soccerrules25

Ryan Pugh of Maryville and Dusty McClanahan? (not sure of spelling) of Alcoa committed to Emory & Henry as well.

Yes CAK did beat Farragut and Maryville beat CAK 3-2 earlier that year as well. My point being that East TN has a lot of good soccer teams, and because the districts are so tough some really good teams that could very easily beat some other teams at State have to stay home.

I think you are wrong. Ryan Pugh was voted first team All District , District Defensive Player of the Year, and MVP of his team in the toughest District in the State, and he definitely deserves to be considered one of the best in the State. If you like some other players better that's fine, list them out and give their credentials but don't bash individual players. Ryan is a fantastic player with great touch, skill, speed, and vision as well as being a team captain and leader. He had a great year, and his coach and other coaches in this district obviously recognized that. Maryville only lost 1-0 to Farragut in the playoffs. I don't think anybody else played them that tough. And by the way Farragut scored their goal the lone time Ryan was out of the game for 5 minutes.

I saw Farragut play several times and I agree Stinton was their best player every time I saw them. I like your list Dins. All of these are great players and well deserving. Have they even announced All Region Players yet? How many typically make All State?

I think Maryville is another team to watch. They only lose 3 Seniors on a team that lost to Farragut 2-1 in regular season and 1-0 in district semi-finals. Also, they beat CAK and Oak Ridge, and tied Bearden at Bearden. They had 7 sophomores starting so with those guys maturing another year they should be even stronger and more consistent. What a district they will have though with Farragut, Bearden, Maryville, and now Catholic joining them. Should be fun to watch next year.

I agree with this. Farragut does a great job of playing to their strenghts and also recognizing how to attack the other team. They showed great patience in attacking Maryville and took advantage of being able to easily drop the ball to their defenders to get organized and attack again. They had a barrage of corners, free kicks, and throw ins for most of the first half and 20 minutes of second half. It was also amazing how many bodies they committ to attacking the goal on their set pieces. They had nine guys attacking the goal on many of those plays. It looked like a wave of white coming thru the box. Maryville did a great job keeping them out of the goal, but it is almost impossible for one to not eventually go in. As for Maryville I will say they came to play and as I said earlier in the year that if Maryville could learn to somehow create more offense they could play with anybody. I was very impressed with how they battled physicallly and did not back down even though their team is so young. Plus, they obviuosly never gave up and after they changed their formation the last 10 minutes or so to put more numbers in the attack they had Farragut completely on their heels and had several good chances to put the ball in the goal. As far as the sidelines, I guess that is part of being the home team, right? Both teams should be proud of their efforts and good luck to Farragut the rest of the season.

Great crowd at the game. I think a special thanks should go out to Alcoa for promoting this game so well and getting a crowd out to watch. Great atmosphere. I went to the Faragut/Bearden Game Thursday night and saw a similar crowd with the same type atmosphere and excitement. I think if more of the High Schools would take the time to promote their games(especially big rival games),we would see crowds like this more often. Again, I want to thank Alcoa for going the extra mile to get folks out to the game. Soccer has come a long way in Blount county and we have two great teams and programs that deserve to be supported. As for the game you could really tell both teams wanted this game badly. Hence the physical play during the game. I think Alcoa had been pointing to this game, and Maryville deserves a lot of credit for coming out with the victory in this one. They certainly did not back down, and we saw a lot of toe to toe physical play. I even thought the refs called it a little to tight on some of the action. Some good shoulder to shoulder play was being called fouls. Like Akula said only one play near the end of game was really out of line. Don't think either player(Sam Thompson or Ryan Pugh) was going to back down on that one, but it was great to see them walk away after the play was over. Both players played a great game, and it was fun to watch them battle all night in the mid-field. Two special players getting after it. Good luck to both teams going forward. I think both teams have a great chance to make a lot of noise in the playoffs if they play well.

Why would you say Sevier County is favored over Maryville? When did you see Maryville play? Certainly Maryville has an uphill battle going on the road against Faragut and Bearden but I would definitely favor them over Sevier County. I think this district is still up for grabs for sure. However, I think the way Maryville's young team is playing they have a great shot at it.

You are right this team is young. They are starting six sophmores but they are very talented players. Plus, even though they only have three Seniors, they are providing Great leadership. Ryan Pugh is playing fantastic at Center Mid(Was all over the field and dominate at times tonight), Watson Hartsoe continues to find ways to give them timely goals from Outside Mid, and Teddy Hare is playing very solid in the back for them. These Seniors are showing the Young guys how to win. This team will only get better and if they continue to find ways to score like they did tonight they will be tough to handle. They did have two guys go down with injuries tonight(Maner and Fernandez) both Sophmores. I hope both are ok.

It seems to me that Maryville is very close to putting things together. They got a nice early goal off a Corner against SD and just seemd to relax a little. If they had gotten a second goal either in first half or early in second I think it would have been a 4-0 type game similar to Seymour game earlier in year. However, when you let a underdog team that has talent hang around their confidence builds more and more as the game goes along and the favorite team starts to rush and get anxious. This young Maryville team will continue to get better and be somebody to make some noise later this year and come playoff time.

What was the score of Mo. West /Seymour scrimmage. Maryville scrimmaged them as well and it was a close 2-1 loss. Mo. West has a very strong team. I would say Maryville wins this game 4-1.

I think it is great to see Maryville and West competing with Farragut and Bearden and Alcoa and Seymour battling CAK and Catholic. It is great for the sport and shows how much it is growing. Look forward to a lot of good soccer this year in the Knoxville area!

Man you Catholic guys are great at handing out back handed compliments. Maryville did way more than just stay in that game. They dominated the second half except for a PK. Now maybe Catholic was missing a couple of good players, but two players don't make a team. You need to bring it with what is on the field. As I said injuries are part of any sport. Good luck to both teams for a Great Season!

Have to agree on assessment of game. Tale of two halfs. Catholic in 1st half and Maryville in second. Well played game with lot of passing to be so cold and 1st scrimmage. Maryville is missing a top Junior player with injury as well as Senior rolled ankle early in game so Catholic wasn't only one missing players. Injuries part of game.

I agree that a Soccer player needs to be in shape, but based on the great players I see in Premiere League, etc. it looks like they are more sprinters than Cross Country runners. Just seems to me training Soccer players with Long Distance running would slow them down. Of course, maybe you do more speed training during the season. I am glad to hear you give them 13 1/2 on two miles. That seems more reasonable. Good luck this Season!