Highlands was right at that.

 

All frosh or some 8th/7th graders mixed in?

All frosh or some 8th/7th graders mixed in?

 

Good question. It was a mix of 8th graders and Freshman. They moved 6 or so Frosh up to JV, so I'm guessing 18 Freshman tried out.

Cov.Cath definitely the class of nky and I'm having a hard time thinking who would give them a challenge but we all know they have a hard time getting out of the region. This might be the year they get out of their own way and move on to the sweet sixteen.

 

I'm not sure they have been in their own way the past 5 years. It seems to me that they have been beaten the last 5 years. With that being said, I see CovCath as a clear favorite to take the 9th, and possibly advance further and represent the NKY well in the State tournament this year

Big question for CCH this year will be who emerges as a bona fide goal scorer up top. A very strong/nice team may get you deep into post-season, but final four teams generally have one or more stud goal scorers. I don't think you necessarily have to be able to name this player at the outset, but if they haven't self-declared by mid-season or so, it may be a fatal weakness.

Big question for CCH this year will be who emerges as a bona fide goal scorer up top. A very strong/nice team may get you deep into post-season, but final four teams generally have one or more stud goal scorers. I don't think you necessarily have to be able to name this player at the outset, but if they haven't self-declared by mid-season or so, it may be a fatal weakness.

 

Could not have said it any better. The single most important item that separates the great teams (the ones that advance to the finals, wins trophies) from the good teams in almost every sport is the impact player(s).

 

Once heard a top collegiate coach say a team needs a striker with no less then 15-20 goals to advance to the NCAA Final Four = the team needs an impact player to win.

I couldn't agree more with those statements. If you reviewed what I said about CCH last year about this time you'd see that I said if they could get someone to score consistently and tally 20 or so for the year, they'd be in good shape and very dangerous. I'd say the same for them this year. Patrick Ballow lead the team with 14 goals last year and Parker Kenney tallied 10 (from the midfield) and both graduated.

Could not have said it any better. The single most important item that separates the great teams (the ones that advance to the finals, wins trophies) from the good teams in almost every sport is the impact player(s).

 

 

 

Once heard a top collegiate coach say a team needs a striker with no less then 15-20 goals to advance to the NCAA Final Four = the team needs an impact player to win.

 

Agree with the concept 100% but the 15-20 number actually depends on the level of teams they play. In some years 20 would not seem enough to define that and in other years may be double....and also how the coach uses the games prior to the tournament.....ie.....if he is using the time to look for players, therefore limiting playing time...

I think 15-20 assumes you are playing good teams in competitive games, etc. More important than the number is the concept of having a top scorer/impact player that can get a goal when needed. On a team that I can easily see starting 9-10 seniors, they are going to need a player or two step up and put the ball in the net consistently. I think you and I may differ on who that player or players can be this year.

Don't know if we will differ.. But if we do, I'm sure you will eventually come to see that I was originally correct and sing my praises.......via media outlets

If you read my "collegiate coach said a team needs a striker to score 15-20 goals to advance to the NCAA Final Four" quote close, in this sentence I'm referring to the college game not HS. I only used the quote to agree with groinpull that it takes an impact player(s) to advance deep into the State Tournament, depth alone does not get it done. As both OTB84 and groinpull say, and I agree in HS goal tallies depend on many different factors, totally different then the collegiate game. Agree with everything you two wrote in last two post. Large goal tallie not as important as having a go to player in those difficult games come tournament time that can either get you the goal or draw 2-3 or 4 defenders which in turn opens things up for someone else. I also think it is important the coach clearly establishes this player by no later then mid point of the season. A dangerous team is one that clearly has a attacking player(s), that are a known threat to score every time they touch the ball in the upper third.

Good luck with that, freshman rostered on JV. For years CCH has run their program in way you rarely see. For the most part freshman only play freshman, and it is very rare for sophomores to play varsity, at least during the regular season. Some of both are called up one team come tournament play. Is it working, does it work? They haven't won a Regional title in 5 years. Depth in high school soccer is over rated, will 20 some seniors and a large handful of juniors be the enough this year? Only time will tell but it hasn't worked out so great the past 5 years. Schools that seem to have the most consistent tournament success get contributions out of 3 classes, 4 on rare occasion on the boys side. Impact players, 2-3, with good supporting cast make a bigger difference then a lot of depth. Scott was perfect example of this last season.

 

For the record, four frosh rostered on JV for CCH now that tryouts have ended. There were some cuts made as well.

Heard the same thing but were the 4 freshman brought up out of necessity. Heard the JV roster has only 17, with 2 keepers = 15 field players with the 4 freshman a part of the 15 field players. If they don't bring up some freshman they would have been left with 11 field players. Apparently a large number of sophomores that played soccer as freshman did not come out this year. Plus 2-3 sophomore cuts. Assume numbers are a little down in the Junior and Senior classes also. Heard every Senior and Junior that tried out made Varsity, no cuts from either if these two classes.

I also heard a few kids that had been in the program for a couple of seasons made the decision to attend a different school this coming year.

I also heard a few kids that had been in the program for a couple of seasons made the decision to attend a different school this coming year.

 

Did not hear this news, but not surprising.

I imagine that when you have the numbers CCH has had the past few years that there will be some kids that either move along to another school or don't come back for tryouts because they didn't play as much as they thought they should. They did cut some sophomores, all good kids, but probably were not going to see much playing time.