Top 5 in the 9th Region Head to Head

[The Double Deuce]

The top 5 teams in the 9th are pretty clear at this point, and all of their head-to-head games are now complete, save the Ryle vs CovCath game, so I thought we could take a quick look at how they stack up with that one game left to play.  

*  Dixie is 2-1-1 against the other 4 teams, with wins vs CovCath and Ryle, a loss to Cooper, and a tie with Highlands.  They scored 7 and gave up 5 in those 4 games.

*  Cooper is 2-1-1 against the other 4 teams, with wins vs CovCath and Dixie, a loss to Ryle, and a tie with Highlands.  They scored 7 and gave up 6 in those 4 games.

*  Ryle is 1-1-1 with their game with CovCath still outstanding, with a win vs Cooper, a loss to Dixie, and a tie with Highlands.  In their 3 games thus far they have scored 6 and allowed 7 goals.

*  CovCath is 1-2-0 with their game with Ryle still to come, with a win vs Highlands, and losses to Dixie and Cooper.  In their 3 games they have scored 4 goals and allowed 5.

*  Highlands is 0-1-3 against the other 4 teams, with a loss to CovCath, and ties to Dixie, Cooper, and Ryle.  They scored 9 and gave up 10 in those 4 games.

Having seen them all multiple times, I'd say Highlands has the best attack, Ryle has the best defense / GK, Cooper has the most depth and is very complete, but Dixie has the most complete team with high-end players at all 3 levels, but not a ton of depth.  I'm not sure CovCath does anything as well as the best in any area, but they can certainly play with all of them (as we've seen), and they have a couple of guys who have proven to be somewhat dependable goal-scorers.  Plus, CovCath still has some kids from last year's runner-up team that know how to win when the lights are on, and experience is a great thing.

I won't comment or go into coaching of the 5 teams, but I will say I think Coach Collins and his staff are the best of the 5, but I'm sure that isn't a universally accepted opinion.  I fully get that.

[2 much info]

Make this a top 4 removing CovCath and I agree with you. Too many inconsistent results for them. I would throw them into Tier II with Conner and NCC.

I also believe the Tier II teams have the potential to bring the top 4 teams' season to an end come Regional play. All 3 have proven they can beat/compete with the top 4.

I would give the nod to Dixie's staff.

[The Double Deuce]

With Ryle and CovCath's game concluded, just for consistency sake, here is how these 5 teams did against each other in the regular season:

Dixie was 2-1-1  (7 points)

Cooper was 2-1-1  (7 points)

Ryle was 2-1-1  (7 points)

CovCath was 1-3-0  (3 points)

Highlands was 0-1-3  (3 points)

[FrankNicodemus]

Assuming that the 4 District winners are in this group of 5 that someone is going to have to play the District Runner Up of Cooper/Ryle (I realize Conner is in the background saying wait just a sec, don't count us out yet).....fine I will throw in Conner....Let me rephrase, whoever is the District Champ playing the Dist 33 Runner Up is going to have their hands full!!!!!!

I can't wait!!!!

[The Double Deuce]

5 minutes ago, FrankNicodemus said:

Assuming that the 4 District winners are in this group of 5 that someone is going to have to play the District Runner Up of Cooper/Ryle (I realize Conner is in the background saying wait just a sec, don't count us out yet).....fine I will throw in Conner....Let me rephrase, whoever is the District Champ playing the Dist 33 Runner Up is going to have their hands full!!!!!!

I can't wait!!!!

For sure, Cooper or Ryle vs Dixie, CovCath, or Highlands (likely) would be a whale of a first round game!!

[The Double Deuce]

On 9/28/2022 at 8:09 AM, The Double Deuce said:

With Ryle and CovCath's game concluded, just for consistency sake, here is how these 5 teams did against each other in the regular season:

Dixie was 2-1-1  (7 points)

Cooper was 2-1-1  (7 points)

Ryle was 2-1-1  (7 points)

CovCath was 1-3-0  (3 points)

Highlands was 0-1-3  (3 points)

Wanted to re-surface this thread, and these stats versus each other, since the remaining four teams in the 9th were all highlighted in this Top 5 head-to-head look.  Certainly have to give the edge to Dixie and Ryle on Thursday night, but as we all know, anything can happen!

[FrankNicodemus]

Not so fast Flash!!  Highlands is playing their best soccer these last few weeks after Ponchak has scaled down his personnel changes.  I think the Mid Season everybody gets action even in a close 1-0 or 2-0 game has come and gone.  I really feel like the turning point game in that methodology was the NCC game.  Since then Highlands has gone 9-0-1, with there lone None victory was a come from behind tie that Dixie did at Dixie.....  All of Highlands missteps were still in the "Honeymoon" phase of Ponchaks tenure trying to figure out his personnel, trying not to ruffle so many feathers with not playing 17 Seniors on your roster, not really cutting anybody out of summer camp....That first month seems like a year ago.  During that span the Birds had their fair share of Brain fart games (Conner and Ryle really sticks out like a sore thumb!).  The passes have been cleaner, the lack of negative ball snafus that have resulted in goals have come and gone THANK GOODNESS!!!!

No matter what you think @The Double Deuce you aren't going to persuade me on who the team to beat is.....BUT are you surprised?

#GO BIRDS!!!  

I can't wait till Thursday......that PITCH is going to be rocking for BOTH games!

PS.....we must have been thinking the same thing this morning because I was going to go back and resurrect a post like this to discuss these Semifinal games.