Granada 1X (Granada on a late PK), otherwise the other games were for the most part not competitive. Did CHS have moments; yes. Was CHS ever successful putting together a “game”; no. 4) I have read the “lack of talent” comment many times. How do you explain players on the bench who never had a chance to play, being members of National Premier 1 Teams, who started consistently, being signed to play in college. In (1) case I am aware of a player was pursued by (3) D1 schools and (3) D2 schools? Is Rick better at evaluating talent that Head College Coaches who success keeping their jobs doesn’t depend on a relationship with an AD but rather results EVERY YEAR? Look if you or anyone else wants to make excuses for this season and support Rick for whatever reason that’s fine, however when you look closely at the games and the results there are no excuses for what happened other than Rick’s decision to re-build for another NCS title. Now you can make a case that’s ok, however the problem is that is not what High School Sports is all about, in-particular at CHS where the standards for students, teachers and coaches is higher. Ladiser would never consider throwing away a season for another championship for the very reason he was as successful as he was – because he cares about his athletes as individuals and us committed to their personal development not only as a team but also as individuals. There is no legitimate argument based on facts, metrics or just based on objective, reasonable observation that can explain this season as being acceptable. CHS every year has as much talent as any other team in EBAL. From year-to-year there are exceptional players that can make a difference during a season but for CHS to finish where they did there is no excuse.
February 9th, 2013 at 9:38 am
@BVAL Fan could you please why you have cal above foothill when foothill did better during league?
February 9th, 2013 at 9:39 am
*explain why
February 9th, 2013 at 11:03 am
Nitro – interesting… 1) since you’ve quoted Joe Friday and we all know he’d want to facts, the prior “stunt” of bringing in freshman (7 from the Mustang Earthquakes) who “didn’t win” until they were seniors… the team they were on went 17-2-5 in the 1st year (undefeated BVAL champs) but yes they lost in NCS to eventual NCS champ SRV (2-1), Year 2 and after joining EBAL, they went 12-8-2 (4th in EBAL) and lost to Castro Valley (0-2) in NCS, Year 3 they went 14-4-4 (won EBAL) with SRV advancing on PKs in the NCS semis then in Year 4 they went 19-2-3 (won 2nd EBAL title) and beat SRV 1-0 in the NCS final. All total, these freshman who didn’t win went 62-16-14 collecting 3 league titles, 4 NCS appreances and a NCS title. 2)As for how Anson Dorrance who do it (totally fine if becomes the new CAR HC by the way), you’re right CAR has probably never followed NC’s training regime but, to be fair, what you describe would be easier if you had a field to train rather than the tennis court or at 6:30 AM beforfe school on DLS’ field and, as for groupoing players by those who start or are expected to play versus those who are not expected, this is normal for teams (I played football (would have sucked as soccer) in both HS and in the SEC and there were times I was left out during practice or told to go practice with the back-ups who weren’t expected to play. The best approach, no, but that’s the way it goes. BTW, works that way in D1 soccer too… even at NC. 3) As for the games, yes, I saw several too (along with all of the EBAL teams and a few others from around the area), there were “flashes” of good soccer and many moments of “not so much”. As for coaching decisions, yeah (as always) a few WTFs. Still think injuries to 4 main contributers to last year’s team that 13-4-6 and lost in the NCS semis to MV, lots of new faces (FR and otherwise) made this tougher and, to be honest, this year’s team didn’t have the depth of talent as some other years. CAR does get some good talent but no where near an SRV or MV who are flooded with MSC players (SRV is all or close to all MSC players with 14, yes 14, committed to collleges the like of Stanford, UCLA and Cal). As for the “Coach Lad” reference, wonder if he would coach soccer, it soprt of like football? Bottom-line is a tough and unusual year for CAR (in fairness to the coaches, they are 128-42-31 with 8 NCS appreances, 5 league titles and an NCS championship over their 9 seasons at CAR and I know allot of young ladies who had a fun time along the way and still stop by to see the coaches). Tough and lsoing years only makes the grousing which happens every year in every program only louder and more noticable. Wonder if Caoch Lad would have been forced to retire if DLS hadn’t won the state yet again, their 20th or 21st NCS title or, heaven forbid, not made NCS? He would have been too old, too senile, out-of-touch with today’s youth and behind the times with that simple veer offense. And yes, with a son who was blessed to have played for him, there was grousing every year.
Soccer Mom… BVAL Fan is doing something scary and hard, trying to put teams in seeding order. I do agree I’d have Foothill above California since they were 4th in the EBAL and have a win and tie over California. All 5 EBAL teams should be in the Top 8 seeds in my opinion.
February 9th, 2013 at 11:40 am
Thank you soccer fan, im sure its not easy to seed all these great teams!
February 9th, 2013 at 11:55 am
Foothill in top 8??? Lost to Freedom, 2nd BVAL , tied Washington ?? Just sayin
February 9th, 2013 at 12:17 pm
Happy, Happy, Happy… its what makes it tough to seed these teams after the first few. Foothill played 12 teams in the NCS D1 field (60% of their games): Wins over Liberty (2-0), Amador Valley (2-1) and California (2-1), losses to Freedom (0-1), Amador Valley (0-3), Monte Vista (1-2) and SRV twice (0-3 and 0-1) and ties with Washington (2-2), Castro Valley (1-1), Monte Vista (1-1), California (0-0). Closed strong over last third of the season with a 4-2-1 record beating California and Amador Valley to get into NCS.
Thought Freedom won BVAL or was it Heritage?
February 9th, 2013 at 12:18 pm
Anybody know the results of the Berkeley – Castro Valley game yesterday?
February 9th, 2013 at 12:54 pm
cutting seniors who have played 3 years should not be an option at ANY school. If those seniors were not qualified, then they should have never made the team.
It sends a bad message and is destructive, we are dealing with 16-17 yr olds and if they have dreams to play college and can play some level of college, they should not be cut. An example, EBAL, DFAL and privates have a lot of money, dont fool yourself. You cant tell me a coach cant keep a couple more seniors on the squad who have given 3 years of their high school career. Whats the differance if you keep 20 or 24? Dont give me the old coach crap its too hard to coach and practice more players. When injuries occur, those extra can become valuable. CHS coach didnt loose this year because of seniors kept on, he lost because of organization skills and overall talent. The players he started over the seniors lost the majority of those games. If MV does the same thing, shame on them.
DLS does not cut on varsity football. Lad did not beleive in it. If you are good enough to cut the mustard thru all the conditioning, pratice, etc. for 3 years you make the team. The value of reserves really has shown at DLS over the years. Basically, you cut yourself if you cant do it. I see these soceer players sticking it out and did not give up, they didnt cut themselves. They obviously have some very good skills. Nitro has some good points and some inside info, all I know is that this has happened on more than several occasions at CHS. Get it fixed, there is room for reserves and ALL the freshman stars dont need to be on varsity EVERY year, the freshman who dont get a lot of playing time could play JVS, I would rather play than sit the bench. Soceer is full of politics, not only parents but coaches too. These off campus coaches are put up on pedestials, its all about winning and not teaching the sport or life lessons. When I was in school, we respected the coaches, however the problem coaches(there were not many) were dealt with. We didnt run to mom and dad. A coach who knows he is disliked and not cutting it knew to step away or get stepped on. Lets face it, a very few coaches know how to pick on players and force them out, they have favorites too and some didnt like ANY pushback from players, you basically could not defend yourself and a very few coaches were bullies.
Today, little accountability for off campus coaches and what the schools pay, the adminstration is afraid to mess with some. I am sure we will hear from how they dont get paid, long hours, family time, etc. then dont do it. Get some grads who played at a high level, they will connect just as well or better with kids.
February 9th, 2013 at 1:24 pm
@Soccerfan – interesting you keep looking back and not focusing on this season. I have been asking myself why in the past 24-hours I am responding to this thread? Fact is a parent just forwarded me the link a few days ago and it wasn’t until I read some knucklehead parent write “lack of talent” that I decided to engage. I guess I am defending the talent that never got a chance to show what they had to offer and worse were humiliated all season by these coaches. For the record many of the parents who had daughters who were playing were questioning the same thing because they could see the lack of results. This team wasn’t the team Rick had 6-years ago and he should have figured that out in the beginning of the season. You keep trying to make a case his decision to play the freshman this year was justified because of the success Rick had in the past, or in the decisions other teams migth have made. In my judgement every team is unique and great coaches figure out how to leverage that teams unique gifts and strengths. How many soccer games have you observed where the team with the lesser talent prevails because of teamwork and desire. When things started going wrong in the beginning of the season I didn’t see much adjustment. Rick started with 4-losses, a win and then went 1-4-2 with minimal adjustments. You failed to address my comments about his training strategies, how the team was managed, vis-a-vis the separation of the teams and the lack of results from the starters, specifically on the scoring side of the game? I received a daily report on exactly what happened in training so don’t make assumptions I don’t know what I am talking about. The other point I think you are missing is the impact all this had on all the players… A coaches ultimate responsibility is to the development of the player and to figure out how to get the most out of each player. Even the best players have off games and all teams experience injuries at this level so developing your 2nd team is just as important as your first team. If you think that happened, think again. The teams you mentioned in the past were benefited by the training and the talent developed at the club level, not in High School. You also failed to address my comments about NPL 1 players who sat while many of the less experienced players failed to perform. My previous comment is in no way being critical of those players, but rather an example of a coach refusing to make adjustments when it was clear what he was doing wasn’t working. Was this ego or a lack of ability? I have no clue? Are you suggesting the talent that WAS on the field was so bad the team wasn’t capable of finishing better than 2-9-2 in EBAL? I am not… There is a fundamental difference between talent and experience and especially when team perform together as a TEAM. You and others used examples of High School Teams using more-and-more Freshman, case in-point Monte Vista. Does that somehow justify leaving players on the bench when the players on the field are getting the job done? All the comparisons don’t excuse what happened this season. I feel like I am speaking Italian to people who only speak German so I think I am going to move on. Not to sound condescending but soccer parents should stick to being soccer parents and not speculate on coaches decisions because you simply lack the experience and more likely the objectivity to offer useful commentary. Now if you think that applies to me so be it. If you think it doesn’t apply to you so be it. To the parent who “called me out earlier” – thank you for taking me back to Jr. High to re-live some of those experiences…
February 9th, 2013 at 1:32 pm
Soccer fan, agreed dificult to seed 4-12, at the same time with due respect to EBAL blanket statements that all should be top 8 is reaching this year.
I believe heritage finished 7-1-2, freedom 6-0-4,
Also CV beat Berkeley I think, not confirmed. As some teams max preps update slow to non existent.
February 9th, 2013 at 1:35 pm
It sounds like the real problem at CHS isn’t coaching or all the wonderful skilled national pool players it’s the parents…..right?
Somebody mentioned it earlier that coaching in EBAL now is 10% coaching and 90% taking crap from parents.
February 9th, 2013 at 1:47 pm
I always read your blog Matt, but these comments – this kind of banter is not what I want to read!
February 9th, 2013 at 1:58 pm
The problem at CHS has never been parents. They have very little push back, in fact the parents have always arranged most of the teams transportation, food, housing out of town, uniforms, equipment, etc. and usually at a very organized level. They deserve more credit on the organizations of some of these teams than the coaches. Over the years, very few parents had discussions with CHS coaches. Those coaches were mosly fair and ran their teams with respect. I remember a JV basketball coach who cut almost the entire frosh basketball team the following year so he could only keep 8 players!!! The off campus bad hires dont care. The problem is the AD allowing some of the activities that have taken place there. How about hiring a track coach who didnt even know track? Cross-country- a once proud program in a shamples, kids didnt want to go out, it gets around school. How about hiring a waterpolo coach who had never coached or played, experience was coaching an inner-tube children’s water polo team. The elimanation of the cheerleading squads at DLS football games several years back. Remember, parents expect a better deal than that, tuition is $ 13 k plus. It’s an easy turn around, make changes and get the adminstration on board, like they do at DeLaSalle. Nuff said.
February 9th, 2013 at 2:19 pm
Thanks Happy… the score I was missing for Freedom is from Tuesday versus Liberty. Must have been a tie which means Heritage wins BVAL by a point. Agree and, to be honest, hard to seed much past SRV which I’m confident will the #1 seed. Good news is they’ll 16 teams in and only 3 that I think are qualified left out.
Nitro… agree with in letting the coaches coach, the players play and the parents be parents. No clue on why a NPL 1 player would sit while others play.
As for looking back and justifying freshman or anything else only trying to point out that to be fair to anyone have to look over a period of time and not give too much or too little credit. Seems to me the coach should pick the best players he or she can, do his or her best to train and develop them (or not screw them up if come already trained from club) and put the best team on the field and try to win. Even doing this there will be critics as those of us who have had daughters play in HS and now in college are biased and always know better or have a suggestion. Makes it tough to be a coach.
February 9th, 2013 at 2:31 pm
@DVAL Fan these coaches haven’t heard a word from any of the parents about squat, not would I waste my time regardless. This thread started because of an obvious CHS parent making a comment about “lack of talent” and went downhill from there. Fact is the parents have been more respectful then they should have given the circumstances. Next time you choose to speculate and take shots at anyone you should try and get your facts straight first. The coaches make all the decisions without any input from anyone so care to explain your ridiculous statement about 10% coaching and 90% taking crap from parents? You can’t… It was a juvenile statement on your part and hardly warrants a reaction – my bad! This is one of the problems in-general, no one wants to take responsibility for anything… This season is 90% on the coaches and 10% on the AD. Next year or in years to come it will be 100% AD if this happens again… These girls and the team are better than this.
February 9th, 2013 at 2:35 pm
@big Dog – can you identify all the qualified on-campus staff (for all sports) & give the list to the AD? If you can’t find a qualified on campus coach, have the AD remove the sport from the athletic program.
February 9th, 2013 at 3:16 pm
@BVAL fan
You did well. I feel that most of teams in your rank are deserving of a spot. I do Agee that perhaps foothill should be a higher seed than cal high. Foothill is a much more rounded team than cal. Foothill had a few un lucky results but cal is much more inconsistent. Also College park, although a league champ, may not have had as strong as schedule as others, Logan may deserve a higher seed than college park. Overall though I like your input.
As far as CHS conversation is concerned I’d like to say that every school is entitled to handle the program as they wish and poor performances by traditionally strong programs usually spark debate, specially in school where keeping parents “happy” may be a norm. CHS will be back to doing ther thing and everyone with a negative input about their 12-13 season will be back to singing praises. Fair weather fans reflect negatively on a program it’s beast to remain positive as our young athletes need parent support in their time of struggles. Placing the blame or looking for excuses sends the wrong message. There’s lessons in the game and overcoming adversity and struggles is the most valuable one in high school sports.
February 9th, 2013 at 3:47 pm
Logan should not be seated that much higher than Washington High just because they barely won MVAL. Yes, Washington had 2 off games that ended up to be the deciding factor but Logan never did beat them. In fact, Washington beat Logan(4-1) and tied Logan (1-1). Washington actually almost beat them again in the second game when they scored their second goal but was called back (the ref called off sides on a throw in play). Anyways, good luck to all teams in NCS.
February 9th, 2013 at 4:22 pm
#84, you call a qualified off campus coach hired with no coaching experience justified? If there are no on-campus personal interested or qualified then you of course go off campus with experience, better pay and expectations of behavior and organization before you hire. Why would a parent(s) do the AD job? The AD is getting paid very well to make the correct decisions.
Get the best coach in the school and make them the AD too and give them a raise. No need to remove any sports, remove the cause, the AD. What a moronic statement.
February 9th, 2013 at 4:38 pm
Nitro- It sounds like you have been around the cause of the problem at CHS more than I have so I’ll leave it to you to handle. Best of luck to the CHS players.
February 9th, 2013 at 4:55 pm
Anyone know today’s Deer Valley – Liberty result? Think they played at Noon.
February 9th, 2013 at 6:12 pm
4-0 deer valley wins
February 9th, 2013 at 7:17 pm
I believe the score was – Deer Valley 4 – Liberty 0
February 9th, 2013 at 7:40 pm
Anyone know how to contact NCS or CIF regarding an issue I have with teams lying on their application?
February 9th, 2013 at 7:40 pm
@MVAL fan very true! However, the seeding committee does not take that into consideration. When it’s all said and done College Park and Logan both won their leagues. The quality of those teams is debatable and their results may even be considerd luck. the head to head results between Logan and Washington are indicative of the stronger team, however Logan seemed to establish more dominance since they did not struggle with any other MVAL opponent. You are right Logan should
Not be ranked much higher than Washington but Logan should be ahead of college park.
February 9th, 2013 at 7:43 pm
Nitro…in post 83 you say you are only commenting on this thread because an “obvious CHS parent making a comment about “lack of talent” ” If you look back up, that comment was made by DVAL Future Fan in post 21. If you follow this blog you know that DVAL has no affiliation with CHS. Not sure why you have put yourself out there on a ledge for someone who is not a parent but gets daily reports on training and has intimate knowledge of all the “bad blood” on the team
February 9th, 2013 at 9:03 pm
Soccer Fan, what’s up with the applications?
February 9th, 2013 at 10:19 pm
@big dog…no, the moronic statement is saying coaches should come from on campus staff.
February 10th, 2013 at 9:02 am
@Soccer Mom
My ranking of Cal over Foothill purely subjective on my part. Watched both teams play (1 game each vs BVAL teams) and thought Cal was the better team. Obviously watching just one game isn’t a good indicator so would leave to the EBAL followers for better opionions/rankings.
@Soccerfan, @Happy,Happy,Happy, @David
Agreed difficult to seed past #4/#5 as one could make a case for each team for seeds #6 thru #12. I’ve revised my rankings below based on opinions listed above and also giving the league winners with good overall records a higher seed. Actual seeding should be released later tonight so we’ll see…
@Soccer Dad, @BVAL Standings
Did either of you watch the Deer Valley vs. Liberty game? Curious what happended to Liberty, did they give up during game or just get outplayed? Not surprsisng DV won, but score is a little surprising.
1. San Ramon
2. Monte Vista
3. Castro Valley
4. Berkeley
5. Amador Valley
6. Logan
7. College Park
8. Heritage
9. Foothill
10. Cal
11. Washigton
12. Freedom
13. American
14. Deer Valley
15. Liberty
16. Clayton Valley
February 10th, 2013 at 9:17 am
@ Nitro…..
Again…I am not close enough to the CHS program to comment on the specifics of coaching decisions, players who played vs those that didn’t , practice conditions, etc. But, as a guy who has coached high school soccer for some 20+ years I can tell you that the CHS parents (and players) have been absolutely spoiled over the past 10 years to have had such quality players all assembled on one team, year after year. Set the coach aside…a blind and deaf man could coach all of that talent and win way more than he loses. I would suggest these spoiled, private school parents try and go watch a Livermore, or a Granada, et al on a consistent basis to get the REAL perspective on “competition” and “competitiveness”. Those schools have athletes that bust their butts year after year and LOSE 80-90% of their games…so don’t go crying about your one anamoly season on not making it to NCS. That falls on deaf ears. And by the way….you are wrong on your definition on “competitive”. It does mean playing all of your players equally and giving everyone a “chance” JUST because they have played for a certain number of years. That is BS club philosophy…”we are all paying all this money so our little Susie should get to play as much as little Cindy”. That is BS. The BEST players play. Always been that way, always will be that way…always should be that way. In my vast experience, I am many other coaches have learned one valuable thing about high school soccer parents…the only one who DON’T complain are the parents of the kids who DO play. Nuff said.
February 10th, 2013 at 9:18 am
@ Nitro…I meant it DOES NOT mean playing all of your players equally. Corrected.
February 10th, 2013 at 9:19 am
Doesn’t look like American applied, I would add Dougherty Valley to the mix
February 10th, 2013 at 9:27 am
@ BigDog…I must laugh. You say “cutting seniors who have played 3 years in the program should not happen at ANY school”. That is TOO funny. So, if I have 5 Seniors who can’t kick the ball, completely freeze up when they get in the game, have ZERO composure, and are not Varsity level players, I should just keep them because?? I just threw up in my mouth. I guess I would do all of that if I didn’t want to win.
February 10th, 2013 at 10:33 am
@Top of the box; I wish I could write slower… You obviously missed the point. What I have been consistently suggesting is the best players WERE NOT ON THE FIELD, but rather players Rick was trying to give playing time to develop a team for a future NCS Title down the road. What other reasonable explanation could there be to continue playing these players when the team was clearly not competitive or productive? No parent I know expected “Suzie” to get any playing time, but rather Suzie that just got her opportunity to “compete”.
No matter what excuses some people want to come up with; lack of talent or past coaching successes for example, CHS record would suggest the team was not competitive this year. Now if people want to make a case the talent on the bench was less, I would like that person to explain how that claim could be made when those players never were given a “competitive” opportunity. Like I wrote; in training players who were not in the rotation were separated from Rick’s “Fab 15″ and were NEVER allowed to compete. I want to be clear out of respect to all the players on the team, I think there is incredible talent on this team that should have been competitive in EBAL THIS YEAR, including the players who did play. I can think of a few who played virtually every minute who worked their butts off and played really-really well. Would CHS have won league? We will never know because Rick had other priorities. It all begins in training and that is where a “team” is developed. Had their been “competitive” training and the girls had the opportunity to train against each other the way 90+% of the coaches plan training sessions, I believe the talent would have stood out and the look on the field would have been much different.
I received a call from a former parent this morning who has relocated out-of-state who is reading this thread… I can only hope the AD is as well because this is out-of-control and frankly an embarrassment to CHS, but a predictable reaction to what is a really bad situation. People have said many times nothing will be done about this and that too is sad because most parents of Girls club players I know have no expectations beyond High School and/or College because there are obviously no pro-girls teams. Our expectations are that our daughters learn life lessons about competition, hard work, commitment, passion, overcoming adversity and teamwork on the pitch. Trying to make lemonade out of this lemon will sound something like “life isn’t always fair no matter how hard you have worked”. Too bad it came at the expense of some really talented athletes at an institution who one would expect to take reasonable steps to protect it’s students instead of an AD turning her back on her students? Anyone who has been around CHS for years or in the area knows “controversy” has surrounded these coaches for years.
A year to remember for sure…
February 10th, 2013 at 11:19 am
NCS D1 Bracket is out:
#1 – San Ramon Valley (EBAL)
#2 – Monte Vista (EBAL)
#3 – Berkeley (WACC-FH)
#4 – Castro Valley (WACC-FH)
#5 – Amador Valley (EBAL)
#6 – College Park (DVAL)
#7 – Foothill (EBAL)
#8 – California (EBAL)
#9 – Logan (MVAL)
#10 – Washington (MVAL)
#11 – Heritage (BVAL)
#12 – Freedom (BVAL)
#13 – Dougherty Valley (DFAL)
#14 – Clayton Valley (DVAL)
#15 – Deer Valley (BVAL)
#16 – Liberty (BVAL)
Congrats to these teams and hoping all of the ladies play their best soccer of the year.
February 10th, 2013 at 11:30 am
So… Wednesday (all at 7 PM except DV – MV which is at 5 PM):
#16 – Liberty @ #1 – San Ramon Valley
#15 – Deer Valley @ #2 – Monte Vista
#14 – Clayton Valley @ #3 – Berkeley
#13 – Dougherty Valley @ #4 Castro Valley
#12 – Freedom @ #5 – Amador Valley
#11 – Heritage @ #6 – College Park
#10 – Washington @ #7 – Foothill
#8 – California @ #9 – Logan*
* – Logan gets the home game as a league champ.
February 10th, 2013 at 11:31 am
You threw up in your mouth because of your ignorance. Seniors who have been in the program for 3 years know how to kick balls and not freeze up. Anyone playing club soceer and playing on EBAL type teams has talent. I also said there was room on teams for a couple extra players if they have been in the program in the past. Now you can throw up in the toilet over your brains.
February 10th, 2013 at 11:39 am
HJS- I said on campus coaches can have more understanding of the students and situations. I also said if on campus not qualified go get off campus with high expectations and understanding of the school and students. It;s all about the AD making good hires. I don;t have any daughters playing soceer, but I know plenty about some ex-coaches and the AD to make my comments which have been echoed and surpressed over the years. So if you don;t have any connections to the problems, bow out.
February 10th, 2013 at 11:42 am
Congratulations to all of the High School Teams that made NCS!
February 10th, 2013 at 11:50 am
Top of the Box- CHS parents aren’t spoiled and all the kids on any team have a very good degree of talent, if not they cut themselves. Also most of their bench would start on the teams you mentioned and bye the way little suzies don;t exist at CHS nor any other EBAL squads, for that matter any squads that have very good talent. Little suzies usually move to another field of play or activity. I remember CHS swimming having 80 swimmers on the squads. You didn’t join the swim team to learn to swim or learn to swim competivately, you joined because that’s what you did for a reasonable long time. That’s the greatness of swimming, everyone competes and everyone feels good about themselves. The entire point being made is that they had another year of conflict with the soceer program and that should not exist. Another coach mentioned that it’s 90% politics and 10% talent in the EBAL with parents, I don’t know that but because the teams you mentioned are ususlly on the bottom of the rung in the EBAL mabey you don’t see that.
February 10th, 2013 at 12:36 pm
Wow @ the D2 brackets… Horrible seedings….
February 10th, 2013 at 1:24 pm
@ Big Dog…the ignorance lies within you. To say there are no “little Suzies” in the EBAL is a complete show of ingorance and lack of exposure to the situation. It is very easy to say all you say from the outside looking in. But, as another poster posted before…are you at practice every day? Do you run the program? Do you deal with constant bitching of parents of kids who are lucky to even be wearing the uniform in the first place? Do you know what it takes to run a high school program? No. But you think you do. So why dont you do it instead of hiding behind a blog with all of the answers like so many before you?
No one ever said high school coaches are infallible…like everyone else in society, we make mistakes. But goes missing here is, high school coaches don’t spend 25-30 hours per week running programs, away from our families, for absolute PEANUTS, because we get off on creating a bad atmosphere for the parents and most importantly, the kids. We don’t do it for the money or any other altruistic reasons. We do it because we care about making young ladies become better soccer players and people. Bottom line. Of course…everyone wants to find out faults and tell us what we are doing wrong and what THEY would do if given the chance. But…do these people ever tell a coach he is doing a good job? That he has had a positive impact on their child? Or are we all just bad, self-serving, ignorant guys who donate hours of our time to a just cause..a cause that a great percentage of these parents have never donated to, sipping on their Starbucks on the sidelines and criticizing??
February 10th, 2013 at 1:39 pm
Top of the box… you’re a hero.
February 10th, 2013 at 3:18 pm
Top of the Box- I am far from ignorant- so you are a coach- big deal. My kids played college and at CHS they had impactful coaches who actually played their sports at successful college level, taught school, were Catholic and followed the school’s mission statement. They were role models and were much appreciated by the parents and respected by the students. Those coaches were thanked numerous times and have been associated with college atheletics since. Since my kids didn’t play soceer my only interest that I have stated is the dysfunction of the present team from the students and parents. There is definately something wrong. This has happened recently at CHS with 2 other sports with bad hire coaches who are now gone. The AD’s job is to hire qualified coaches who match the school’s mission statement.
So keep your panties on son, I am not hiding behind a blog. I am commenting just like you about what I have heard first hand from a lot of parents and students. Furthermore I am not interested in any more comments from you because you are entitled to your opinion, just like me. I coached a lot of football and also played college and semi pro. Not many parents complained back when about the football program. Since you might be a memeber of today’s coaching society, get this, they don’t make ‘em like they used to. When schools reverted to off campus coaching the accountability level fell, not all but some. I never sipped on any star bucks either, but drank a lof of Irish whiskey from a flask. Next time you if you ever had attend a DeLaSalle football game, look me up and we can continue our discussion.
February 10th, 2013 at 3:26 pm
@ Big Dog…..nice. My point exactly….I am a coach..big deal. That was exactly my point. I don’t coach for notoriety nor do I coach to take flack from people (parents) who know nothing about soccer or competitive sports.
As I said from the beginning, I am not close enough to the CHS program to comment responsibly. The fact that you don’t have kids there anymore…not sure if you are close enough to it to comment responsibly either. So we can agree to disagree. No worries.
As you have said..we are all entitled to our opinions. I may take you up on the Irish Whiskey…that is definitely something I know a little about!
February 10th, 2013 at 5:00 pm
Time to make some predictions on the D1 Girls bracket:
Liberty @ San Ramon Valley
San Ramon Valley continues to roll. Congrats to Liberty for making it to the dance but they will be busy trying to keep the score decent. A 3-0 win as SRV calls the dogs off early and gives some minutes to the bench.
Deer Valley @ Monte Vista
Monte Vista wins here but its going to be a physical match. DV is not going to roll over – they have lots of fight in them.
Clayton Valley @ Berkeley
Clayton Valley Charter is the dark horse at this dance and could be Cinderella. DVAL Future Fan was spot on CV lacks offensive power. If they only had a center mid who would control & distribute. Meanwhile they are solid in the back specially in the net – Elms is D1 talent & should be DVAL MVP (definitely MVP at CVC. CVC gets a goal on a set piece wins 1-0.
Dougherty Valley @ Castro Valley
Castro Valley rolls to a 2-0 win. Too much firepower on CV roster and tough Defense gets them a well deserved win.
Freedom @ Amador Valley
AV has a tough match here but they will edge out Freedom 2-1. AV is shock full of talent – if they can just put it together, they could make a run deep in this dance.
Heritage @ College Park
College Park explodes and gets a hat trick from DVAL standout and D1 talent Scharff. Scharff has a good supporting cast but make no mistake, she stands tall in this game. CPs weakness in the back does not get exposed. CP wins 4-1.
Washington @ Foothill
Washington’s solid defense will be tested but they edge out Foothill in a mirror match 2-1. Both teams play similar styles but Washington’s attack will edge out Foothill’s defensive efforts.
California @ Logan*
Logan edges Cal 2-1 in a hard fought match that will be decided in the final 10 minutes. Logan’s strong team play will win out.
February 10th, 2013 at 6:06 pm
@ Top of the box; from one coach to another, one of the greatest privileges I feel I have had in my adult life is that of a coach. With that said if you have been coaching for any length of time you know it is for the most part thankless. If any coach does it for that they are simply setting themselves up for disappointment. Most of us (and I believe you as well) do it for the kids. When I form teams I always look around the room and I know there will always be unhappy kids and unhappy parents – again part of the process. When coaches hear other coaches under attack I know we all react because most of us have experienced the same thing. Like anything in life there are good coaches and bad coaches. Our kids often learn as much from the bad coaches and they do the good coaches. As a parent and as a coach when I see kids being treated unfairly to the point of being hurt for some narcissistic cause I am going to stand-up, especially when it happens at an institution that stands for the complete opposite. If what went on at CHS was simply bad coaching that would be one thing, however what went on this year goes WAY beyond bad coaching. I applaud you for coaching for 20-years and I hope you are one of the coaches that realizes the responsibility you have because of the impact you have on these athletes. As for parents; well they are part of the sauce and must be managed accordingly, just sitting around and complaining about it makes no sense. If you have coached top performing athletes than you know the higher you go, the higher the expectations. Again managing expectations is part of the responsibility of good coaches. Fact is when team win you seldom hear a word from the majority of the parents. I can’t think of too many places I would rather be is on the grass with talented, competitive athletes even when their parents are at times difficult to manage. The problem at CHS is this has been going on for years and the talent of the soccer players in my opinion has masked coaches who simply do not care about the athletes, the program, soccer or the school. I hope this is the year the AD wakes up even if it takes some influence from parents and the administration. CHS has a tradition of fielding great teams in-part BECAUSE of the support of some high maintenance parents who have made an investment in the sport, family sacrifices and who just expect their daughters to be treated with respect and allowed to compete. What did someone say; nuff said!
February 10th, 2013 at 6:12 pm
@dmach5
Very brave of you! You’ve stepped into dangerous territory by making these predictions but I think they are solid. The Berkeley vs CV game is one that puzzles me. I haven’t seen either team but I’ve heard Betkeley is an impressive bunch whom I doubt could be shut out in the run of play: again this is all here say.
The Logan Vs Cal game I feel could also go either way, not because of Logan’s superiority but because of the “carpet” they play on. EBAL teams may not be able to adjust, however, in the end the team with the most talent should win!
Thanks for the insight!
February 10th, 2013 at 7:14 pm
@ Nitro. Cheers to you mate..and I applaud you for coaching as well. I was not aware the situation at CHS dated back as far as you say…of course, because I, like many folks, go by what we hear and not by what we see in these situations. I hope the situation at CHS sorts itself out because, as you say, the kids deserve it.
February 10th, 2013 at 7:51 pm
@David
Berkeley is a solid team but they have not faced a keeper like the one the CVC Eagles have in Elms. She’s not only solid in shot-stopping but she organizes her defense really well – this team will go as far MVP Elms can take them. Meanwhile CVC set plays have become their go-to as they struggle in the run-of-play in the attacking third.
Agree on the Logan vs Cal game – that old carpet is hard to play on. Which is why Logan gets the edge in that game – their home field has its advantages for them. This game will be the nail biter of them all.
February 10th, 2013 at 8:01 pm
@dmach5 i was just wondering why you see #3 berekeley losing to #14 cvchs?
February 11th, 2013 at 10:55 am
@ Top of the Box – “mate” am I speaking to a Brit? Great thread… I sense you and I are out for the kids! These are such incredibly important years for these athletes relative to their player development and also for their “difficult parents” who also have to be “developed”. How many soccer players do you know who have quit because of bad experiences with coaches. A week or so ago we were at a game where a couple of my past club players were on our opponents High School team and one was ready to quit because of her coach. I was privileged to have attended Anson Dorrance’s Coaching Champions program and if you have read anything about coaching girls you will know Anson is considered a National expert on the subject in-large part due to his success at UNC. I can only hope the AD’s are committed to all players being treated with respect and decency which is not mutually exclusive with coaching in a very competitive environment. The high school experience is one that shouldn’t include avoidable negative experiences by coaches who are ONLY, let me repeat ONLY concerned about winning or NCS Championships. Coaches and AD’s that are not up for the challenges that we face regardless need to step aside for people who FIRST are committed to the athletes. If I have learned one thing in life it is that the most important things in our life are often the most difficult and if you agree with that then coaching is going to be difficult…