soccermom127

Greetings from the west! It is a very sad year....no daughter left playing high school soccer! Of course, I still have to keep check on what is going on! For Briacrest this week: Tuesday: Briarcrest 4 St Georges 1 Thursday: Briarcrest 2 Germantown HS 0 Here is an article regarding the season from the west: http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2011/aug/23/girls-soccer-outlook/ First day of the season scores: http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2011/aug/23/prep-results-aug-23/ Wishing everyone a great (and safe) season!

D2 AA Substate score: Briarcrest - 5 Harpeth Hall - 0 Hutchison - 0 Father Ryan - 4

Thanks for the Briarcrest vote! We have had a challenging season to date playing top teams in the state including the AAA state champion, AAA state finalist, both AAA state semi finalists, and D2AA state champion....(Houston, Collierville (1 goal loss), Franklin (1 goal loss), Brentwood (2 goal loss), Hendersonville (1 goal loss), St Agnes (2 goal loss), and Germantown (win). The games were close and not one sided games, which I am thrilled with considering we are starting only two seniors and two juniors with limited bench talent. Many of the games could have gone either way. We have a Freshman keeper who is getting stronger with each game. Now, we have to get down to business playing St Benedict, Hutchison, ECS, St George's, etc.....this may very well be only a re-building year, but I am hoping to finish the season strong playing D2 teams.

St Agnes - 2 Briarcrest - 0

Two additional scores: Franklin HS - 2 St George's - 1 Hearsay was that Franklin took 32 shots to St George's 6 shots....not confirmed...just from a SGS parent. Hendersonville - 2 Briarcrset - 1 Tough game for Briarcrest. Both goals for Hendersonville came from well placed free kicks from about 25 yards out. Hendersonville played the better first half while Briarcrest played the better 2nd half taking repeated shots on goal. Hendersonville's keeper played strong. Monday games: Collierville versus Franklin Briarcrest versus Brentwood St Georges versus Hendersonville

In the past, Briarcrest had always done the Oak Ridge tournament, but the Hendersonville tournament attracted schools from Memphis that have typically gone to Oak ridge. One big advantage is that the girls did not have to miss school on Friday since Hendersonville utilizes the holiday and plays games on sat/sun/mon versus Oak ridge playing games on fri/sat/sun. This also allowed parents to not have to take a day of vacation from work to go to the tournament. Additionally, it is a shorter drive to play in Nashville. Teams in Hendersonville: Hendersonville HS Brentwood HS Franklin HS Collierville HS St George's Briarcrest

This is hearsay.... Collierville - 3 Hendersonville - 2

Hendersonville Tournament started today....please use this topic for reporting scores. Six teams are participating....Franklin HS, Brentwood HS, Hendersonville HS, Collierville HS, St George's HS, and Briarcrest. Each of Memphis area teams will be playing each of the Nashville area teams once. First game of the tournament: Briarcrest - 3 Franklin HS - 4 Franklin was up 2 to 0 at the half and Briarcrest came out feisty in the 2nd half scoring two goals to tie the game. Franklin scored 2 additional with Briarcrest only answering with 1. It was a great game to watch with Franklin having more shots on goal than Briarcrest, but the Briarcrest team did not give up and continued to fight.

Here are thoughts from the Commercial Appeal sportswriters about Memphis area soccer teams: http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/aug/25/area-soccer-squads-loaded-with-talent/

I think that this will be a closer game than your guess represents. One of St Mary's top scorer is out and their strong center mid is still playing with her club team in AL....with that said, I am guessing it to be a 1 to 2 goal game. Hutchison did lose their sweeper and starting forwards to graduation, but they still have a solid defensive team.

I'm still not sure that you are getting this.... First of all,I count seven players on the Pillow team that are not Freshman...so hardly a Freshman team.....and Varsity versus JV is based on skill levels....not on the age of the player....the "age" and "size" issues goes out of consideration at the high school level. Isn't one of Collierville's shining stars this year a Freshman forward? I bet she is better (and will get more play time) than some of the older players on the team...just a guess.... Briarcrest Varsity has only 2 Seniors and 2 Juniors with the rest Sophomores and Freshmen (including a Freshman keeper)....similar to what you say Pillow had.... Regardless of the mix of the age groups of the team, I still maintain the importance of having even levels of play for pre-season games/scrimmages....that is the only point that I am trying to make....as I said earlier, it isn't about winning and losing at this time of year for most teams. I heard that there was a game today with a 8 to 1 result...for a pre-season scrimmage....what is that about?!?!? I would hope that Collierville pulled up some once they had the game in hand against Hutch to provide more development opportunities.....

That is my point exactly....they do only have four games to develop their team. If they do not take the pre-season opportunity to play all of their players....where will they be when they needs those players to step up? Yes, it is of course the coach's choice of how he uses the talents provided....but this is pre-season....not games for bragging rights... If there was a team of middle school students on the field, I would hope that the better team would adjust accordingly. If the better team did not adjust....then that is where I would take fault.... Although I would much rather see a more competitive game for the entire game....I do applaud the coaches that take the risk of loss (as painful as it may be to watch) in order to see how their players are able to step to assist in various game situations to enable them to make future game decisions...

I agree...I had heard that also. I heard the Collierville didn't pull back too much, also. These pre-season games really aren't a good indication of what will happen during the season and are designed to give most coaches a good look at their plaers. Briarcrest played Pillow Academy this morning to a 0 to 1 loss. While the varsity was in, Pillow couldn't get the ball over the mid-field line and BCHS was shooting at will....sorry to say nothing would go in the net. When BCHS put the JV in, Pillow had some opportunities and was able to put the ball in the net once. You would have thought that they had won the World Cup! What is sad about these games is that all coaches don't use these games to work with and develop their teams. The Pillow Academy coach had about 10 players that never saw the field today and told his starters that "this was their chance to score" when Briarcest put the JV in. I guess he isn't much for developing a team. It was pretty obvious....Briarcrest would sub 11 girls at a time and the flow of the game would completely change!

Welcome back everyone! Looks like we are off to a great start...and we haven't even heard from WaterDog yet! Always fun to spice up the message board. Now, onto soccer.... The Collierville pre-season tournament began tonight. Briarcrest played Jackson Academy out of MS to a 4 to 0 win. Like a typical pre-season, a third of the game was played JV who fought hard to keep JA out of the goal but was not as successful as the Varsity against them. All four goals for Briarcrest came from different girls...which is really great to see a lot of girls step up in light of the fact that we lost a lot of seniors. We are a young team this year starting six Sophomores and a Freshman keeper rounded out by two Juniors and two Seniors. I watched the first 20 minutes of St Agnes versus Starkville Academy game...SAA scored in the first minute off a nice header and was up 3 to 0 after 20 minutes. SAA has a pretty young team this year, also. In an earlier game, I had heard that Collierville was up 2 to 0 over Hutchison who lost a lot of seniors this year also.

YES! Good luck to everyone and let's hope for no rain!

Greetings all! All high school age groups of Lady Lobos have gained births into the state tournament this year. What other teams are comprising the age groups?

Congratulations! Briarcrest will look forward to playing on it! Briarcrest still has, in my humble opinion, one of the best soccer fields in the city with a good field, ample seating, and the nice new soccer fieldhouse recently built. Looking forward to the Fall season!

Much of this entire discussion rests on each individual players' desire to move into the college level. How much of this discussion is based on what the player truly wants to do versus what the parent would like to see happen? It is true that the team that a player is a member of for state tournament purposes can affect her exposure; however, that is not the only way to get exposure. My oldest daughter is a Freshman in college and loving it. She did play on a D1 level club team for all of her club years along with ODP in the early years, but the team was never a state champion (Stones River Strikers dominated that age group) nor did they go to many major showcase events. She turned down college (full ride) offers to play from a mix of D1, D2, and D3 teams. Her opinion was that she wanted to focus on academics and also enjoy her college life. As much as "I" wanted her to pursue college soccer for two reasons...one, I think that she is talented and two, the money would have been nice...but it was ultimately her choice. She is going to an SEC school and playing on the club soccer team for the school which has kept her skills up, but she also was able to balance academics and sorority to the fullest! They had a very talented team filled with players like her who could have played on an "official" college team, but opted for the lower commitment level. This team went 10-2-2 practicing only two days per week playing other SEC and ACC club soccer teams. Although she did not play ODP in her older years or play on a state championship team, she had the offers. I still have a chance to "sway" my younger daughter towards an "official" college team; however, she is leaning towards following the footsteps of my older daughter...it will be her choice, too. I do not regret the money paid for ODP, club soccer fees, and club soccer travel and the programs nor the time commitment which has been great for my girls and built good character and discipline. And at least for my older one, who for her made the best choice for herself...she is a happy college freshman still playing some soccer...what more could you want?

Here is the list for D2-A http://www.thssca.com/ Division II A All-State December 3rd, 2009 Tennessee High School Soccer Coaches Association 2009 Girl’s All State DII –A Alisha Adams Ezell Defender 11 Allie Albright ECS Forward 10 Caroline Chadwell Harding Academy Forward 10 Morgan Crofford FRA Forward 12 Natalie Goodrum St. Cecilia Midfield 11 Lindsey Grisham St. Georges Midfield 11 Honeye Heydari USJ Forward 10 Allie Kim USN Goalkeeper 11 Ashley Kimmberlin ECS Midfield 12 Jordan Lavender USN Forward 11 Mirian Miller USN Midfield 11 Amy Mirro St. Georges Goalkeeper 10 Kayleigh Patterson SBEC Midfield 9 Mary Patterson St. Georges Midfield 11 Allyson Ridley St. Andrews Swanee Midfield 10 Abi Sanvee ECS Forward 12 Dvon Simms St. Mary’s Forward 9

My theory is three fold.... First, one of the teams that won a state championship (St George's for D2A) did not have players on the West team and another team (SAA for D2AA) had only one player on the team.....so some of the talent that helped to win the state championships was excluded. Actually players from all four teams that were in Chattanooga last weekend for D2A were excluded from the list....of course, could be a coaching thing and not being a member.... Second, the game was called East versus West.....however, to Waterdog's point....it was more of an East/Middle sort of game. From the "true" Western region, there were only 8 players out of 19 on the "west" team.... Futher looking at it, there were 13 true "east" representatives, 17 Nashville area representatives, and 8 true "west" representatives.....seems like the West was not very well represented..... and Third...I think that this illustrates that the teams in the West have a lot of younger talent that are major contributors to the West's success. Just my thoughts.....

Let's spice things up on a rainy Monday..... Does anyone find it interesting that the West won three of the four soccer divisions (AAA, D2AA, and D2A) in Chattanooga for 2009....but lost in the East/West game? There were not any AA/A teams in Chattanooga for the state tournament from the West....

Thanks for the great updates! How was the coach for each side determined? Was play time evenly distributed between the girls participating?

Thanks for the info..... What was the game like? Do you know who scored for each side?

Is anyone going to post results of the East/West game?