gameplayedright

Yes it will!

Likewise, very surprised. Unfortunately I wasn't there, can't add any details. Seems the consensus is Boone, Highlands, NCC, and NDA (in no particular order) are the 4 contenders for the 9th region. Common opponents with Henry Clay. Boone 1 - HC 6. 8/16 HHS vs W Jessamine 9/3 HC Vs W Jessamine 10/1 NCC Vs George Rogers 10/1 HC Vs George Rogers 10/5 NDA Vs Lexington Cath 8/27 HC Vs Lexington Cath 9/26 Scores to watch for.

CCH current junior and sophomore class has a few really talented, technically skilled players that also play at a very high level on the club side. At least two that I'm aware (maybe more) have been on club teams that have won multiple State Cups/have Regional experience. Add the core of talented and experienced seniors, once they begin to settle into a consistent roration, get more comfortable playing together this team could be playing well into late Oct/early Nov. And the future looks bright for the next few yrs, a solid, very fast and athletic junior class, talent and depth at the sophomore class, and some nice upcoming talent in the freshman class. I'm not aware of another NKY team that has this much talent and depth at all 4 current classes.

It appeared the AR put his flag up right away to signal offsides. I believe the center over ruled, likely due to exactly what imsays. And I agree the center and his crew did a nice job in this game. And I should clarify a comment I made in an earlier post on this thread. Saying some of "the cch players walking off the field after the game appeared to not be happy with the result." Is directed at "not being happy" with the way they played, specifically in the second half. I'm sure they liked getting an earlier season win vs a quality opponent. But a team unsatisfied with a so so performance is always a good sign in my book. Saturday's final CCH Vs KY Country Day could be a very good game, good early test for both teams.

Assume due to the small number of students, Brossart only offers one senior retreat? NDA (not sure how they do it now) always offered 3 or 4 retreats throughout the school year. The seniors playing soccer obviously chose a retreat later in the school year to aviod what happened to Brossart last night.

Sounds like a good result for Cooper. Their defense is pretty solid, obviously they will score some goals this season. Question is their midfield. Against the top teams will their midfield, when put under pressure be able to get ASnow the ball enough in good scoring positions to do something? At this point I see Cooper and Ryle coming out of the 33 district.

CCH dominated first half, St Henry came out second half with more determination and got got one back. CCH went deep into their bench this game, pretty sure every field player played numerous minutes. Looked like St Henry did not go nearly as deep. CCH looked to be much more athletic, much faster. Both teams have some nice soccer players. Fair result. Not sure what effect this result has moving forward, but I did notice the cch players walking off the field almost appeared to not be happy with this result, in my mind thats a good thing.

Ballad winning does not surprise me but the score does, wow. Anyone at the game in person able to comment? Ballad that good, Simon Kenton that bad, combination of both?

When this post went up I thought it would generate some traffic. Not sure if the soccer threads have lost contributors' through graduation or because the season has not started yet, or what? I have noticed a significant lower amount of traffic on both the boys' and girls' soccer threads. Without question the most difficult time to make accurate predictions is the first week of any sports season, but here goes. Maybe this will get this (soccer threads) kick started. Monday, today Ballad 2- Simon Kenton 1 (Mustang Classic Tournament) Tuesday CCH 2 - St Henry 0 KY Country Day 3 - Brossart 1 Highlands 2- Cooper 0 Holy Cross 2- Walton-Verona 0 Scott 2 - Cooner 0 Thursday Campbell Co 1 - CCH 3 Cooper 2 - Holy Cross 0 Highlands 2 - St Henry 2 Friday Beechwood 1 - Holy Cross 3 Henry Clay 2 - Ryle 0 (Lexington Soccer Tournament) Boone Co 0 - Tates Creek 3 (Lexington Soccer Tournament) Saturday St Henry 3 - Bishop 1 @ CCH (Colonel Cup Tournament) CCH 2 - KCD 1 @ CCH (Colonel Cup Tournament) Trinity 3 - Highlands 1 Holy Cross 3 - Calvary Christian 1 (CC Invitation Tournament) Boone Co 0 - PL Dunbar 4 Sunday West Jessamine 2- NCC 1

I'll admit I haven't read the entire Maher ranking system/explanation in great detail, but add me to the list who do not like combining OH and KY teams in a single, combined ranking system. What is so wrong with having KY teams ranked collectively and OH teams ranked collectively, but separated by state? After all the best way to rank teams is by seeing how they do against like opponents correct? A very, very small number of KY and OH teams play each other. Since the Maher system places value on strength of schedule, I do enjoy taking a look every now and then. Comparing teams' W-L records and players' stats, goals scored, assists, etc to a point is meaningless until you know the level of competition each team and player competes against on a regular basis.

Opening week is fast approaching. Some interesting early season matchups involving NKY teams. Predictions? Monday 8/15 Simon Kenton Vs Ballard @ N Oldham (Mustang Classic Tournament) Tuesday 8/16 St Henry @ CCH (Colonel Cup Tournament) KY Country Day Vs Bishop Brossart @ CCH (Colonel Cup Tournament) Highlands @ Cooper Holy Cross @ Walton-Verona Scott @ Cooner Thursday 8/18 Campbell Co @ CCH Cooper @ Holy Cross Highlands @ St Henry Friday 8/19 Beechwood @ Holy Cross Henry Clay Vs Ryle @ various sites (Lexington Soccer Tournament) Boone Co Vs Tates Creek @ various sites (Lexington Soccer Tournament) Saturday 8/20 St Henry/ CCH looser vs KCD/Bishop looser @ CCH (Colonel Cup Tournament) St Henry/ CCH winner vs KCD/Bishop winner@ CCH (Colonel Cup Tournament) Trinity @ Highlands Holy Cross Vs Calvary Christian (CC Invitation Tournament) Boone Co Vs PL Dunbar @ various sites (Lexington Soccer Tournament) Sunday 8/21 West Jessamine Vs NCC @ East Jessamine

LOVE it for obvious reasons!!!

"Closer then the final score"...CCH staff must still be pleased with the performance . Sounds like both teams got something out of this. How did the depth look for CCH? Loosing 18-19 seniors/9-10 starters will have an effect on most every team's depth.

Good for them and congratulations boys. I'm one that believes it is good (if the players' ability warrants it) for a boys program for 2-3 or 4 freshman to play JV and and 1-2 or 3 sophomores play varsity. Helps keep the program strong year after year.

I think this falls right into what level are you refereeing? Clearly games are officiating differently based on the level of play. At the highest levels EPL, La Liga, International, etc the players are SO darn good, to the point unbelievable at times, they can make handling and fouls appear to be non-infractions at full speed, on the first look. But after watching it a few times on replay you can clearly see the intent. I marvel at how many times the referees get it right at those levels, and they only see it ONCE, at full speed and must make a spilt section decision under immense pressure. But I do agree with groinpull, even at the highest level handling, many times is called differently depending on what area of the field it happen.

These are all good points, for me in particular the ones highlighted. And I'm of the belief W-L are not critical in late August/early September. This is the time to figure out your starters, positions, rotations, roles, and who you can and can not count on in crunch time.

Good to hear, thanks for sharing imsays. I'm all for flow of the game, some of the hardest games to watch (and certainly to play) are the ones constantly being stopped by the whistle. On the same token if the players are constantly fouling it must be called. And the coaches asking for better control of the physical play and contact above the shoulders is great to hear! The more emphasis put on the technical aspects of the game the better IMO. The game has become more technical and will continue to do so. Rewarding the players that out work most others to become the top technical ones in the game is a very smart move. Becoming one of the top technical players is not natural, not a God given gift, it is achieved by tons of hard work and determination.

I'm only one opinion but here it is, 3 problems, in order of importance , I see in a lot of officiating today, especially in HS games. This is general and not related specifically to handling. 1. Poor foul recognition, by far the biggest issue/cause of poorly officiating games IMO. Knowing the rules like the back of your hand is only the start to being a good referee. 2. Positioning. I see many refs, centers and ARs that simply can't keep up with the speed of play. Hard to "recognize" a foul if you can't see it. 3. No calls. Witness a lot of no calls by center refs and ARs. I perceive this as a scapegoat. Apparently some feel if they don't call it they can't make the wrong call. IMO a no call in many cases is worse then calling something, even if it is wrong. This also goes along with poor foul recognition, some no calls are simply not called because the crew did not know it was a foul. With this said I see some very good referees in the game today and I truly respect and thank every ref that takes the time to work these games.

I didn't see any of the Soccerama games but some thoughts/questions on these comments. "Conner played nearly all sophomores." Did Connor play their JV team? "St Henry looked ok I guess but not as sharp as I expected with that many seniors." How many of these seniors played quality minutes (good amount of minutes in competitive, tightly contested games) last season? "Very choppy half for CCH and not very sharp either." Graduating 18-19 seniors (what ever it was) 9 and at times 10 of them quality starters will cause any program to take sometime to even begin to resemble a cohesive unit. "CCH played a mixed lineup in the first half so I expect they were experimenting quite a bit." Playing mixed up lineup (not surprised by this one bit) is needed but will cause CCH to be up and down early in the season. The CCH staff will get it figured out, but it won't happen over night. Also worth noting this was CCH's first scrimmage, they did not play in the BGSG, a lot of NKY teams already have 3 games of "experimenting" under their belt. "Cooper looked to be pretty good" Cooper reached the Regionals last year in a very competitive 34th District, not surprised by this score.

The girls' side looks to be quite the season. NDA likely has the most talent in NKY if not the state. But obviously talent alone does not guarantee anything. I would be very surprised if they are not playing the first week in Nov. But if Boone and NCC are as good as advertised on here it will be fun following along. Good luck to all of the teams and hoping everyone remains healthy.

Second this, hoping ASnow is okay and on a fast track to a quick recovery.

Nothing against Soccerama but I can't quite force myself to watch meaningless games in 90 degree heat. Looking forward to the seeing some good games once they count for something. Below are a few that appear to be interesting early season match ups. 8/15 Elizabethtown Vs Henry Clay 8/16 St Henry Vs CCH 8/16 Highlands Vs Cooper 8/17 Trinity Vs Ballard 8/18 Highlands Vs St Henry 8/19 Bowling Green Vs Paul Laurence Dunbar 8/20 Trinity Vs Highlands

National rankings at the HS level, at least the HSs that basically only play in their own backyard, less then a 100 mile radius, is a complete farce. How in the world do you compare (rank) teams in KY to NY, CA, TX, etc, etc that NEVER play each other, that never play the same opponents? With that said it's nice publicity and a testament to the strength of the program the staff has built the past few years. As for bulletin board stuff, from what I can gather CCH has a huge bulls eye on their back in almost every sport, this national ranking changes nothing, CCH is a huge game for every opponent, nationally ranked or not.

I agree with Sir, Alumni vs current team is cool and good for the program. It's a real shame that khsaa is totallying against alumni games, once again attorneys dictating rules IMO. Alumni staying involved/returning to the program is a sign of a good program/another sign of a good, respected coaching staff. Back to the listed scrimmages, S Oldham Vs HHS and then Vs CCH and Cooper Vs Clark Monessori is smart scheduling by all teams. Each of these match ups should provide each staff with a better idea of where they are at this point in their preseason, and what changes might be needed. These scrimmages area likely more helpful to the staff then the Soccerama games, which for the most part are more an exhibition, not anywhere close to played straight up.

This is terrific, years of hard work rewarded, congratulations! How many current NDA players are already committed to play in college? Would appear to be a very like a large number.