Harrison Girls

MB Hog · May 13, 2014, 05:14:20 pm

I've seen a lot of people post about how good the Harrison girls team is this year (and most years). I haven't seen them play... what is their style of play and what makes them so good?

DogsWin7 · May 13, 2014, 05:17:34 pm

Go Postal usually has a pretty good insight to Harrison athletics along with a few others....Welcome to FF!

coach cleats · May 13, 2014, 06:36:28 pm

All but two of harrison girls started playing soccer at 5 or 6. The other two started at ten or eleven. They have had solid coaching by coaches with D to A licenses. They went to summer soccer camps and played indoor soccer in the winter in Springfield and club soccer in the fall and spring. They love soccer and work very hard to improve their game. They have several players that participated in the odp program and made the state team on different occasions. If you get the chance you should watch one of their games.

Sir Alex · May 13, 2014, 08:49:38 pm

Quote from: MB Hog on May 13, 2014, 05:14:20 pm
I've seen a lot of people post about how good the Harrison girls team is this year (and most years). I haven't seen them play... what is their style of play and what makes them so good?

They boot the ball higher and farther than any other team. We in the hills call that hillbilly ball. They are the best at hillbilly ball....

coach cleats · May 13, 2014, 08:54:37 pm

OMG !!!

Go Postal · May 13, 2014, 10:20:46 pm

Quote from: MB Hog on May 13, 2014, 05:14:20 pm
I've seen a lot of people post about how good the Harrison girls team is this year (and most years). I haven't seen them play... what is their style of play and what makes them so good?

Pretty good. Is there better teams out there? Probably/maybe. But as Coach Cleats said earlier, these girls don't only play high school soccer, they also play club. Yes I know, we play a "supposedly" weak conference in the girls West, but play 7A/6A Arkansas and some good Missouri teams in non conference. I thought that they should have won State last year against our West sisters. But that is another story.
As for their style of play, I agree with Sir Alex on hillbilly ball. LOL But I have always thought that the Lady Goblins style is a "ballet in motion" due to the great coaching/training of Coach Pratt and the athleticism/talent of the Lady Goblins. Will they get beat in the playoffs? Anything can happen. But here is a record on the Lady Goblins from 2002 to present in the Finals game. I believe that they have made it to the semifinal game in most years that they are not listed.
2013 - Shiloh Christian (Runner-up Harrison)
2012 – Central Arkansas Christian (Runner-up LR Christian)
2011 – Harrison (Runner-up LR Christian)
2010 – Little Rock Christian (Runner-up Pulaski Academy)
2009 – Little Rock Christian (Runner-up Central Arkansas Christian)
2008 – Pulaski Academy (Runner-up LR Christian)
2007 – Pulaski Academy (Runner-up LR Christian)
2006 – Central Arkansas Christian (Runner-up Pulaski Academy)
2005 – Pulaski Academy (Runner-up Little Rock Christian)
2004 – Harrison (Runner-up Arkadelphia)
2003 – Pulaski Academy (Runner-up Harrison)
2002 – Harrison (Runner-up Searcy)

So you tell me on how good that they are. See them and others if you can. Heck looking back on the Lady Goblins records, maybe they should be considered as an "honorary" private school. LOL.

But anyway to answer your question, anything can happen in the playoffs.

As my budette, DiehardFBfan, said earlier, Welcome to fearlessfriday. +1 karma on that.

MB Hog · May 13, 2014, 11:05:16 pm

Thanks for the feedback. This is my daughter's first year of high school soccer (freshman), and we haven't seen the West teams yet. We used to play against the Harrison Angels in tournaments at Burns Park and they were always the toughest competition.

We don't play until 2pm on Thursday, so we won't catch Harrison's first game, but we definitely plan to make it to the likely matchup between Harrison and LRCA in round two.

I appreciate the welcome!

Go Postal · May 13, 2014, 11:42:42 pm

If you go to the boys/girls playoffs, anything can happen. Just remember that there are 32 boys and 32 girls teams in the 5A. If your team makes it to the playoffs, then your team is one of the best 16 boys or 16 girls teams in the State for the 5A. In the playoffs (win or lose), Play hard, Do the best you can, Make your town proud. You are the best 16 boys/girls teams in the State in 5A.

Good Luck to all boys/girls teams in the playoffs!

sevenof400 · May 14, 2014, 09:19:21 am

Quote from: MB Hog on May 13, 2014, 05:14:20 pm
I've seen a lot of people post about how good the Harrison girls team is this year (and most years). I haven't seen them play... what is their style of play and what makes them so good?

Although it has already been mentioned here, let me add a bit of background to Harrison's rec program. One of the primary factors in the Harrison girl's success has been the feeder system (the local rec program) to the high school program. Harrison tends to field a good number of rec teams (given their location and relative population size) that allows a good number of kids to get touches on the ball, training and game conditions. All of this substantially helps the high school program because when freshman enter the program with a solid foundation of soccer knowledge, the program is more likely to enjoy success.

One of the primary factors that works so well for the private schools is their proximity to areas in which there is a considerable club presence (many private school girls played club and then moved on to classic level soccer).

I mention this because as the number of players who can confidently and reliably handle a ball increase, your odds of success in Arkansas High School girls soccer drastically increase. From an overall point of view, the top players from Harrison, PA, LRCA are probably not significantly better than the top players from other schools. What makes Harrison, PA and LRCA so much better is the fact they have more girls who can confidently handle the ball under game conditions.

MB Hog · May 14, 2014, 10:24:03 am

Quote from: sevenof400 on May 14, 2014, 09:19:21 am
Quote from: MB Hog on May 13, 2014, 05:14:20 pm
I've seen a lot of people post about how good the Harrison girls team is this year (and most years). I haven't seen them play... what is their style of play and what makes them so good?

Although it has already been mentioned here, let me add a bit of background to Harrison's rec program. One of the primary factors in the Harrison girl's success has been the feeder system (the local rec program) to the high school program. Harrison tends to field a good number of rec teams (given their location and relative population size) that allows a good number of kids to get touches on the ball, training and game conditions. All of this substantially helps the high school program because when freshman enter the program with a solid foundation of soccer knowledge, the program is more likely to enjoy success.

One of the primary factors that works so well for the private schools is their proximity to areas in which there is a considerable club presence (many private school girls played club and then moved on to classic level soccer).

I mention this because as the number of players who can confidently and reliably handle a ball increase, your odds of success in Arkansas High School girls soccer drastically increase. From an overall point of view, the top players from Harrison, PA, LRCA are probably not significantly better than the top players from other schools. What makes Harrison, PA and LRCA so much better is the fact they have more girls who can confidently handle the ball under game conditions.

That makes good sense. If a team has 5 or 6 very good, experienced players on the field, that can also mean they have 5 or 6 without a lot of experience. It can be difficult to cover that many gaps in level of play... and probably at least half of the 5A teams have to deal with that problem.

As I mentioned earlier, we used to play against the Harrison Angels in tournaments at Burns Park back in Rec days and they were always such a good team. I wasn't sure at the time if that age group just happened to be good or if it was a consistent thing in Harrison. It's pretty impressive to see a smaller town (smaller than Central Ark and NWA) get such consistent participation and success in soccer. I look forward to watching them play on Friday morning.

Go Postal · May 14, 2014, 08:34:50 pm

In playoffs, one loss and your out. Can PA, LRCA and Harrison girls get beat in any round of the playoffs by other teams? Yes, it is always a possibility. The same can be said about the same teams mentioned on the boys side. If any of the 6 teams mentioned get beat by a better team, then that is fine. We know that the fault is ours and we know what mistakes that were made. Makes the Freshman, Sophomores and Juniors on our teams only more knowledgeable on what not to do in next season playoffs.

I have seen a lot of boys/girls teams from other schools really stepping up and getting better over the years with schools starting to coach the kids with better knowledge of the game. This only makes the Arkansas Soccer high school programs better in all conferences.

Good Luck to All Boys/Girls Teams in the 7A/6A/5A/4A State Playoffs! You have worked hard to get here. May Your Team Win The Championship!