hamlet7478

Excellent post Dins...it could be chapter 1 of your history of TN soccer!

Congratulations to Brentwood on the NSCAA ranking and for the hard fought victory over Houston. I'm an East TN'er, and a fan of Farragut, Bearden, Catholic, CAK et. al., but the rankings have at least some validity and 24-0 is pretty impressive...and 16 or so consecutive shutouts has got to mean something. This ranking, and the overall competitiveness of TN soccer (Brentwood won, but I'm sure they would admit they had some tough battles along the way) makes it all the more disappointing to me that no TN soccer player, male or female, was recognized on the Parade All America teams published this morning.

I like this prediction except I go with fewer goals--2-1 either way.

Looks like the Kickers won their last game because TNSoccer has them as the 4th place team in the State League.

Yikes! God speed to Coach Plummer and to his family.

ucsoccer -- I would agree with everything you say about OR. A few additional comments: OR has absolutely no reason to be overconfident since they've already lost to Sullivan South this year. Also, who knows how serious the injury to Diego is? As a senior, he'd drag himself on to the field. Will he be as effective as usual? The game is at Sullivan, so based on that and the above, I'd say Sullivan is the favorite. Anyone disagree?

xqqqme--our vowel challenged friend--thanks for all the information. The State has done a poor job updating its web site, so we folks with an interest in club soccer would be in the dark without you.

UC -- interesting observations. You seem to know what you're talking about. I was thinking the big field would give the highly skilled West players more space to operate. Your point on the other topic was, I think, that West lacks fitness, if I'm not mistaken. That's also an interesting observation. Plausible, I think. We'll see who's right pretty soon.

West 3 - OR - 1 Great run OR, but the bigger field actually helps West more than the home team.

I want to second the notion that Diego played a great game. Besides the two goals, he was seemingly everywhere. Coach Sheppard was quoted as saying, in effect, that he's very crafty. I would agree with that. He's always doing little things to help his team. An unsung hero for Oak Ridge, in my opinion, is Jordan (I hope I have the first name right) Howell. This is Trenna Howell's brother, I think. He really stepped up in the back and played a strong game all night. He was particularly effective in the air. Aside from these two, the whole O.R. squad played with passion and intelligence. Maryville has a very, very nice team. A pleasure to watch. They actually controlled action for long stretches, but their attacks were often foiled by very tenacious O.R. defense. I believe O.R. had Mr. Ridge (#7) marked out. Speaking of #7, he's quite an athlete. I suspect Coach Quarles would be very happy to have him on the football team as a defensive back or a running back. I believe #10 who's obviously a key player, was slightly hurt in the second half, which didn't help Maryville's cause. I don't know the distribution of classes on the Maryville's squad, but if they don't lose many seniors they will certainly be a force next year as well.

Sorry to beat this old horse some more, but I would call this foul tactically smart, but not strategically the best thing to do. I don't Mr. Muth, but from the posts he must be Farragut's best or nearly best defender. Assuming your objective is the State championship, then Mr. Muth's foul was committed in what amounts to a pool game. He is not available for the next game, which is a knockout game. It would be much better to have your best defender for the knockout game. Would have been better not to foul in this situation, in my opinion. Of course, I have the benefit of time. Mr. Muth had a second or two to make his decision. Incidentally, I wonder why soccer doesn't adopt something like other sports (like rugby) where if a foul is committed that prevents what is almost certainly a score, then the referee can award a "penalty" score (in rugby, a try). The soccer equivalent would be a PK, regardless of the spot of the foul. Best of luck to all regional semi-finalists. I hope you all are in top form, and may the best teams win.

#11 (Tanner) had a brilliant throw to #10 (don't know name), about 35 yards, and #10 headed it past the OR keeper. This was relatively early in the 2nd half. One correction to an earlier post: The score was 2-1 when the first lightning delay occurred; OR had just scored off of a volley from a free kick.

It's a bit disappointing that no Tennessean made the list. (See link: http://www.soccerbuzz.com/)

I hope you're right. It would make things more interesting for us fans. Best of luck to Alcoa, Pigeon Forge, and Carter (and Catholic and CAK, too).

For SRFC, wouldn't that be 1-2-0? One win, two losses, no ties? By the way, ESC Black finished #2 in Region III last year. A very, very strong team which won all three of its games in this tourney.

Catholic looks very good in A/AA, should make a strong run for the gold, but never count out CAK. In AAA, you'd have to say Farragut and West will be there, with Bearden still in search of the right chemistry, apparently. No serious contender in Division II, unfortunately.

I guess JPII is #1 now? The old man would be proud.

West 3 OR 1

Fields at Moss Park are pretty good, level, though many are less than full size. North of Nashville. They cannot be any worse than the fields have become at Mike Rose, unfortunately. It's too bad that games cannot be played at Siegel, really now the best complex in the State. Fields at Rotary are probably better than Moss, too. Anything's better than having to drive to Memphis for us mid and east TN'ers.

No, it's true. They were lured to the sport by Patches O'Houlihan.

Where and when is the game?

Dins: I respect your opinions, but you've never made a decision and regretted it? Especially when you were 18? Your point about handing the trophy to CAK is well taken, though. Basically, Brandon Tarr is a fun player to watch. He's one of the best, if not the best ever to come out of E. TN. It's not just that he's good, it's the way he plays...kind of dangerous. After this spring, we don't see him again, probably. So for a disinterested soccer fan, it's a good thing that he's coming back.

Soccer fans are happy to be able to see Brandon playing once again (except maybe some opponents!).

Mr. Leen was very impressive. Not only is he physically tough, but he really showed a lot of mental toughness. He adopted tactics that were perfect for countering his opponents many strengths, keeping him off balance for almost all of the championship match. Great work. Fascinating to watch. Congratulations to Mr. Leen and to the whole Baylor wrestling program.

No, all games were played. Please visit the Stones River Lady Strikers web site for results if you're interested.