DragonSoc

THSSCA 2010 All State http://www.shs.rcs.k12.tn.us/2010BAS.pdf

Kudos to Matt as well!

Congratulations to Chandler Gagnon (ECS) 2010 Pepsi Commercial Appeal Best of the Prep Boys Soccer Also, Olivia Harrison (Houston) on the girls' side.

I also acknowledge and thank the CA and it's group of reporters and editors for all the coverage of high school soccer this season.

Any award, selection or list is going to spawn debate. It is hard for anyone to make a case for any player without first knowing the criteria from which the list is made. Do coaches get to nominate, do reporters vote, does most goals win for an offensive player, most shut-outs for a defender, is a state berth a pre-requisite, is it the performance for the season, their high school career or a marquee game, does a state title regardless of division give a player an upper edge? Depending on which criteria you choose to look at, a case could be made supporting all five of the finalists, and they should be congratulated along with all the ALL-Metro selections. On the flip-side, the same argument could be made for several other players, and again...depending on the criteria, a case could also be made against most of the five finalists. It shouldn't be about a school, or a state berth or a state championship unless the player being considered has a dramatic impact in those games that tilts the scale in their favor. This is after all an individual recognition and not a "school" award. Likewise, players shouldn't be picked just to give parity among the schools. In the future, perhaps dividing up between the city and county or public and private may better serve those distinctions and readerships. I will agree, most of the elite players in the area know who they are and know each other. They don't necessarily need a formal recognition as long as they have the respect of their peers and coaches. I'm pretty confident the alternate names tossed out so far have both.

http://media.commercialappeal.com/media/static/2010_bop_boys_soccer.pdf

It was a fun game and a great chance for a bunch of the guys to get together from across the state again (some for the last time). Many were TN ODP teammates from the last five years and graduated seniors. It served as a farewell match. Thanks THSSCA for putting this on and Hendersonville for hosting. It was depressing to see the flood damage to Drake's Creek Park, but the community and volunteers have made great strides in repairs. The Game? It was blistering hot! 2PM kick-off. Farragut...oops I mean the East (who had five of Farrugut's stars on the roster and was co-coached by Wallie Culbreath) got all the early offensive chances as the West's center mids were out hustled and the East was forced to fend off multiple attacks. West turned away their attacks until a rocket strike from about 27 yards stunned the West Keeper for a 1-0 midway through the first. Some offensive subs opened up offensive chances for West as ECS' Andrew Vandervoort got in behind the defense, but GK Steven Matlock was able to turn them away. West did have a couple open net situations that were wasted. One when Collierville's Dillon Thornbury was in on goal and slid the ball in front where a West player shot high from 6 yards out evoking moans from the crowd. The final was 5-2 East but the scoreline was not indicative of the game. It was tied in the second half and East held a 3-2 margin late when Hendersonville/Ravenwood coaches opted for a 3 man defensive line to push more offensive players up despite Collierville's centerback Kevin Hensley's pleas since East had put four men up top! 30 seconds later the man advantage earned East their 4th goal. The game out of reach and the heat taking its toll, both teams decided to have some fun. The last 5 minutes looked more like an NBA all-star game than a soccer match as tomfoolery took over. East would get their fifth as the entire West side pushed up. Opposing players harassed their friends, and "foot-skill moves" were taken out of the bag for display. Not the prettiest soccer but fun for the players. An A/R told a player he was too high for a throw-in and the opposing player said, "Sir...I don't think any of us are going to complain!" That summed up the last part of the game. Sorry I don't know all the names of the goal scorers. I do know that out of the All-Star list each side had about 17 players participating.

Collierville will return a core of talent but will look to fill some big holes... The Dragons graduated their true team leader, Kevin Hensley (Carson-Newman) who has been the foundation of the defense for three years, and Dillon Thornbury (Central College-Iowa) who has had back to back team scoring titles. They also lose the Kupiszewski twins. Alex who had four goals (two game winners) in the post season and Mitchell who was solid at right back. CHS graduated 10 seniors total, five were starters. They will return the crafty Brent Lesnick and the workhouse Caleb Poley in midfield. These two, along with sophomore Michael Roberts will be called upon for scoring. Austin Kenney will likely earn a full time defensive role. They also will be coached once again by Bill Gilliespie who reassumes the head coaching job. Gilliespie has guided the Lady Dragons to a State Championship and helped the Dragons reach their first State berth a few years ago.

Congratulations.

District 15-AAA Final Collierville HS 2 -0 over Houston HS

The Collierville 2-0 over Houston match was for District 15-AAA Title. Collierville will host Memphis Central Tuesday and Houston will face White Station in Region 8-AAA play.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/20 ... artner=RSS

Here are some of the Middle Tennessee School's whose athletic facilities have been damaged by the flooding: http://tnne.ws/1Gb Via The Tennessean I would suspect that the same is true here in West Tennessee, particularly from North Shelby County northward.

We have cancelled a Club State League game slated for our field tonight, but we plan on having our High School game Tuesday as scheduled. Collierville HS v Jackson Northside 6PM 5/3/2010 (Senior Night for the Dragons) My concern is how this will affect district schedules next week. There are parts here in West Tennessee (Millington, Arlington...Tipton County) that are underwater with school cancelled. I understand that Middle Tennessee (Franklin, Brentwood area) is in the same shape. We are slotted to host three matches next week which shouldn't be a problem but some teams are not going to be able to attend school or practice this week at all. ***Edited to Add*** Let me make myself clear, I realize that there are more important and pressing issues with this flooding than whether high school soccer games are played. There has been enormous property damage and loss of life. I was not trying to minimalize that in my post.

I believe it is a private boarding school that specializes in soccer. Think of the IMG academies in Bradenton, FL where Kids live and go to school in an environment that is structured not only around academics but their sport.

From Memphis Commercial Appeal 4/29 (rankings cited are the newspaper's "Dandy Dozen" rankings) Top-ranked Briarcrest was upset by St. Benedict, 2-1. The Eagles got goals from Paul Wagner and Jake Tucci, both in the first half. Andre Davis scored for the Saints (7-4-1), but that was the only goal BCS was able to score on Eagles' (2-9-1) keeper Colin Schuhlein. Second-ranked MUS erupted with three second-half goals to defeat eighth-ranked Collierville, 4-0. The Owls (6-1-7) got goals from Toby Baker, Will Kaelin, Matt Baker and Sam Henke. Britt McGuire posted the shutout for the Owls. The Dragons fell to 6-3-3. Third-ranked ECS blanked Kingsbury, 3-0. Andrew Vandervoort scored twice for the Eagles and Worth Whitten added a goal. The Eagles are 10-0-2. No. 7 Kingsbury slips to 10-2-3. No. 4 White Station edged No. 10 Cordova, 3-0. Odis Stevens, Andrew Edelman and Ethan Felsenthal scored for the Spartans (7-2-3). No. 6 CBHS got goals from Chris Gardea and Paul Banks, and the Purple Wave defense shut down No. 9 Houston, 2-0. No. 11 Central remained unbeaten (10-0-2) with a 1-0 win at Southwind. Gabriel Lopez scored the games only goal on an assist from Aakaria Warsome. Source- Commercial Appeal, Memphis Tennessee April 29th http://bit.ly/auvEmQ

Often as sideline spectators we view yellow and red cards as harsh. We had a game recently where the first yellow card was given to our opponents player in the first minute on a seemingly tame challenge. After talking to our players after the game we learned that the "tame" challenge was highlighted with some choice words (which us spectators could not hear) and a discreet elbow to the ribs (which we could not see). Also there is often a cumulative effect that referees employ. In the same game another of the opponents players was red carded post game. When questioned our players shaking hands said the ref told the player that his attitude, language and dirty play had existed through the game (the player had already received an earlier yellow card). Their team disliked the late red and our side wondered why he hadn't been ejected earlier. That being said, I don't know the complete scenario in the game cited here, but I do know that trying to get in the mind of referee's interpetations will drive you crazy and we don't always know what is going on in the middle of the pitch!

While soccer has made great strides in popularity and had an enourmous explosion in participation in the USA, I'm afraid we are a long way from erasing the American mentality of "more is better". We have American sports where you get six points for just making it to a place on the field and up to 3 points for kicking the ball through an uncontested upright while your teammates hold off the defenders. Imagine soccer scores given those rules!! Even Indoor soccer in the US adopted an "extra point" line!!! Americans who dislike soccer always complain that it is "low scoring" because the mentality is taught to us that a basketball game with scores under 90 points is a "low scoring" = "poor offensive effort" affair. It's that mentality that spills into scores being run up. While I have never thought you could label a 5-0 defeat as well played on the losing side, I have seen countless 1-nil matches where both teams performed superbly and those scorelines are often the best spectacles in sport. Offense always gets the headlines, is always in the stat column and is what many judge a player or team on. True afficiandos of sport know the importance of defense.

Unless there is a situation that requires (and thus encourages) a goal differential or goals scored total as a tie breaker or point award to advance (i.e. tournament) there is no need to run up a score, and in fact is not smart on the part of a coach. 1-0 gets you the W, 3-0 sends any kind of message a team feels the need to send. 10-0 is plain ridiculous. Among the reasons not to do it are: Sportsmanship Risk of Injury to Starters Missed opportunity to get bench players minutes Making your program a target of such humiliation when the tables are turned A smart coach, be it school, club or even rec soccer will enforce a multiple pass rule, or some other score controlling tactic (score must be on headers, certain number of touches or passes). It is not uncommom for teams to pull players and play 10 v 11 or 8 v 11 etc. in blow-out matches. Keep away or playing a man down may not be less humiliating to some opponents, but it gives the winning team some structure and restraint, forcing possession and in essence improving their ball skills. The flipside is always the balance of reigning in forwards that are coached to attack and score...score...score. Parents and fans that encourage or promote running up the score are soccer illiterate in my honest opinion.

They are scheduled to come home Thursday 4/22. Speaking with one of the player's mom this past weekend, she wasn't optomistic that it would be before the following Monday. It's going to depend on further eruptions and backlog of travelers one would assume. I guess there are worse things that could happen to soccer playing teenagers during school term...afterall the EPL race is neck and neck and I don't think ODP gives pop quizzes!!

Shocked first at the team that would stoop to altering equipment. Shocked secondly at a ref that wouldn't check at the request of a coach or captain and see the ball was overinflated and take it out of play.

Congrats Cookeville, welcome to Memphis weather!

Collierville gets to play Brentwood hours before their Prom on the 24th, not sure which is worse.

CHS's coach and players didn't walk away with the same perspective as you describe. I don't want to sound completely negative, but I don't want to make excuses either. White Station out hustled the Dragons, plain and simple and should be commended. CHS outshot WS 19-12, but the Spartans quick defensive pressure all over the pitch blocked 6 of those shots within feet of the players. Collierville's Sophomore keeper spilled an initial save to allow a goal and is displaying a reserved energy that reflects in his reaction time that was not the case during his freshman campaign. Rex Brown, White Station's talented gun found himself open too many times and was Collierville's main demise. Unfortunately, Collierville knew he was a main threat going into the match but still failed to neutralize him. Dragons fans, players and coaches saw many flaws in that game that cannot be labeled as playing hard or well compared to our previous games. Collierville's lone goal came off a corner kick that was shot instead of crossed (yes, he meant to do that!). Sounds good, but with your centerback up in the box and your midfield crowding in as well, the low percentage attempt could easily set up a counter attack. Hindsight shows it worked when the WS keeper uncharcteristically bobbled his near post save into the goal, but that attempt is not going to work but 1 out of 100 tries even on less talented keepers. Other opportunities were missed as players got away from team ball. CHS's attack became too predictable. The third goal came with a disorganized defense and a lackadaisical midfield where wingers didn't get back to defend and center mids were dribbled around. This was the first game where Collierville hasn't scored two or more goals and the first match where the Dragon defense has allowed over two goals. It can labeled no other way than sub-par. On the brightside, the Dragons got a wake up call, and had what their co-captain described as "the best practice we've had all year" today. Hopefully they are re-focused and ready for a tough stretch of games. Collierville faces Briarcrest, Brentwood, Cordova and MUS to finish out April. Father Ryan, Jackson Northside and ECS follow in May. I do agree, should be fun and as a father of a Senior, hopefully some fond memories.

Here's the Memphis newspaper's local rankings for 4/15. This was compiled before Collierville's 3-1 loss to White Station and Bolton's 8-0 rout by Houston. Collierville visit Briarcrest Tuesday 4/20. Boys Soccer Dandy Dozen / Record / LastRank 1. Briarcrest / 5-2-0 / 2 2. White Station / 3-0-2 / 3 3. MUS / 3-1-2 / 5 4. Collierville / 6-0-2 / 8 5. ECS / 5-0-2 / 12 6. St. George's / 5-2-0 / 1 7. Kingsbury / 7-0-2 / 7 8. CBHS / 2-3-2 / 4 9. Houston / 5-3-0 / 9 10. Cordova / 5-3-1 / 6 11. Arlington / 5-2-1 / 10 12. Bolton / 7-1-0 / NR