NKY Top 10, Sep 20th edition

[FrankNicodemus]

This week I would say is the beginning of the final stretch, we have SEVERAL NKY teams going against each other this week to really influence the ranking for next week.  Let’s just call this “moving week”.

Here is how I am ranking for this “moving week” with just a slight adjustment from last week (which was pretty quiet in my opinion).

1. NDA (15-0) (Last week #1) (Maher Ranking #1)

- LEX CATH TOURNEY CHAMP, nuff said for last week!

• 3 games this week:  NCC, St Henry & Campbell County

2. HIGHLANDS (8-3) (Last week #2) (Maher Ranking #2)

- Nice wins over Lex Cath and Assumption, then “no food for the Birds” at the Panda Express

• 2 games this week:  Dixie & South Oldham.  

3. DIXIE (9-4-2) (Last week #3) (Maher Ranking #3)

- 2 blowout wins last week against Ludlow and Scott then had a midweek hiccup with a 1-1 tie against Ryle

• 3 games this week: South Oldham, Highlands and Cooper

4. CAMPBELL COUNTY (11-3-1) (Last week #5) (Maher Ranking #4)

- Dixie’s scheduler must have schedule Campbell County’s games as well with 2 blowout wins for Campbell County against Boone and Calvary

• 3 games this week:  Villa Madonna, Bishop Brossart, and NDA

5. COOPER (12-2-1) (Last week #4) (Maher Ranking #6)

- Tied Holy Cross (which is the reason for step back to #5) and barely got by Conner in PKs.

• 3 games this week:  Ryle, Villa and Dixie……We FINALLY I think will see the true Cooper.  Have they deserved this high ranking or were they fools gold?

6. CONNER (6-7-4) (Last week #6) (Maher Ranking #9)

- Lost in PKs to Cooper and a tough one across the state line in Lawrencburg 2-1.

• 3 games this week:  Holy Cross, Beechwood and Lafayette

7. RYLE (5-3-4) (Last week #7) (Maher Ranking #7)

- finally won a game last week vs NCC and tied Dixie….decent week for Ryle

• 2 games this week:  Cooper and Boone County

8. SIMON KENTON (4-8-1) (Last week #8) (Maher Ranking #5)

- they should have passed on Lex Cath Tourney.  That was rough for this team to handle.  

• 3 games this week:  Lex Cath, Grant Co and St. Henry.  Luckily there are 2 wins in this week for SK if they want them.

9. BEECHWOOD (8-3-2) (Last week #9) (Maher Ranking #10)

- Nice win over St Henry and then a big win over Scott

• 1 game this week:  Conner

10. BISHOP BROSSART (7-4-1) (Last week #10) (Maher Ranking #8)

- Big wins against Scott and Boone last week.  A little tougher competition this week.  Can they get that signature win against Camp Co??

• 2 games this week: St. Henry and Campbell County

Some really nice games on tap for this week.  I hope the rain doesn’t ruin anything.

Good luck these last 2 weeks!!!

[Big Red]

For conversation and fun, I'm going to challenge the rankings a bit this week, and say that while we are splitting hairs, Beechwood is not getting enough credit.

Beechwood has recent wins over Brossart and HC.  Their margin of victory vs. HC is a bit more than others ranked ahead of them with recent ties vs. Ryle and Cambell.  Their bad loss came early for what I think is a young team.  I really don't know how I would reshuffle the deck, but Cooper (who I was on early) has done nothing to earn or maintain their rank.  I think Ryle and Beechwood should be above them.

 

[Big Red]

Late check in on the scoreboard showing Ryle beating Cooper 1-0.  No details, so could've been in PK's, not sure, but I have Ryle and Beechwood above Cooper until they show otherwise.  Interested to get details on this one if someone can chime in.

NDA took care of business vs. NCC 4-0.  Not much to say here.  Ball played on NDA offensive side vs. alot of defenders in the box.  Panda goalie Abbey Breeze was recognized at halftime for setting the season record for shutouts.  NDA hosted a a fun night with light show, food truck, music, etc. throughout the game.

Dixie loses 0-2 to a VERY good South Oldham team.  If anyone has detail on this game, I'd be interested to hear how this played out.  South Oldham vs. Highlands will be interesting.

[DadofTwins]

I'll take the Ryle v Cooper game.

First half was back and forth.  Cooper has some speed up top and they are good on the ball.  One cross slid all the way through the box with a couple of swing and misses on it.  Ryle had one off the post on a free kick and a couple other decent chances.

Second half started all Cooper keeping it down on the Ryle end the majority.  Didn't result in any "real" opportunities or Keelee being tested but they maintained the pressure with a few Ryle counters.  About 15 minutes left, Kaia hit one from outside the box to score. After was kind of your typical frantic district minutes of back and forth.

From the negative comments the Cooper Coach had for our girls, they thought we were the more physical team. 

For the parent who yelled "Kick her" when our keeper had the ball at her feet waiting for someone to give her a reason to pick it up, Wow, just Wow.... It works better when you pass the ball to your own team not the other's keeper, sorry the Ryle keeper has decent feet?

 

[FrankNicodemus]

Monday updates cont…..

Here are few scores around NKY that weren’t touched on above:

Lex Cath came up to NKY and beat Simon Kenton 4-2

Bishop Brossart took care of their home field and beat St. Henry 4-2

Conner blanked Holy Cross 2-0

Campbell County vs Villa Madonna was cancelled due to weather….

[FrankNicodemus]

Bring out your umbrellas, ponchos, bleacher seats…..it’s not going to be a fun night weather wise!  Granted for the players I think they probably enjoy this weather to play in, i know i sure did as a teenager.

We have a few interesting battles in the NKY tonight that might go either way, then there are some games that won’t be close.

Here are lopsided games:

#1 Notre Dame visits St. Henry, 7:30

Boone County goes over to #7 Ryle, 7:30

Grant County allows Simon Kenton to get a win finally, 7:30

Here are the interesting ones in the NKY:

#6 Conner @ #9 Beechwood, 7:30

• @Big Redwants to give Beechwood more credit that #9, well here is the game that is left on your schedule to earn that credit in my eyes.

#4 Campbell County @ #10 Bishop Brossart, 7:30

• I have to believe with the schools being blocks away from each other that these girls no one another very very well.  This could be like a sibling fight.  “The Battle of Camp County”

Villa Madonna @ #5 Cooper, 7:30

• I am going to sneak this one as my surprise choice of “maybe interesting” game.  Cooper could be sleeping on Villa.  I totally could be wrong on this one but lets see.

#2 Highlands @ #3 Dixie, 7:30

• I am sure Dixie has had this game circled on their calendar all season long.  I realize Dixie has played SEVERAL big teams this season but this is one that they probably are hoping to play their A game and I feel like they believe it’s winnable.  I know Dixie is going to come out swinging “literally and figuratively” will Highlands punch back.  I was surprised how the Highlands/NDA was not as physical as years past so will that make them be caught off guard to a physical game with Dixie.
• So like my advice for the Birds vs NDA be ready on the set pieces.  Well my advice to the Birds tonight: be ready to play physical (just not dirty!!!) there is a fine line between the 2….  

Good luck, try to stay dry…..luckily with the invention of turf all the above games won’t be impacted by mud puddles and slop except for the NDA v. St Henry game, that will be a fun ride home for the parents of those players….

[Big Red]

All will be happy to hear that the NDA vs. St. Henry has been moved to NDA!  The field will still be wet but free from that mess at St. Henry.  I keep looking for some improvement in the forecast, but not happening.

Interesting 3 team round robin between Dixie, South Oldham, and The Lady Birds this week.  Looking forward to getting recaps of these games.  Highlands could have a big advantage in the midfield vs. both teams.  All 3 teams have good talent up top.

Go Tigers!

[Big Red]

@FrankNicodemus, I'm seeing at 4-3 score.  Is that a 4-3 good game, or 4-3, it was well in control and Dixie popped in a few late goals to make it look closer than it was? 

Dixie can score with several very good kids up top, but they don't have the midfield or kids on defense that they have had in recent years. 

Need details...

[FrankNicodemus]

RECAP OF LAST NIGHT

Here is all the blowout scores as predicted:

#1 NDA beat St. Henry, 10-0

#7 Ryle beat Boone Co, 7-0

#8 Simon Kenton crushes Grant Co, 15-0

Now onto the tight games:

#4 Campbell County and #6 Conner BOTH sneak out a victory against lower ranked teams #10 Bishop Brossart and #9 Beechwood with the exact same score 1-0.  

The Villa vs Cooper game I believe I saw was cancelled do to weather which makes me scratch my head b/c I thought the game was supposed to be at Cooper and don’t they play on turf?  Anybody have info on that?

The St. Elizabeth game of the Month was #2 Highlands @ #3 Dixie

The first thing noticed was that you had Haley Parks going in goal for the Birds, as mentioned last week Gessner got taken out of the Weds game last week with about 15 min left in the Assumption game after a hard challenge against her while she slid on the ground to get a ball.  I have no idea if the injury that pulled her from that game is still lingering and that is why she didn’t play last night or if her club commitments kept her from playing, regardless the game was Haley Parks in goal, the weather as everyone in NKY knows and played in last night was crappy, rainy and down right miserable…..

Highlands came out and literally dominated “possession” the whole game.  I don’t think I have seen such a possession lopsided game yet this season out of Highlands.  Big KUDOS to the Dixie keeper who defended her goal like a champ stopping shot after shot that was taken against her.  Highlands was able to score first on a ball that bounced around in the box and Chloe Bramble was able to put it in.

Not more than a few minutes later Dixie was able to punch back with a sweet cross that found an attacker on the far post that snuck by the defender for a nice put in for a goal to bring the game even 1-1.

The final goal of the half was Macy Hedenberg from way downtown probably 35 yds out launches a shot that found the upper 90 right side of the goal!

Halftime 2-1

In the 2nd half Highlands got a corner kick that Jade put right into the sweet spot of the box and Claire Cavacini to put the Birds up 3-1 early in the 2nd half.

Then came probably 15-20 min of just Birds possessing the ball but no goals to show for it.  Then like on queue the rain sort of picks up and Dixie puts some long balls over the top to some runners.  

Dixie took a shot that it looked like Haley dove to the side but in doing so it looked to me like she landed on the ball awkwardly which made the ball squirm behind her and trickled in the goal.  Birds 3-2 still in the lead….take a deep breath we are ok….

Literally a few min later another breakaway Dixie was able to get to the top of the box for a shot, was a easy grounder right at Parks who bent over to scoop the ball up and it just slip right through her hands in between her legs and into the goal, TIE GAME 3-3!

O crud, can we pull this out now is the attitude.

Luckily we didn’t have to panic to long, Birds got another corner kick opportunity were Jade this time dropped it right in front of the front post where Sr Julia Heck was able to pop it into the back of the net to put Birds back up 4-3, with 15 min left in the game.

The rest of the game was almost like watching a basketball team go into their 4 corners set.  Throw ins took longer, corner kicks literally gobbled up at least 30-40 seconds to set up each time. It was time management at its finest, which I am sure was very frustrating to watch as a Dixie fan, player or coach.

Final 4-3, Birds win

So should it have been that close? Probably not. At the end of the day both teams had to play in that weather so not going to blame the score on weather.  Birds had plenty of opportunities to score more and they couldn’t execute their shots.

I’ll take the win and move on……Next Up:  KY Maher Ranked #2 in the State South Oldham on Saturday.

[FrankNicodemus]

O one last thing:  St Elizabeth game of the Month sponsor handed out a MVP of the game which went to Jade Rehberger!  Who on the score sheet earned 3 ASSISTS in the evening.  Which was well deserved since in my opinion she got SNUBBED by the Lex Cath Tourney committee not being on the All Tournament Team down there…..Nice job Jade!  Well deserved.