Chattanooga Area Teams Evaluations and Rankings

[DonCChatt]

Baylor Picked To Lead Chattanooga Soccer Teams

Preseason Preview of Top Ten Teams

posted August 16, 2007

 

The Baylor girls soccer team tops the preseason coaches poll for the fifth time in a row.

 

Teams have been scrimmaging this week and many teams will participate in a play day on Saturday.

 

Official games begin next week.

 

Top Ten Preseason Coaches Poll:

 

1. Baylor: The Red Raiders return a solid group of girls from last year's state semifinal team. The Red Raiders lost just two games last year. One was a 1-0 loss to GPS in their regular season match-up and the other was to BGA in the state semifinals. Keeper Taylor Davidson was hurt in the post-season and will be expected to lead the team this year. Baylor's coaching staff is second to none in the southeast with head coach Jimmy Weekley and assistant coach Curtis Blair.

 

2. GPS: GPS, like Baylor, plays one of the toughest schedules in the state, but will have a new leader this year in Dave Barrueta who replaces Will Kesler as head coach. Barrueta inherits a strong team who lost in the state quarterfinals last year. Senior leaders include Charity Blair, Abby Ellis, Jamie Holstine and Catie Lester. Juniors Josie Rix and Cydney Parkes also bring a strong presence to the Bruiser team.

 

3. Notre Dame: The Lady Irish finished last year with an 18-1-4 record. The one loss came in overtime at the Class A/AA state semifinals. Head coach Jim Schermerhorn lost three all-state players in Jaimee Cooper, Maggie Lynskey and Carly Manning to graduation. Returning is a strong junior and sophomore class including Kris Cambron, Danielle Ciabattone, Carey Leiper, Shannon Kelly, and Caitlin Kelley.

 

4. CCS: Last year was the first year in recent history that the Lady Chargers did not advance to the state tournament after losing to Sweetwater in the region semifinal. The 2007 Lady Charger team will be led by seniors Dana Streufert and Heather Lee. Keeper Leah Wilson returns along with fellow juniors Katie Johnston and Logan Mays.

 

5. Ooltewah: The Lady Owls will be in the second year under the direction of Rick Adolph. Adolph returns a strong crew from last year's team that went 8-9-4. They were put out of the post season by McMinn County in the region semifinals. Morgan Shelton will be a key to the Lady Owls season along with Catie Finkel and Jordan Middleton.

 

6. Soddy-Daisy: Head coach Moises Drumond led his team to the state sectional and finished the 2006 season with a 13-5-2 record. Drumond will be looking to replace the goal scoring and speed of Kelly Downs. Juniors Kelsey Swann and Claire Lanter are expected to fill some of the gap, with Lanter leading the defense and Swann picking up the scoring where Downs left off.

 

7. Cleveland: The Lady Raiders had one of their best season's last year, finishing with a 14-3-2 record. They won the district championship over McMinn County, but lost to Soddy-Daisy in overtime in the region semifinals which was the third loss to Soddy-Daisy that season. Striker Emily Jones led the area in scoring and will hope to lead her team to a successful post-season run.

 

8. McMinn County: McMinn County lost the district for the first time since 1997, but advanced through the region tournament before losing to Siegel in the state sectional match. The Lady Cherokees ended the season at 10-11-2. Seniors Alexis Simpson and Kathryn Gomez are expected to anchor the offensive efforts for head coach Bobby Earls and junior Abby Burke will lead the defense.

 

9. Red Bank: The Lady Lions ended their season last year with a 4-0 district semifinal loss to Soddy-Daisy.

 

10. Hixson: The Lady Wildcats ended last year's season with a 2-0 loss to CCS but had surprised the Lady Irish of Notre Dame the week before with a 1-1 tie. Kathleen Blair is a player to watch for the Lady Wildcats.

 

District Previews and Predictions:

 

Division II: East Region- This region has been a shoot out for as long as I can remember with edge going to Baylor in the last several years. Knox Webb produces good teams and could be in the mix for one of the two spots that the east region is given for the state tournament. These teams usually wait until late in the season to play each other so we won't know much until then.

 

Predicted Order of Finish-

1. Baylor

2. GPS

3. Knox Webb

 

Class A/AA District 5 A/AA- Grace and Sweetwater finished 1 and 2 last year and this year may not be any different with the exception of the Lady Bucs of Boyd-Buchanan. The Lady Bucs have been working hard to get back to the top of the district and this may be the year.

 

Predicted Order of Finish-

1. Sweetwater

2. Boyd-Buchanan

3. Grace

4. McMinn Central

5. Sequoyah

6. CSAS

7. Tellico Plains

 

Class A/AA District 6 A/AA- Notre Dame and CCS have owned this district since Notre Dame joined two years ago and the two teams will battle it out for first place again this year. The Lady Wildcats hope to jump in the mix and have the talent to do it.

 

Predicted Order of Finish-

1. Notre Dame

2. CCS

3. Hixson

4. East Ridge

 

Class AAA District 5-AAA- McMinn County has finished first in the district, with the exception of last year, since 1997. Cleveland and McMinn County will meet in mid-september and it could be one of the best games of the year.

 

Predicted Order of Finish-

1. Cleveland

2. McMinn County

3. Bradley Central

4. Cumberland Co.

5. Walker Valley

6. Rhea Co.

 

Class AAA District 6-AAA- This district is one of the hardest ones to predict. Ooltewah and Soddy-Daisy are expected to battle for the top spot with the Lady Owls having the early edge. Red Bank can never be counted out and Central has been building for the past several years.

 

Predicted Order of Finish-

1. Ooltewah

2. Soddy-Daisy

3. Red Bank

4. Central

 

Games to see Week 1:

 

Tuesday 8/21-

CCS at Cleveland

Soddy-Daisy at Notre Dame

 

Thursday 8/23-

Ooltewah at GPS

Soddy-Daisy at Baylor

[graybard]

Heard that Cydney Parkes has moved from GPS to Baylor.

[DonCChatt]

Heard that Cydney Parkes has moved from GPS to Baylor.

 

 

I believe that is right. She moved to Baylor, and is sitting this school year out.

 

I guess the ranking of GPS as #2 struck me as questionable. Don't know anything about the new coach, and don't know if he'll be able to take advantage of his talent right away or if they will take time to adjust to his coaching style. I guess we'll see....

[cchssoccer]

Class AAA District 5-AAA- McMinn County has finished first in the district, with the exception of last year, since 1997. Cleveland and McMinn County will meet in mid-september and it could be one of the best games of the year.

 

Predicted Order of Finish-

1. Cleveland

2. McMinn County

3. Bradley Central

4. Cumberland Co.

5. Walker Valley

6. Rhea Co.

 

Cumberland Co. split the high school last year, which put a huge damper on the roster (14 players!). This year, lots of new young talent has come on to the team... Last year CCHS lost to McMinn 0-1 in the last 5 or 6 minutes with 14 girls. There are 4 new girls who are going to have unbelievable high school careers...Cannot wait to do some damage to the predictions!

[Owl-Tracker]

I was quite surprised to hear that our OHS JV game with GPS was cancelled.

 

I thought at first it was a heat thing but the reason we were given was "GPS didn't have enough JV players" ??

 

GPS always fields a quality Varsity squad and their JV team has always been strong as well. If it is true they aren't having a JV squad, I wonder what impact this will have in the long run on the strength of the GPS varsity. Those minutes of play on JV can be a great learning and training ground for girls that aren't doing select, and aren't quite ready for the Varsity yet.

 

Just wondering from the sidelines

[graybard]

I was quite surprised to hear that our OHS JV game with GPS was cancelled.

 

I thought at first it was a heat thing but the reason we were given was "GPS didn't have enough JV players" ??

 

GPS always fields a quality Varsity squad and their JV team has always been strong as well. If it is true they aren't having a JV squad, I wonder what impact this will have in the long run on the strength of the GPS varsity. Those minutes of play on JV can be a great learning and training ground for girls that aren't doing select, and aren't quite ready for the Varsity yet.

 

Just wondering from the sidelines

 

 

That is a surprise. There generally is an ample supply of females interested in middle and high school soccer - I think more so than on the male side. Soddy, Ooltewah, Notre Dame and Baylor, for instance, have strong JV programs. There should be no lack of supply for JV soccer at GPS, which has had a quality soccer program for years. I assume their enrollment is stable but I don't know for sure.

[chelseafc1975]

Agree on both points. It is nice to see quality people on the coaching staffs (head coach and assistant coach alike) at the aforementioned schools. Baylor may have one of the best tandems in the South in Jimmy Weekley and Curtis Blair. Ooltewah and Soddy have tremendous quality in their head coaches and assistant coaches, as well. I am personally pleased to see this kind of quality at public schools. Traditionally, it seems like it has always been a battle for public schools to get quality coaches (and this fact is even more apparent when talking about quality assistant coaches) in the South, aka football region. Look for Ooltewah and Soddy to battle it out for their district and their region. Look for Notre Dame to clean house (though they need to stop playing home matches at their football field, the narrow field really helps the competition and hurts the Irish).As for the second point, I wonder if the transition from GPS' old coach is a factor on this JV situation. I have no idea here, but would be curious to know if any players chose not to come out. Anyone have some information on this??Agree on both points. It is nice to see quality people on the coaching staffs (head coach and assistant coach alike) at the aforementioned schools. Baylor may have one of the best tandems in the South in Jimmy Weekley and Curtis Blair. Ooltewah and Soddy have tremendous quality in their head coaches and assistant coaches, as well. I am personally pleased to see this kind of quality at public schools. Traditionally, it seems like it has always been a battle for public schools to get quality coaches (and this fact is even more apparent when talking about quality assistant coaches) in the South, aka football region. Look for Ooltewah and Soddy to battle it out for their district and their region. Look for Notre Dame to clean house (though they need to stop playing home matches at their football field, the narrow field really helps the competition and hurts the Irish).As for the second point, I wonder if the transition from GPS' old coach is a factor on this JV situation. I have no idea here, but would be curious to know if any players chose not to come out. Anyone have some information on this??

 

 

Much thanks, stamford. Nice username, by the way.

 

-

[carlym]

I guess the ranking of GPS as #2 struck me as questionable. Don't know anything about the new coach, and don't know if he'll be able to take advantage of his talent right away or if they will take time to adjust to his coaching style. I guess we'll see....

 

 

GPS's new coach used to coach the keepers at Mercer University. He also has privately coached some area keepers. He has a good reputation with those who know him.

[Coniglio]

GPS's new coach used to coach the keepers at Mercer University. He also has privately coached some area keepers. He has a good reputation with those who know him.

 

Thankya for the info.

[easttnref]

how many chattanooga rankings do we need or explanations