LH D-3 QT 04

Your seeding makes more sense, and the groups in the pools are the same either way. I was just going by the original seeding shown early last week before the QT kicked off:

Bracket A
AYSES 04 Black
Dallas Cosmos
FCD Central
Sting Harr

Bracket B
FCD White
FC Premier
Sparta
Velocity

Bracket C
Americas FC
AYSES 04 Gold
Celtic
Kernow Storm

Bracket D
Andromeda 04 West
NTFC 04 Black
Rockwall FC
Texas Lightning

Good point (your Sting Harr #16 just jumped out at me).

Yes, Sting Harr and Sparta (as well as Andromeda West) were all eliminated with ties based on points.  Sparta lost on W-L, the others on differential or GF / GA.

That being said, all 3 of these teams would have advanced had they scored another goal.  Harr scored 2 goals in 3 games (including 1 over the 16 seed).  Sparta lost to the #2 team.  Andro West scored 2 goals.

Could Harr and Sparta beat the #1 or #2 seed in bracket C and D?  Possibly, but if they couldn't place higher than 3rd in their bracket, what is the likelihood they could place higher than 3rd in a tougher bracket?

Both teams from group B won their brackets in the second week. Congratulations to FCD White, FC Premier, FCD Central and TX Lighting.

No Sparta? No Ayses team full of "D1 and D2 LH players"? No Sting Harr?

My question is how we'll all handle the fact that FCD now has 10% of their 04 teams in LH ;-P

The biggest surprise is TX Lighting...over Dallas Cosmos (but when your down to round 2.....its not just about losing...its also about how many goals scored against ya and that was the deciding factor against DC).

As for the others:
FC Premier - Expected to make it.....But KUDO's to you guys for coming out on top.
FC Dallas Central - Expected them to do much better...but still got in
NTFC/AYSES - Valiant effort

FC Dallas White - Expected to come out on top
TX Lighting - Good job (Upset)
Dallas Cosmos - that single game loss of 3-0 hurt ya...would have been cool to see a shoot out
AFC - Valiant effort

Arlington teams really got a sweet draw into the QT.  All four teams were seeded top 6: Sparta(2), Americas(3), Lightning(5), and Kernow Storm(6).  One was bound to make it through, just wouldn’t have expected the 6th place finisher from the Spring APL to be the one.  In week 1, they lost to NTFC 0-1, tied Andromeda West 0-0, and beat Rockwall FC 2-1.  They tied for 2nd in points at 12, and advanced on goal differential.  In week 2, they lost to FCD White 0-1, beat Americas 1-0, and tied Cosmos 0-0.  Again, they tied for 2nd in points at 12 and advanced on goal differential.  

The winners of QT came from seeds 5 (Lightning), 7 (FCD White), 9 (FCD Central), and 10 (FC Premier).  At least for the 04 girls group, it appears that PPL had a stronger league last year over the APL.  But, no question, most of these games are close.  A break one way or the other can mean the difference.

Congrats to the four teams advancing.

It's safe to say the only surprise was the top ranked APL team got dropped into a bracket with two of the top PPL teams on weekend one of qualifying.  Based on the split match results against FCD White and FC Premier in pool, Sparta was no worse than the fourth best soccer team in the tournament.  I guess the seeding format leave ample room for improvement.

Congrats to the new LH teams!

Wow S&B, in one post you managed to disrespect 12 teams in a 16 team tournament and make the ultimate cop out blaming Sparta's inability to make lake highlands on the seeding.

Win or go home, that's how it works.

#4 and #9 in Plano are top teams?

In hindsight, the #1, #3 and #5 teams from Plano got eliminated, while #4, #7 and #9 made LH...so, I guess you could call them top teams based on QT results, but in seeding before the tournament, they went by league rank. Perhaps that is what you were going for...

Naismith wrote:Why the interest KNK? No dog in the hunt...we all know your DD is in LHD1. Thinking of jumping ship to join a LHD3 team???

Actually I was kinda bored that day so thought I'd throw in a little comment, that and the fact that like many on here, relationships form the basis for a rooting interest even if no dog in the hunt. And if I was thinking about jumping ship it wouldn't be to a PT boat when already on a battleship, it would be to an aircraft carrier.  But whatever floats your boat.

Congratulations to all the qualifiers and respect to those who tried hard but came up a little short.

Offending was not my intent. Take a look at the facts.  

1. LP Raisbeck, which was #2 PPL D1 team,  was already promoted to LH, thus not in the tournament, making #4 PPL team by default a "Top Team"
2. Sparta was the top APL team.
3. FC Premier...okay, a bit of stretch, but a couple of the higher ranked teams at PPL were not competing in LH.

You also can't deny the results: Two (FCD White and FC Premier) of the four LH qualifiers came from the same Round One Pool; Sparta was tied with FC Premier in Round One pool play, but lost on head to head tie-breaker; Both FCD White and FC Premier won their pool in the second weekend.


My DD doesn't play for Sparta, but I feel for the parents an coaches.  They are a legit team that lost their LH qualifying pool TWO YEARS in a row on the smallest of margins.

S&B - not disrespecting Sparta here...but I'm gonna disrespect your logic a bit.

You simply cannot find fault with the seeding based on hindsight. Rosters change during june, and the team you field for the QT may be different (good or bad) from the team you had during the year. The seeding was based on last year's league performance, and except for being a bit friendly to the APL teams, was pretty accurate.

Could #1 APL Sparta beat #1 PPL Sting? based on hindsight, maybe...but you wouldn't seed them in the same bracket the first weekend. As it turned out, the #3 seeds from brackets A and B advanced over both of the PPL and APL #1s, by BEATING the #1s (FCD Central beat Sting, FC Premier beat Sparta). In the end...if you are the #1 seed, you better beat the #3 and #4 seed if you expect to advance. Evidently, both FC Premier and FCD Central improved over the summer and came in prepared and ready.

FC Premier (#9 PPL) had to overcome #1 APL, #4 PPL and #3 PPL to make it to LH.
FCD Central (#7 PPL) had to overcome #1 PPL, #5 PPL and #3 PPL to make it to LH.
And...while both were having a great tournament beating these top teams....they had to battle each other the second weekend as well..

QT results are not about past performance or records...that just sets the seedings. In the actual tournament, it comes down to who wants it more, and who prepared their butts off in the heat over the months leading up to the QT.

Congrats to FC Premier, FCD Central, FCD White and Lightning on making LH. Those extra practices in the heat this summer paid off for you.

Many teams lose tournaments by a goal or a point. That's the way it works. Go back and look at last years' QT how many teams "almost" made it? Simple fact is parents came on here thinking certain teams would be favorites based on past results. It didn't happen. Scoring goals in the PPL or APL doesn't count even if it's 97. You have to beat the teams in front of you and both score a lot and not give up goals at the same time. Do it and your in, don't and accept that there's next year and use it as a learning moment.

ElClassico wrote:Many teams lose tournaments by a goal or a point. That's the way it works. Go back and look at last years' QT how many teams "almost" made it? Simple fact is parents came on here thinking certain teams would be favorites based on past results. It didn't happen. Scoring goals in the PPL or APL doesn't count even if it's 97. You have to beat the teams in front of you and both score a lot and not give up goals at the same time. Do it and your in, don't and accept that there's next year and use it as a learning moment.

Given this weekends results, I guess that Sparta team is a fast learner. Not a bad showing for a PPL D2 team, winning Silver against a good mix of LH D2 and D3 teams (Mustangs, Kicks, FCD White, FCD Central, etc). Congrats to a very solid team.

Good for Sparta.. maybe that will help them next year at qualifier..maybe 3rd time is the charm.