Any surprises this weekend?

Well the top teams rarely play each other. So how do you assume SS and Voutier are the best. I can agree with Voutier, but SS, Angelone, Samba are all pretty close. Then you got Grado and Webb/Marin big strong. and fast. Lloyd division is pretty stacked too. Don't forget about Spirit only losses are too Voutier and SS.

Yes, seems likely that Solar South (even with win against D'feeters) would lose tie breaker...Which is goals against, not goal differential.....SS will possibly have the 2nd most points in Jr Lake Highlands, but have to qualify....Looks like selection committee missed on this one putting the 2 best teams in same division.

Voutier is really the only team that hasn’t lost or tied any of the other 2009 teams. SS is definitely up there, but there are a handful of other front runners after Voutier.

At the beginning of the season, I would have predicted Voutier would get a bye for sure.
Then it would have been a coin flip between SS, Angelone, Grado, Samba, and Colvin. I would have thought two of each of these would be in a bracket. Someone had to be with Voutier. Solar is so top heavy...someone had to draw the short end of the stick. Looks like they attempted to spread out Solar as best as possible.

Yes, Lloyd is stacked too, but I believe Morgan has the most even competition. They definitely benefited the most from LHJCL. It has 4 of the top 10 teams and 7 of the top 15 in NTX. The scores speak for themselves.

As for SS, have you seen them play lately? If not, you should.

Yes, Solar was team heavy so it seems LH had to spread them.

I agree that Morgan is the most even but Lloyd has 3 teams still in the race for first.

I think Hamm is the most unbalanced, while Morgan is most even.  Lloyd falls in between, but is the toughest to call.

Top 3 teams in Hamm:
-GF avg 75
-GA avg 8.33
-Pts avg 37
Voutier should come out on top

Top 3 teams in Lloyd:
-GF avg 48
-GA avg 6.66
-Pts avg 32.67
Still a fight between Samba, Angelone and Grado

Top 3 teams in Morgan:
-GF avg 34
-GA avg 8.33
-Pts avg 31
For Colvin to lose

I think each division can make an argument that they are the toughest division for different reasons.

Hamm: top team makes it hardest div to win but a 2 team race that is most likely already decided due to tiebreakers
Lloyd: most competitive games and 3 team race
Morgan: most balanced top to bottom but arguably the easiest to win

It doesn't matter until they play, right? That is the great thing about sports and makes it fun to talk hypotheticals. But my humble opinion is Solar South is by a pretty healthy margin the #2 team. As someone said above, if you haven't seen them play recently, you should. As I stated in my rankings a few weeks back, I think they will beat Voutier when they play here shortly. Don't get me wrong, Voutier is the better team and has the skins. But style-wise, if they play their game, SS will beat Voutier.

A note regarding KEEPER'S stats on divisions, there is a team that has been forfeiting or showing up short of players in the Hamm division which means the stats would be even more out of whack without the 1-0 results or psuedo-games being played.

The great thing about the Fall season is that all the top teams will FINALLY play each other and decide it on the field. It should be tons of fun!

True, but I think Lloyd has had the most guest playing and team swapping which could impact game outcomes - like the 0 - 0 tie between Angelone and Cosmos White (played by Cosmos Black) and the FC Dallas super team that started showing up this spring. There are too many variables to take the rankings and stats at face value right now. It's hard to judge with all the guest player, team swapping nonsense going on.

Completely agree Melashbrew

I haven't seen the Solar South team play in a minute or two, but I have seen several of their players play in other Solar games. Does that count for anything???

Butfirstsoccer09 wrote:I haven't seen the Solar South team play in a minute or two, but I have seen several of their players play in other Solar games. Does that count for anything???

Ha!

As for the Fall season, I'm glad the top teams will be playing each other...but the first year of select has 20 teams in Div 1, so we'll still see a lot of lopsided games.  Why doesn't LHGCL break it down into Div 1, 2 and 3 from the get go?  Looking at the current 08 Div 1 standings, there is a pretty clear dropoff at the 12th placed position.  I don't know what the rankings were going in, but I think splitting 30 teams into 3 divisions makes more sense.

The boys side do 20 in D1 and 20 in D2 for the first two years. Then they drop it off at U13 to 10 per division D1-D3. I like their model much better. Teams change so much over a years time.

Split the difference...2 divisions, 15 teams each.

We can all speculate all day long, any team can beat any team on any given day. Even a team that dominates the game can still lose.

soccergodntx wrote:We can all speculate all day long, any team can beat any team on any given day. Even a team that dominates the game can still lose.

Stop talking logic.
My kid and team is better than yours.

LH does split the teams into 2 divisions the 1st year select. There are 20 teams in D1 and 10 teams in D2. After 1st year, the league splits into 3 divisions. Top 10 stay in D1, 11-20 go to D2, and then remainder and QT rounds out D3.

The reason why there are 20 teams in D1 (same as boys) is there are always teams that over/under perform in 1st year seeding/league helps to define what teams should actually be in D1 vs D2. Teams that goto D3 are usually obvious.

Butfirstsoccer09 wrote:I haven't seen the Solar South team play in a minute or two, but I have seen several of their players play in other Solar games. Does that count for anything???

Love to know where you got your facts from...I know for FACT SS has allowed the use of ONE guest player on 2 occasions due to injury...So if you have seen SEVERAL South players on other teams, you best quit drinking now.......

LMAO!!!

[quote="TXyankee"][quote="Butfirstsoccer09"]I haven't seen the Solar South team play in a minute or two, but I have seen several of their players play in other Solar games. Does that count for anything??? :lol!: [/quote]

Love to know where you got your facts from...I know for FACT SS has allowed the use of ONE guest player on 2 occasions due to injury...So if you have seen SEVERAL South players on other teams, you best quit drinking now.......  [/quote]

"Injuries". Ok buddy. :lol!:

I only know of one tournament where 2 SS players guested with another Solar team. SS players live too far south to guest often so it’s not fair to put that reputation on them.

This guesting players thing is really not as prevalent as some of you think it is. I’ve said for years now that the ‘09 girls division has been one of the most stable when it comes to rosters and guesting. Some of the top ‘09 boys players have 3 or 4 teams they regularly rotate through. For the top 5 ‘09 girls teams it has been basically the same core roster for 4 years now... that’s not only impressive but good for the girls in building lasting friendships.

For the record, I don't think there is anything wrong with the PLAYERS that are asked to guest play. I don't see how that gives SS a bad reputation. It says they have strong players that other teams want to use to ensure a W more than anything. Hell, I love it when my daughters get to occasionally guest in tournaments when a team is short players. I apologize to SS people if my comment was taken any other way.

Now for the teams that max out rosters with guests and don't play their own players, that's a different story in my opinion. The next few weeks are pretty cut throat in a couple of the divisions. It will be interesting to see what a few teams look like come game day. But you are right, I don't think it happens across the board. There are a couple of teams known for it, but outside of those I do not think it is a rampant issue in the '09 age group.

Agreed with Butfirst...I think it says the SS girl(s) are stronger than our regular roster girls for this important game coming up.  
Says the opposite of the team that does so at the expense of their regular roster.

Is there any team that maxes out a roster with guests and then doesn’t play any of their regular players? I’m not sure that really happens. Maybe one guest player comes and may play significant time but that is rare, IMO.