2016 5A Soccer

[Jdhelbig]

Let's get back to predictions and assumptions. Any thoughts heading into Thursday?

[MB Hog]

Let's get back to predictions and assumptions. Any thoughts heading into Thursday?

I'll give a few thoughts on the 5A Girls for Thursday.

I don't expect many upsets, but the intriguing games for day one are DeQueen vs. Paragould and Sylvan Hills vs. Maumelle.

DeQueen should win, but it is hard to tell where they stand by comparison to other 5A conferences.  Seems like they got knocked out very early last year as a #1 seed.

I don't know what to expect from Sylvan Hills and Maumelle, but I'm looking at that to help gauge the strength of the West teams.  Sylvan Hills is well-coached and they play very hard, but PA hasn't had any trouble beating them in the three years I've been watching... but the last two years they have done surprisingly well in the state tourney.  Maumelle is a pretty good team out of the West, and I would expect them to beat SH, but I haven't seen them play, so I don't know what their strengths and weaknesses are.  If SH beats Maumelle, I will be hopeful that this means PA is on a level playing field with LRCA and Harrison.

One quick note about the PA vs. Greenbrier game.  I think Greenbrier is probably the best 4 seed in 5A girls, so I'm hoping PA doesn't come in and play lazy thinking it is an easy win.

[Just1Coach]

To be honest, and having seen all 4 teams from the South play, all of them are incredibly weak.  Lakeside, in particular, is in for a very rough couple of years....

[MDXPHD]

I'll give a few thoughts on the 5A Girls for Thursday.

I don't expect many upsets, but the intriguing games for day one are DeQueen vs. Paragould and Sylvan Hills vs. Maumelle.

DeQueen should win, but it is hard to tell where they stand by comparison to other 5A conferences.  Seems like they got knocked out very early last year as a #1 seed.

I don't know what to expect from Sylvan Hills and Maumelle, but I'm looking at that to help gauge the strength of the West teams.  Sylvan Hills is well-coached and they play very hard, but PA hasn't had any trouble beating them in the three years I've been watching... but the last two years they have done surprisingly well in the state tourney.  Maumelle is a pretty good team out of the West, and I would expect them to beat SH, but I haven't seen them play, so I don't know what their strengths and weaknesses are.  If SH beats Maumelle, I will be hopeful that this means PA is on a level playing field with LRCA and Harrison.

One quick note about the PA vs. Greenbrier game.  I think Greenbrier is probably the best 4 seed in 5A girls, so I'm hoping PA doesn't come in and play lazy thinking it is an easy win.

SH and Paragould aren't very good teams. SH is well coached, as you say, but that's about it. Don't expect Paragould to show you anything. The East, overall, is a very weak conference, and has been traditionally weak every year.

[Go Postal]

Pulaski Academy 8, Greenbrier 0 - final
Harrison 9, Beebe 0 - final
Maumelle 5, Sylvan Hills 0 - final
LRCA 11, Jacksonville 0 - final
Greenbrier 2, Pulaski Academy 0 - final
Maumelle 5, Beebe 1 - final
Clarksville 3, McClellan 2 - final, 2 OTs
LRCA 4, Jax 1

sevenof400, I'm glad the West is down this year.   Today makes me feel better now since the Goblins and Eagles didn't get to go to the playoffs.

GO WEST!!!

[JMBknvc]

 
Go Postal, and and Valley View was the only team out of the East and Central to move on.

So, was where were the big upsets today if any?

[ARSoccer25]

Pulaski Academy 8, Greenbrier 0 - final
Harrison 9, Beebe 0 - final
Maumelle 5, Sylvan Hills 0 - final
LRCA 11, Jacksonville 0 - final
Greenbrier 2, Pulaski Academy 0 - final
Maumelle 5, Beebe 1 - final
Clarksville 3, McClellan 2 - final, 2 OTs
LRCA 4, Jax 1

sevenof400, I'm glad the West is down this year.   Today makes me feel better now since the Goblins and Eagles didn't get to go to the playoffs.

GO WEST!!!

The East, South, and West would have all swept the Central on the boys side. Shoot, Harrison probably would have been a 1 seed in the Central. Tomorrow should be much more interesting. My predictons:
Maumelle over Lakeside
Hot Springs over Greenbrier n (Mercy rule)
DeQueen over LRCA
Valley View over Clarksville

[Go Postal]

What about the Girls games tomorrow?
I think the VV and Harrison game will be interesting.

[ARSoccer25]

That one should be a great game! I am really looking forward to watching that. The winner of that one will be in the finals IMO. The other 3 games will all be won easily though tomorrow by PA, LRCA, and Maumelle.

[mijally]

The East, South, and West would have all swept the Central on the boys side. Shoot, Harrison probably would have been a 1 seed in the Central. Tomorrow should be much more interesting. My predictons:
Maumelle over Lakeside
Hot Springs over Greenbrier n (Mercy rule)
DeQueen over LRCA
Valley View over Clarksville

Hot Springs mercy rule over Greenbrier is a bold statement.

[mijally]

Pulaski Academy 8, Greenbrier 0 - final
Harrison 9, Beebe 0 - final
Maumelle 5, Sylvan Hills 0 - final
LRCA 11, Jacksonville 0 - final
Greenbrier 2, Pulaski Academy 0 - final
Maumelle 5, Beebe 1 - final
Clarksville 3, McClellan 2 - final, 2 OTs
LRCA 4, Jax 1

sevenof400, I'm glad the West is down this year.   Today makes me feel better now since the Goblins and Eagles didn't get to go to the playoffs.

GO WEST!!!

I've missed your commentary Postal. You are a defender of the West. Our conference has their work cut out for them tomorrow. The South appears as good as advertised and Valley View is legit. They always will be as long as they have the coach they do.  Your girls have a legit shot at the title once again.

[Jdhelbig]

Thoughts and observations after the first day?
Any new predictions?

[MB Hog]

Thoughts and observations after the first day?
Any new predictions?

As I mentioned prior to the games, my most intriguing 5A girls games were DeQueen vs. Paragould and Sylvan Hills vs. Maumelle.

Turns out I should have gone with the upset I was wondering about with Paragould beating DeQueen, but I ended up going with the favorite in my bracket.

Maumelle handling Sylvan Hills 5-0 just makes me more nervous about our other games against the West if PA advances passed GCT today.  We haven't had a chance to see any of them play, and we have very few common opponents for comparison.

[JMBknvc]

I've missed your commentary Postal. You are a defender of the West. Our conference has their work cut out for them tomorrow. The South appears as good as advertised and Valley View is legit. They always will be as long as they have the coach they do.  Your girls have a legit shot at the title once again.

Agreed, today is going to be a test for the West as well for the South. Should be some good matches today.

[MDXPHD]

As I mentioned prior to the games, my most intriguing 5A girls games were DeQueen vs. Paragould and Sylvan Hills vs. Maumelle.

Turns out I should have gone with the upset I was wondering about with Paragould beating DeQueen, but I ended up going with the favorite in my bracket.

Maumelle handling Sylvan Hills 5-0 just makes me more nervous about our other games against the West if PA advances passed GCT today.  We haven't had a chance to see any of them play, and we have very few common opponents for comparison.

I can't believe the South girls were so bad. PA will beat GCT pretty bad. There will be some more mercy rules today.

[MB Hog]

I can't believe the South girls were so bad. PA will beat GCT pretty bad. There will be some more mercy rules today.

Only 2-0 at halftime for PA. GCT is playing very dirty. 4 yellow cards on them already.

[MDXPHD]

Only 2-0 at halftime for PA. GCT is playing very dirty. 4 yellow cards on them already.

They always play rough. Played just like that when I coached. Makes it hard for the other team to play real soccer.

[GobSoccerFan12]

Anywhere to listen or livesrream the games?

[Jdhelbig]

Updates?

[MB Hog]

I posted on another message, but the final for the PA - GCT game was 5-0 PA.

I'm glad no one was seriously injured in that game.  GCT took several cheap shots that could have led to injuries.  PA ended up with its share of fouls, too, but mostly because we've learned you have to be more physical when your opponent plays rough.

My opinion (and I try to be as unbiased as I can be in my evaluation) is that the PA fouls were typically more related to aggressive play while many of GCTs fouls were for pushing players to the ground with arms extended, blasting someone from behind while they are in the air and helpless, and pushing from behind after the play.  The refs called a bunch of fouls, but they let quite a few go since there were just so many occurring.

They also liked to use the tactic of running directly into our player and falling down to try to get fouls called.

Four yellow cards in the first half on one team is pretty indicative of the way they were playing.  They should have gotten more yellow cards (or even red) in the second half, but the refs just kept giving them verbal warnings at that point.  A bunch of GCT boys (I assume from their soccer team) showed up part way through the first half and started loudly heckling the refs for every call that went against GCT.  This may have played a part in why he stopped giving yellow cards to the GCT players.

I apologize for the rant to any GCT fans who know how the game is supposed to be played and who don't condone these tactics, but I was very disappointed to see they are playing this way. 

[sevenof400]

Go Postal,

Sorry I have not had a chance to opine prior to now, but today's results sort of point to what I suspected would happen to the West.  Clearly the order of conferences (in whole) is something like this:

1. South
2. West
3. East
4. Central

..and I realize someone could take exception with putting the East behind the West since Valley View is still alive, but 3 first round East losses provides a lot of fodder for the thought that the East still continues to be down as a whole. 

We talked about Clarksville being improved this year as compared to recent years but I'll still maintain the West as a whole isn't as good this year as it has been in recent years either. 

The other thing that will somewhat confuse the issue is the likelihood of Valley View being beaten by DeQueen.  If indeed that comes to pass, it would not be a shock given DeQueen's track record in recent years.  But clearly, Valley View is NOT being helped by playing in the East and clearly the South teams are benefitting from stiffer in conference competition than the other conferences.  The problem is that no conference seems likely to close the gap on the South anytime soon. 

[Jdhelbig]

Honestly, DeQueen is a juggernaut when it comes to soccer. There is no comparison because they've only lost 1 game in the south conference (the best conference) in the last 4 years. They've also won 6 out of the past 7 years championships in the 4A and 5A combined. I hope they win again this year🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆

[Go Postal]

Honestly, DeQueen is a juggernaut when it comes to soccer. There is no comparison because they've only lost 1 game in the south conference (the best conference) in the last 4 years. They've also won 6 out of the past 7 years championships in the 4A and 5A combined. I hope they win again this year🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆

I believe the only other 5A team to beat them was Harrison in the semis on DeQueen's 1st year coming to the 5A.  Best soccer game (highschool thru World cup) that I have ever saw.  Good luck to the boys teams today.

GO Lady Goblins!

[Go Postal]

Great matchup today between the current State Champ (LRCA) and current State Runnerup (PA).  Good Luck LRCA.

I believe that this is the second straight year that 3 teams from the West and PA were in the semis.  Good luck Maumelle, you have done very well, but...





Good Luck Lady Goblins in the semifinals!  Keep up the Great work!  You are closer on getting Harrison their 11 State Championship.

[VHSCoach2]

Finals are set:

Girls: Harrison vs. Pulaski Academy

Boys: Hot Springs vs. Valley View

[MB Hog]

Great game between PA Girls and LRCA girls today!  PA won 3 - 1.

It was 1 - 0 PA at the half.  Went up 3 - 0 with about 6 minutes to play.  LRCA scored about a minute later and kept giving it their all to the final horn.  So, I only relaxed for that one minute between our 3rd goal and their first.  The rest of the game I was nervous as a cat.

Looking forward to the championship game against Harrison next Saturday at 10am!

[Scots10]

PA essentially won the championship vs LRCA right?   LRCA did beat harrison twice.

[Sir Alex]

PA essentially won the championship vs LRCA right?   LRCA did beat harrison twice.

absolutely correct.

[VHSCoach2]

We can't be bringing the transitive property into high school soccer.  No way.

"Team A beat Team B, and Team C beat Team A, so that automatically means that Team C will beat Team B."

No.

PA and Harrison have (at minimum) 80 minutes to decide a winner.  Nothing before next Saturday's match should be considered as a deciding factor for the game (especially since, to my knowledge, neither club is sitting on a red card).

[MB Hog]

We can't be bringing the transitive property into high school soccer.  No way.

"Team A beat Team B, and Team C beat Team A, so that automatically means that Team C will beat Team B."

No.

PA and Harrison have (at minimum) 80 minutes to decide a winner.  Nothing before next Saturday's match should be considered as a deciding factor for the game (especially since, to my knowledge, neither club is sitting on a red card).

Completely agree.  While I know we all look at those numbers to try to get a feel for what to expect, we can throw out the results of the other games when it comes to the playoffs... especially a championship game. 

Harrison has some very seasoned players who have already shown they know how to win a title.  I'll be just as nervous against them as I was against LRCA.