Big Red

As expected, fun game to watch. These teams look very similar in style, size, and skillset. Tonight, Jackson and Eubank brought more toughness to help pull away in last minute.

The teams at the top being this good is what makes this fun. They will play it out, will be must watch games, and potentially beat each other up. I agree that Ryle's top 4 are probably a a bit higher rated as individual college recruits. That said, I'm not sure who NDA's 4th best player is to put into the comparison.

I reserve the right to adjust after watching Ryle vs. Cooper, but after seeing NDA play twice now, and the last time NDA played Ryle, I'm going NDA #1. Ryle graduated their leader, Crittenden. I haven't seen what Ryle has added, but Crittenden brought A LOT to that team last year. NDA is the SR heavy team this year, and (similar to soccer) they look like a Mike Tyson bully that can back it up. They have a legit 11 in the rotation, and aside from 1, they range from 5'8 to 6'2. They are going to full court press from the tip to the end. Big, physical, fast and Coach Murphy is subbing constantly. They will make every game a heavyweight fight, and (again similar to soccer) they look like they know they are going to physically wear you down. They have 4 confident scorers in the starting 5, 3 Bigs that know their role, and a very athletic bench. The Ursuline game was not as close as the 15 point final score. Ursuline made a high % of their threes, including several bank shot 3's, and NDA did not shoot well for them. I know Ryle is really talented. I think Cooper is as well, and looking forward to seeing them. I think NDA has the SR leadership, deeper bench, and will physically beat up whoever they play in NKY.

Good work. I need to see Cooper play, but I almost suggest the top 3 are 1a., 1b., and 1c. It will be interesting to see state rankings. I find it hard to believe that there are 10 teams better than those 3 in the state. I could be wrong. This should be fun to follow!

In the game against Beechwood, NDA hit 12 threes. I think at one point McKnight and Hubert hit a combined 8 of their first 10 attempts. I agree, and think you make a simple but important point. With their Sr leadership and makeup of this team, if McKnight and Hubert are hitting 3's, NDA is going to tough to beat.

Specific to the junior class soccer players at NDA, the answer is a big... "It depends." There are 3 top level studs: Kennedy Clark - Xavier commit, Ellie Greenwell - uncommitted, still entertaining D1 offers, and Abby Unkraut - Penn State commit that has opted NOT to play high school for her first 3 years. Next year's NDA team is impacted dramatically by whether one or both Clark and Unkraut play. I have no insight into either. Why would Unkraut play? It seems a lot of these DA/GA girls do play high school in their SR years across Cincinnati area. I do know Clark enjoyed the experience. IF (big IF) those three played and combined with Summe, Meier, Hemsath, Danneman, etc. would make for a very good SR class. There is also plenty in the pipeline of underclassmen. Tranter, Knapke, and McGraw were all solid players and play high level club. Kimmy Woeste and Scarlet Cogswell did not play due to ACL injuries, but both will be key players next year. Rennaker will takeover as goalie. I haven't seen her play much, but heard she is athletic and solid. In terms of historic perspective, I think you could go in several directions. NKY greatest of all time? I would think those state records put them in a state wide all time status, not just NKY. What about this NDA defense as a most dominant high school sports "unit" in NKY across sports in recent decade or longer? How many soccer teams were feared to the point where throughout state tournament teams (#2 and #3 rated teams) abandoned their typical game plan? This team probably deserves a thread dedicated to historic relevance. Not sure what the most entertaining perspective would be. Any thoughts on what makes most sense?

As the most active NDA poster, I'll put a wrap on our active and friendly coverage of this year's girls soccer season and final game. If you were at the game, or followed on line, my (probably biased) opinion was that the score was closer than the game. Others could've seen differently, but NDA could have easily been up several goals by half. I think I read 7 shots on goal to none in first half, and we missed a few close opportunities. South Oldham kept 4 on their back line, seemed to mix up their midfield formation (mostly kept defensive) several times, and kept their Louisville committed, stud striker high. They did not generate much of an offensive threat in the first 70 minutes of the game. It was not because they were packing the box. I think the Panda's defended so well in both midfield and final 3rd, and were able to counter so quickly that South Oldham could not get off their heels. The SO defense and goalie were very busy throughout. The Panda's seemed to fall back to more defensive formation in the final 13-15 minutes and did lose their composure a bit to make things a little uncomfortable. A few unnecessary fouls allowed several set pieces for South Oldham in late stage of the game, but NDA was able to get it together and close the game out. My comments are that (similar to the NDA vs. HIghlands regional final match) South Oldham is a well coached, very good team, but that NDA is a different level with D1 talent and experience all over the field. I heard the South Oldham coach was complimentary (and classy) with post game comments toward NDA. As @Frank commented, South Oldham is young and should be a top team in the state next season. A lot to say about this team and this season, but best to share the final details. Here is a copy / paste from Coach Suli's Facebook post summary of The Panda's season: 28-0-1 Undefeated State Champs State record Most Total Wins State record Most Shutouts 24 118 goals scored and only 4 goals allowed State record fewest goals allowed by a tea.

It has been an impressive and fun year. The Panda's resume that the news has done a nice job covering, seems to be fuel for their opponents. These teams are showing up with nothing to lose, pumped up, underdog mentalities, and leaving nothing on the field. West Jess, Highlands, Beechwood, Lex Cath, etc. all brought all the fight they had to give, and have not made this easy. The quality of soccer and effort in these games have been impressive. Also seems like every team has a tremendous goalie to go with their effort. South Oldham probably has as much offensive talent as NDA has faced. This is going to be a great game, no doubt.

West Jess did not go down, without a strong fight. As expected, they left nothing on the field. Most important to address is to the health of their goalie. She was truly great, and hopefully, physically, ok.

Way to go Colonels! How big of an upset was this?

It was a good, tough, well played game. That mid field bomb was awesome. We have seen some good ones, but that was about as impressive of a free kick as I have seen. Would have been interesting to get a radar gun on that ball. I find it difficult to give a bunch of commentary. Lex Cath packed it in from the on set, and as mentioned hit a great shot on a free kick, then kept it packed in. NDA possessed most of the game, and Lex Cath tried to play the ball out long every time. Lex Cath strength, I would say, is in their back line, but the talk amongst The Panda parents was that it was a surprise that they came out in a defensive (9-10 back) formation. I'm not criticizing their game plan, but folks were surprised to see it from the #2 rpi team. Lex Cath definitely has some high end players on defense. Not NDA's best execution of play, were a bit tentative shooting in the first half, but settled in the second half. Lex Cath did a nice job focusing their defense on Feldman, Ruthsatz, and Simkonis. It did leave a gap outside the box where Kennedy Clark was able to be the difference maker in the second half. NDA created several other chances that were taken away by a few questionable off sides calls. Stressful, but happy to get the win and move on.

I can't imagine it would be painful to pull this off for soccer, basketball, baseball, and volleyball. Yes, basketball has a certain unique stigma to its tournament. Basketball could figure out a way to maintain the "stigma" of the sweat 16 tournament. I agree there is a good amount of value in the effort to expand and make a few simple tweaks.

Track, swimming, tennis, and golf are mostly individuals that qualify and move on. I don't think that's a good comparison. I think soccer, basketball, baseball, and volleyball all line up to sweet sixteen of region winners. If I had a vote, I would vote to expand to 32. Why not? More games, more gate money for schools, and look at the basketball tournament last year. I think 5-6 of the top teams in the state did not qualify for the state tournament. Soccer is same each year.

LOL, I had to re-read your opening sentence. That's funny, but nothing is for taken granted in this tournament! Haven't we seen many upsets recently? Very interesting how they break up the blind draw in 2 halves?!?! Any reason for that? Do you have any take on the matchups or teams? I have only seen Sacred Heart and South Oldham. Something tells me (and I think you may have eluded to this as well) that NDA did not get Sacred Heart's best effort when they played in Lexington. I do know South Oldham has some studs. They are fast, can score, and have talent in their backline.

Couldn't agree more. Boone County did a fantastic job, the place was booming, and the kids put on a great show. Highlands kids left nothing in the tank, and a few of them may have needed an IV after that game. Coach Suli was constantly subbing with fresh legs, which was something that didn't happen in past years big games. Parents were puzzled by that, but NOT the case this year! I just heard a bit of news that deserves a big congrats. Abby Breeze broke the STATE record for saves in a season last night with 21! Congrats to Abby and The Panda defense, that group has been consistently impressive all season.

Final NDA 4 - Highlands 0 Guessing most already are aware of the outcome. This was another exciting, fast, and physical game. In trying to find the right way to put a "word" bow a on this game (and series this year), Highlands has some really good players, but NDA just has more. NDA was minus Spivey, but did have Kennedy Clark (which is a big deal), and Highlands did have Gessner in goal. @Legacy YES, absolutely agree, AND, Ruthsatz is also blatantly missing from the list. Difficult to find someone more fun to watch than her right now!

First, Impressive offensive showings by Highlands and Dixie vs. 2 good defenses. I expected both to win, but clearly "flexing some muscle" in these games. Yes, pretty typical game, and clean game. Not many whistles. New Cath played 1 player up top and the rest on def. All but 1 of NDA's goal had to be well earned and were quality goals. Coach went to the bench fairly early for him, which was good to see.

Seriously, it's brutal getting out of the 9th!

Exactly... Dixie, have fun playing against Beechwood. Lady Birds, enjoy that match vs. Ryle. Will be alot of fun... NOT!

Ryle does have a legit offensive threat. One of the Griffin twins is committed to Xavier. Beechwood does not have a player like her in the midfield.

I was careful to not be critical of their strategy in any way. My actual statement was they executed exactly what they intended to do. They did a fantastic job, and would not indicate otherwise. As mentioned, Beechwood will be frustrating to whoever they play in the Regional.

It's tough to reply to the comments of Beechwood "playing good enough offense" or "generating enough offense" in a way that doesn't come off as negative. Understand my comments are not negative, but to give perspective. After watching them play twice, my opinion, is that they played with zero intent to "generate any offense, posses the ball, or create shots, period." 2 corner kicks were created from a result of their good defense, deflected ball, misplays by NDA, or imposed chaos. They scored on a corner that was initially cleared but deflected back in toward the goal and their player made a nice play to direct it into goal. That was the only time in 2 games that Beechwood attempted a shot. Yes, that one shot went in from a chaotic series of deflections, that can happen. To state or assume that they were playing offense, in my opinion, needs some added perspective. Again, I say that in no way to deter from their effort or effectiveness. And I have argued Beechwood has been "ranked" too low for a while. @FrankNicodemus comments are absolutely true. This is NOT a team that you feel good about playing in the first or second round. They are good at what they do, play defense.

Correction, Simon Kenton is not in the Region. Region winners would be ND, Lady Birds, Dixie, and winner of Ryle/Conner.

Beechwood had a plan to get to PK's. They were fired up and successful executing on their plan. Both goalies made nice saves in sudden death, at least I think they did, it was dark by then! From what I could see all the kicks that were good were low and in the corners, basically not stoppable. So solid by both teams. Coming from the NDA side, I didn't find this so unbelievable. Beechwood gave NDA fits in regular season, where NDA was able to score from deep only when the goalie got injured. Beechwood, Ryle, and SK gave NDA significant frustration, playing just defense and not worrying about offense in the regular season. @Frank has been looking for a chink in the armor. I have to say this is 4 games vs. 4 teams that play this style, and will make the regional tournament. NDA does not like to play this way.

NDA beat Holmes 10-0, and the only thing to comment on is to double down on prior comment that 17-0 is NOT necessary. Holmes parents were vocal at the game cheering their kids on, and were vocal in appreciation of good sportsmanship. Hopefully due to weather, NDA vs Beechwood is moved to not be played at Holy Cross