whatsalenyou

I'll go with CCH 5-0 in this one. They can pack it in all they want, but it is still going to get past them. They can't focus on just one player in this one. I think that speed plays a big factor in this one and I don't think that Dixie has much of a scoring threat at this point to require CCH to stay back. I think that the reserve players get a decent amount of playing time in this one. Dixie has a good keeper, but you can only do so much.

Gotta go 2-0 NCC on this one. I think NCC has more talent and will get it done.

I'll go 3-0 on this one. Sounds like Brossart had plenty of opportunities to finish and didn't get it done. I think Cooper does a better job of cashing in tonight.

Feel bad for Boone County players at this point. Sounds like they are struggling to hold the team together and remain disciplined. I think St. Henry wins 3-1. Hopefully it will be a well-played and clean game. No team is without a player or two who is prone to a card here or there. I just hope that they can all keep it in check tonight.

Sorry, I guess that this was my fault. Didn't mean to steer it off kilter, but I think that we are all better people now that we have had this discussion. Not sure that there is any real consensus on this other than Billy's Mom is not much of a statistician.

I am not sure that either goal technically had an assist. The Lannon goal involved a pass to him which he then dribbled, lifted over a defender, then lifted again over the keeper for the goal. The Green goal was initially passed by Langen, but was headed by a Lex Cath player and was going to be an own goal if Green didn't touch it at the goal mouth. Good game last night for the Cru. I think that the change in formation helped them. They looked much improved over the past few games, but still have plenty of work to do to get where they need to be. Still need to improve the activity level, improve communication, and cut down on the random kicks with no idea where they are going. They created a lot of chances to score last night, but need to cash in more frequently. Defense looked better most of the night.

St. Henry was lucky to escape with a win. Alex Barton played very well for Villa and a series of St. Henry defensive miscues made the game a lot closer than it should have been. St. Henry needs to figure out what style they are going to play. The players seem to be playing on different pages still. Still have balls being played in the air that should be to feet and a lack of communication. Very frustrating to watch at this point. It would be good to see some constructive communication instead of random yelling. Ref should be working a line as he lacked any decisiveness or consistency. St. Henry still needed to take care of business. As to coaching if you play the same players that makes the same mistakes over and over, maybe it's time to tinker a little. I hope they figure this out soon as it is difficult to watch at times.

I would also point out that the 7th & 8th graders also would still have Club soccer available to them in the Fall, the Freshman would not. With the growth patterns of kids being wildly different around this stage, this would allow the kid to potentially develop or become more coordinated while remaining in the program. For many incoming Freshmen this is also an opportunity to meet kids coming from other schools and acclimate before the school year begins. The Freshmen team is about development and not about wins and losses. I don't recall the last time that I saw anyone publishing a lot of Freshmen game scores. It's a high school team that should be populated with high school students first and then kids from feeder schools second should a need arise. What is allowed and what is right can be different things.

Tex, I agree with your sentiments. St. Henry is not playing as a team at present. They don't seem to trust that their teammate is going to do his job and pull themselves out of position. They aren't on the same page with one another right now. Hopefully it all gets pulled together soon, but they aren't a young team as they have a large Senior class at the Varsity level.

OK. I'll take the bait. As I said before, I think that there is enough talent on the St. Henry team to have won the game last night and they put two off the frame that would have equalized it. You obviously from your comment feel otherwise. As I said before, they are still trying to figure out their lineup and positions that people should play. There is talent there, but the coaches and players haven't put it together yet. From what I saw NCC was beatable, but as I said they did what it took to win last night. NCC has some nice players, but they will need to improve to advance out of the region.

NCC did what it took to win. St Henry had their chances and didn't convert including one off the crossbar and one off the post. Coulda...woulda...shoulda. I wouldn't say that St Henry didn't have the talent to win the game, but the coaches haven't found the right mix at this point. They truly haven't put things together yet. Not using Soccerama to find the right mix seems to have been a tactical mistake that I would hope they regret and don't repeat.

That's fine if you want to break for 10 minutes, but why give away possession and not start the game where you left off?

Not only did they switch sides, but they stopped the game when the ball went out deep in Dixie's end with St Henry ready to throw the ball in. Dixie was awarded the ball when they restarted the game after switching ends. The refs kept saying that it was KHSAA rules. If those are the actual rules, they seem pretty poorly thought out. You take possession away from a team ready to throw the ball in and give it to the other team while switching ends? It would seem to make more sense to re-start the game where action stopped. Seems ridiculous to start at midfield again giving away possession. How is that fair?

They may be practicing, but it won't be on the game field. They have a smaller practice field on campus that they have no qualms about destroying! They will either do that or they will run the players around the track or paved surfaces. They have a great grass field and are in no hurry to destroy it this early in the season.

Not sure that I agree with the views expressed above about "head hunting" and "open season" as it appeared that Cov Cath got at least their fair share of calls during the night. There were a number of times when the ref missed the first foul by a player and called the secondary foul. I agree that the ref should have used a yellow a little earlier for a hard foul or two, but I don't think that Cov Cath would have been unscathed by this either. The game was definitely teetering on getting out of control. The yellow card given was deserved as the player had the ball in his hands dropped it and then picked it back up again while moving away from the spot of the infraction intentionally delaying the play of the ball. Some of what you didn't see or hear is players being challenged to a fight during the game which may have come from a Cov Cath player...I know that it is hard to imagine your little angels doing this, but it did happen and was the cause of one of the little talks with the ref. You have to remember that what you see and hear in the stands is different from what actually occurs on the field. The correct team won last night as Cov Cath was clearly the better team. I have to say that I think that they were helped by coaching decisions made the St. Henry coaching staff. They managed to turn areas that should be a strength into weakness through talent evaluation errors and playing people out of position. Seems to happen every year. Congrats to Cov Cath on starting the season with a strong win and good luck going forward.

The thing that is very dangerous about withholding a handful of players as St Henry's coaches did is that it tells the other players that they aren't as important as the ones who sat out. This could create divisions among the team with some players getting an inflated ego and feeling of entitlement and leave the other players feeling unappreciated by their own coach. They essentially told the other players that they didn't care about them and felt they were easily replaced. I don't see much upside to this. I hope it works out for them as it could be very damaging to the team.