soccrfan

Ravenwood and Knox Catholic played to a 1 - 1 draw. Interesting game as Knox had a big disadvantage in size and speed, however, played their set pieces very well. Their goal was scored about midway through the first half off a corner kick finished by Herrera crossing the face. A mistake by the Ravenwood keeper as he should have been out to contest. Ravenwood settled in late in the first half and began to control tempo and their size and speed began to show. Half ended 1 - 0 Knox. Second half belonged to Ravenwood who seemed to wear the irish down. they were noticably quicker in all aspects. Ravenwoods Saunders delivered a beautiful ball inside the 18 to danny lee who finished making it 1-1 with about 35 mins left. several opportunites for ravenwood after that but they failed to capitalize.

That would be an excellent game, either team could come away with a win there. But Ravenwood should definitely be on these rankings, they beat an outstanding Hendersonville team 4-1(or 5-1) in a scrimmage. If you can do that against Hendersonville, you're a top team. Agree Ravenwood should be posted in the top 25 (probably top 10) and that they were probably just overlooked. It happens. Don't know though that I'd base their ranking on beating Hendersonville during the preseason. In general I don't give much weight to preseason games, if any. As an example, Ravenwood defeated Hendersonville last year as well during the preseason. They then turned around and lost to Hendersonville in the Regionals when it mattered. This year, Ravenwood lost to Father Ryan during the preseason 1-0. No one doubts Father Ryan is a very good side, however, today's game between the same two teams in Hendersonville (4pm) will be a much better indicator. I expect the game to be a good one and that Father Ryan will win, especially in light of some key injuries to Ravenwood like St. Mary's (D1) signee Brandon Saunders who runs the show in the middle.

Coach, could we get your thoughts about this past weekend. Looks like the competition was pretty strong and the team had an opportunity to grow from the experience. Do you think this will help you down the road, etc. Thanks.

Week 3 FAB50 is out http://rise.espn.go.com/boys-soccer/tea ... -2010.aspx

Ravenwood 4 Cookville 0 Good effort by both squads. Ravenwood had the better of things throughout. Good to see Ravenwoods coach sit most of his starters to get the whole team involved. This should help greatly down the road. I don't think I saw their St. Mary's bound signee - Brandon Saunders log a single minute.

Coach, if memory serves, your guys play this weekend in the Cleveland Tourney? If so, who do you play and what are your thoughts about the opponents? Interested to get your insights into what your expectations are for your guys and what challenges you expect from the others attending. Thanks

Ravenwood 7 Lebanon 1

Hard to argue with and I'm a big fan of the 11th.........

siegel plays ravenwood next thursday. will be interesting. we'll see how impressive siegel is !

was at the ravenwood-hendersonville game too. agree they looked good but they looked good during last years scrimmage too and we know what happened in the tournament. hendersonville is consistently good when it counts so i wouldn't get too excited about last nite. they use the scrimmages as they should be used. to evaluate how different combinations of players work together in various attack and defensive schemes. ravenwood could learn a thing or two from this approach in my humble opinion. too much time on the pitch with the starters. saunders was the difference in the middle as usual and linder looked good in spots also and others also contributed to a good nite for the raptors.

It's clear from much of the commentary that Ravenwood just needs to keep going about it's business on the pitch as there won't be any props or respect from the board until they've beaten everyone. Signing off until it's done........

Ravenwood 2 - 1 Good play by both sides. Brentwood controlled things early, had a couple opportunities, but as the game moved along Ravenwood settled down, controlled the middle, creating a lot of pressure and eventually some opportunities which they capitalized on. Brentwood scored a goal late on a questionable no call as it appeared there was a clear hand ball by the striker. Good, fair, and hard play by both sides. Enjoyable game to watch.

For what it's worth, probably not much, Ravenwood beat Hendersonville something like to 2 - 0 or 3 - 0 in the preseason. It wasn't even that close. They dominated them. The other thing to consider are the margins they're winning by. Your point is valid that their opposition has only won about half their games, but Ravenwood is blowing people out. I want to say they've only surrendered 2 or 3 goals thus far while piling up about 50 on their end. In the end, I agree with you in that much will be learned after Brentwood and Indy.

Very balanced scoring with I'd guess half the team having scored at least one goal. Leading scorers would be McGuinness and LeBreaux with Hock, Linder, Saunders, and Stankevich also worth mentioning. I want to say they've scored something like 50 goals if you include their scrimmages. Their midfield is what makes it work. Will be a good game on Friday.

Agree on all counts except the outcome. I don't believe Brentwood will get many opportunities up top given Ravenwood's middle. Finally, against the only common opponent - Father Ryan (granted, it was just a scrimmage for Ravenwood, but I saw the game and Ravenwood was the better team that night), Ravenwood prevailed where Brentwood didn't.