BY ADAM RONIS
I'm usually an opinionated person and can analyze a class and have a firm stance on what team would evolve to win the championship. But as the days pass and the results roll in, I get more confused when analyzing Suffolk Class AA girls soccer.
I have no clue who will win it all. I can't even pinpoint a favorite. Neither can the coaches I speak with. Five different teams have won the championship the past five years.
Smithtown West has lost in the last three finals and returned most of the team and were mentioned by many as a favorite in the preseason, but haven't even locked up League IV with two games left. Hauppauge, which beat them 1-0, still has a shot and the teams meet next week in the regular-season finale.
North Babylon may be the favorite, but tied Smithtown East on Tuesday and tonight lost its first game of the season to East Islip, 2-1. Ward Melville has one loss this season to North Rockland (Section 1) and tied Sachem East, the defending champions, twice in League I.
Northport, Commack, and Connetquot have all played well in League II. I feel bad for the committee that has to seed these teams. I'm not sure who to pick, but I will make a prediction once the brackets are revealed. For now, help me out and give me an objective opinion on who will win Class AA.
Comments (5)
no actually smithtown west beat happauge 1-0
Girls soccer this year has been amazing. It seems that all the games come down to 1 goal. Very few blow-outs. If you look at Leauge 2 Connetquot has played 9 straight 1 goal or even games in their leauge. Ward Melville doesn't give up goals but yet can't seem to find the net like last year either. Sachem East has yet to play to their potential. My pick is Northport will play Ward Melville in the finals (if brackets work out that way) and Ward Melville will revenge their 3 losses from last year with a county title. I will say that NB will dissappont in the tourney and teams like Connetquot and Hauppauge will make some noise, but will be stronger next year.
Hauppauge beat Smithtown West on October 4th 1-0.
The WM lose wasn't from offical game it was a scrimmage in Rockland with teams. Teams from LI (Npt, Whitman and WM) had tune up scrimmage/tournament with Westchester and Rockland teams.
Class AA is wide open. Anyone who has paid attention will agree to this. As far as seedings go - Ward Melville should be the #1 seed; they are only undefeated team according to section XI website. The selection committee will have to determine records and strength of leagues. If you analyze the leagues top to bottom you can see that League III & IV have the bottom three teams with almost combined identical records 9-23-1 and 9-23-2. Whereas, League I's bottom three are 7-25-2 and League II's bottom half is 5-19-4. At the present moment League IV can still send 5 of 7 teams to the playoffs. there are 17 teams alive to make the playoffs. Lindy needs a win or tie Thurs v. Pat-Med. West Babylon needs a win or tie v. Deer Park and Half Hollow Hills East needs to win at East Islip to qualify. One of the three will happen leaving 15 teams in the playoffs on Sat. That gives Ward Melville a bye.
North Babylon should be right behind tWard Melville with #2 seed. The rest is where there will be much anticipation and confusion as far as seeding goes. If Smithtown West defeats Hauppauge they should walk away with the #3 seed. That is based on beating Commack in a head-to-head match-up. Commack will win their final game and tie Northport for the League II title. However, Northport lost and tied to Commack giving the edge in the seedings. Commack #4 and Northport #5. Sachem East will be #6 despite beating Commack head-to-head because they are not league champs (a league championship needs to provide some perks).
Take the rest of the teams, write them down on paper and toss them into the wind. Whoever, gets picked up could be next. Upstart Connetquot will be #7 based on a solid league record and providing they defeat Walt Whitman on Thurs (Whitman's only win was against the Thunderbirds). East Islip #8 will come in behind them despite handing NB their only league defeat - EI tied winless Newfield and lost to Hills East. Hauppauge slides in at #9 - the win against Smithtown West is great, but losses to West Islip, West Babylon and Kings Park tie drop them behind EI.
Smithtown East is a tough gritty team at #10. A tie to NB last week followed by a loss to West Islip and Half Hollow Hills East and tie to Smithtown West in local a Sat evening grudge match. Pat-Med if they win on Thurs will be #11 if they fail league opponent William Floyd will take that spot. For argument's sake we'll say the Pat-Med defeats Lindy and eliminates them and grabs the #11 spot. Deer Park has been hot and comes in at #12 - 5 wins and tie in their last six games including a win over Smithtown West. William Floyd is #13 - they are the only LI team to defeat Sachem East in the past two years. Centereach comes in at #14 - and if West Babylon can manage a win or tie they would be the #15 seed. Half Hollow Hills has a tough order trying to beat East Islip on Thursday - if they can accomplish this they would still be 8-9 overall with losses to West Islip twice, Walt Whitman, and Kings Park. Lindenhurst hosts Pat-Med and a win or tie would give them a shot at #17 Lindy's record entering Thursday is 1-7-2 against playoff teams and their win was against West Babylon whose own position is tedious at best.
These playoffs have the potential for some real upsets unlike last season that went according to seeds, despite some close calls. For some teams the playoffs begin on Thursday, which will give us nine days of great soccer coming up!!!!