nizolek

Great to see your rankings mjuhb! Thought you were taking the season off. Though folks might disagree with one or two or a few of the rankings, they generate interest and usually positive comments. Been thinking about things a little. Good to see ND at #3 overall. Really think they're strong. Think that CAK needs to be moved up from #20 overall, though. I think those two will be the best in AA/A by a long shot, and really among the top 10 in the State including all categories. Those two schools have just got a lot of good things going for them: good to excellent coaching, individual and big game experience, great school support, a number of special talents that can change or take over games. Hope brackets shape up so that they can meet in the finals this year. Still got to get there, of course, but the pieces are in place for those two teams.

Oak Ridge 3 Maryville 0 Game unfortunately marred by 2 serious injuries to Maryville players, 1 to an OR player.

CAK 2 Oak Ridge 1 at CAK CAK scores at about 4 minutes and then in the first minute of the 2nd half off of a direct kick. OR scores late in the 1st half. Pretty even game I think. Watch out for CAK. You get the sense they will only get better. OR had some lapses in the back. CAK very organized, able to turn away a lot of OR pressure.

Canes, I'm with you on your comments.

DonC-- Man that stinks! Don't know the ND goalkeeper, but I know several of the field players. Outstanding young ladies! All the best to the injured player and best wishes for a full and speedy recovery.

From the East, West High School seems to be improving and has a good chance of advancing to the Region, I think. Webb School of Knoxville has some talent and is well organized. They have a shot at advancing to DII State this year.

atdenton: I appreciate your perspectives. You gave me some things to think about. Your tone was constructive and I commend you for it.

G--Your sentiments are noble, as usual, but the problem is that coaches don't teach and referees don't enforce. Sure they should, but they don't. Your response is based on the premise that people will take affirmative actions--"instruct correctly", "bring an instructor", "refs can get a handle". Coaches and ref's don't take these affirmative actions because it is hard to do, and, being human, it's easier not to do these things. I know referees and, especially, coaches care, but let's face it, it's not the coach or referee that gets to deal with the injured girl. It's the player and the parent that get to miss school, make the hospital visits, and write the checks. G, you've probably watched many more games than I have, but I struggle to remember a well executed slide tackle in girls high school soccer. Some alternatives to outright banning of slide tackles that will require coaches and referees to put some skin in the game, so to speak: --Make referees and and coaches prepare a report to the TSSAA if an injury occurs that is serious enough that a player has to leave a game. --Mandate safety training for coaches and for referees. --Mandate that coaches spend a certain amount of time addressing player safety in practice. --Others? Before you just say no to these things, think of all the girls you know in your school and others who cannot play or will not play because they've been seriously injured or they fear serious injury. I'd would suggest that taking safety measures such as the ones I list above would improve participation and also improve the game. Let the debate begin.

I'd like to see the slide tackle outlawed by the TSSAA. While some high school girls have the skill, body control, and discipline to perform the technique correctly and safely, far too many don't know what they're doing, and they just end up hurting themselves or someone else. Giving someone a yellow or red card is great, but what does it do for the poor girl writhing on the ground or the family stuck with medical bills? The view's not worth the climb as far as I'm concerned when it comes to slide tackles.

BA please pass along best wishes from the Eastern part of the State where she is well known and respected. The ACL is a bad injury, but with a good surgeon and diligent rehab, she can be back as good as new by the next soccer season. All the best!

Ilovethisgame: There's now a vast amount of literature out there explaining why females are more prone to knee ligament injuries. The reasons boil down, if I remember right, two general explanations. One, the shape of the female lower body and muscle imbalances naturally place more stress on the cruciate ligaments. Second, the female foot fall (locked leg versus bent knee) also places more stress on the same connective tissue. There are now training programs everywhere that can address these issues. I would recommend you talk with your orthopedic surgeon and ask him if he knows of local trainers / programs that can help your daughter avoid future injury. Finally, really sorry to hear about your daughter's injury. I hope she comes back soon and strong.

Not a lot of development on the women's side, but what's there is amazing. The girls, like the boys, play with a lot of flair. The overall athleticism of the Brazilian people is very high, and futbol is imbedded in their genetic makeup. We, unfortunately, tend to promote robotic play with our (overly?) structured system. It's like the difference between Spanish basketball and U.S. basketball--our kids learn it on the streets and pickup games and the Spanish learn it in leagues. After that, there will be a lot of scrutiny on this coaching staff. Changing GK for this game was a poor decision because it disrupted the team's concentration, among other things. Also, the coaches had these fine atheletes for two years of practices and they could not possess the ball to save their lives. All they did was kick away possession. I know they play a style of pushing the ball quickly to the forwards, but there's a difference between calculated kicks and blind panic. Too often we appeared to favor blind panic. Overall, a very dissappointing result for US soccer fans. Perhaps this whole thing deserves its own thread so Coach T readers and posters can vent.

Injuries. I'm like all parents--I wish they didn't happen. The USA Today article probably hits on the key reasons: increasing numbers of our girls running quickly beside or on to their opponents which leads to collisions, and inherent anatomical characteristics of women. It's a lot of fun watching our daughters, sisters, nieces, friends play the game, but anytime you've got 22 girls flying around an enclosed space competing for 1 ball, you're going to see injuries, unfortunately.

Okay, just to stir things up...people who have seen both say both excellent squads but C-ville seems superior. I'll take C-ville 2 goals to Houston's 1.

Laban, I really liked your post. It wouldn't hurt to have all players, coaches, and (especially?) parents read your post and think about it. Thank you.

Brittany Hoffman

Oak Ridge 5 Girls Preparatory School (GPS) 1

Did you see Oak Ridge? Any thoughts?

The OR / Jackson Prep game was OR-2, JP-0

Manoamano-- You're in luck if you're a H.S. women's soccer fan. See the thread concerning the Memphis / Rivals Soccer Invitational hosted by Houston and Collierville H.S. Games all weekend including this evening at Houston and Collierville.

mjuhb-- your knowledge is amazing, however, i would like to give the following input: trenna howell is shown as a midfielder; she's pretty much a forward. greta jockman should be spelled Greta Jochmann. i'd like to suggest Gwen Lawson from OR as one of your top defenders. i'd like to suggest Rachel Johnson from OR as one of your top midfielders. thanks.

OR outshot Greenville 14-5. Among OR shots were 5-6 serious threats including one off the post. Among Greenville shots was 1 serious threat, which resulted in a goal. Greenville has a very fine team and appears to be well coached. The defensive back line and goal keeper were impressive. I would guess at least a couple of them will or can play in college. They used a trapping defense which was effective. They had a midfielder (#6) who stood out as well. OR played well, after not playing so hot last week in the last game of the Katie Hunter tourney. Three of their midfielders (#24, #3, and #10) caught my eye, although it was their senior star (T. Howell) who scored on a breakaway (assisted by the GK I believe). Nice field, nice night, nice soccer.

Perhaps, but Central is a required district opponent and Kingston and Clinton are traditional local opponents. In the coming weeks OR plays Greenville, DB, Farragut, Collierville, BGA, GPS, Houston, and Bearden. Nobody at OR has a false sense of what was accomplished with the first 3 games.

Mustcoach and others please see response to regal4 under the rankings week 2 topic.

OR starters played a half or less. Trenna Howell played about 20 minutes. In that space of time she scored 5 goals. The "problem" here is that OR 12 - 22 is about as good as its 1-11, better than most E. TN teams. Now their first 11 may not be as good as Farragut's or Bearden's, but OR is deep and their backups can and will score. All due respect, REGal4, I've seen Ms. Howell play two times. She's the real deal, and she does make her teammates better. People who know her say that she's a solid, hard working, team oriented player.