Next year's Top 10

[eyecy]

1) C.R. Kennedy -- They should be tough with Happel
2) C.R. Xavier -- They are unstoppable at 1-A.
3) W.D.M. Valley -- You are not going to hold down Tigers very long.
4) I.C. West -- I heard they rock.

5) Ankeny -- The majority of their team were underclasswoman.
6) Urbandale -- Always tough.
7) Pleasant Valley -- The MAC's top team.
8) Sioux City North -- Western Iowa's top team.
9) Dallas Center-Grimes -- Will be solid even without LeFebvre.
10) Dowling Catholic -- They had a young team.

 

[qcgymrat]

dude...there's an all-girls forum for chick posts

 

[eyecy]

Really?

Originally posted by qcgymrat:
dude...there's an all-girls forum for chick posts

 

[Rockeyes]

Question---------Why doesn't X avier play in the large school class, since they are in the MVC?

 

[eyecy]

Because they are better than Iowa City West and we wouldn't want to hurt their feelings.

 

[Makeweight35]

Look out for Prairie Valley Gowrie. New coach has a real winning attitude and is changing Prairie Valley soccer.

 

[rockstar1]

I wonder how good Central will be next year. I heard they lost their head coach to Bettendorf. I also heard a couple of pretty good players are transferring there next year. Should be interesting.

 

[Makeweight35]

Lincoln Sibbitt is a real force. Very strong leg for Prairie Valley

 

[bondubball]

Who will be the tough teams in 1a next year?

 

[Goal Scorer]

It is way too early to do this but I'll give it a shot for class 3A. A lot will likely change between now and March.

1. IC West - Returning champs. Lots of depth. Will have the most talented senior class. Tanner Schilling's breakout season helps offset the loss of Austin Otto. Only lose 3-4 starters to graduation.
2. Ankeny - Finished 4th last year. Ankeny went into state tournament as the top seed. They return 9 starters from an 18-3 team. Lost only 3 seniors to graduation but will miss Taylor Wallen in the midfield (1st team All-State). They also return every member of a defense that recorded 11 consecutive shutouts this past year.
3. CR Kennedy - Was in the top 5 for most of last year. 1 of 2 teams to beat IC West in '09. Return a solid nucleus of players. Disappointing finish to their '09 season has them coming back in '10 with a chip on their shoulder. Don't know what they lost to graduation.
4. Ames - Played admirably in the state championship game against IC West. Lost their top 3 players to graduation in Michael Schmidt (1st team All-State GK), Bubu Palo (1st Team All-State MF), and Ryan McGowan (team's leading scorer). Very discipline and physical team. Proved they can play with just about anyone last year. Can they replace the losses of Palo and Schmidt? Are they a one year wonder?
5. WDM Valley - 2nd consecutive year that Valley has ended their season short of the state tournament. They will again be one of the more talented teams in the state but will that be enough to get them back to the tournament? Key losses in Kelly Rapp (1st team All-State MF) and Tim Van Der Berg (Dutch foreign exchange student & leading scorer). Annually, a top 5 program but disappointing the past 2 years. Brandon Visonnavong is one of the most underrated players in the state. Valley will rely heavily on him to create scoring opportunities.
6. CR Washington - Traditionally a strong team. Very similar to Ames in that they have good athletes and play discipline soccer. Like IC West and CR Kennedy, Washington also benefits from a good feeder program in CRSA. They will likely be comparable to CR Kennedy and should compete for 2nd place behind IC West in their conference.
7. WDM Dowling Catholic - Qaulified for the state tournament for the 3rd or 4th year in a row. Lost in the quarterfinals to eventual runner-up Ames. Three big losses to graduation in Lyons (will walk-on at Drake), Teeling, and Carlson (1st team All-State). Dowling has been a top 10 program for several years now, but the '10 team looks to be one of the weaker Dowling teams of the last 5-10 years. How they fill the holes left by the aforementioned 3 players will determine how well they do this spring.
8. Bettendorf - They hold the record for most state tournament appearances and have never missed a state tournament. Bettendorf is traditionally very big and physical. They seem to have multi-sport athletes vs. full-time soccer players. Their record from the '09 season was disappointing but they came on strong in post season play. Expect the '10 Bett team to be similar to the '09 team. Big, strong, and athletic but not a lot of flash and not always pretty. Who will score goals for Bett? Their key loss comes in the graduation of Tyler Brewer (1st team All-State & team's leading scorer).
9. DSM Roosevelt - Much better team than their '09 record would indicate. Roosevelt played a tough a schedule and lost a lot of close matches. All of their losses except one (DSM Lincoln) came against ranked opponents. They relied heavily on their junior class in '09 and will lean again on those kids as seniors in '10. Roosevelt will likely be competitive against the best teams in the state, but do they have enough fire power to start winning some of those close matches?
10-15. Pleasant Valley/Johnston/CR Prairie/DSM Hoover/Urbandale/Cedar Falls - They'll all be solid. I like Johnston the most of this group. They were real young last year and took their lumps along the way. I think they'll be better from those experiences. Urbandale and Hoover lost their best players in Medina and Jupic respectively. I don't know much about PV or what they return but they were in the top 10 for most of last year. CR Prairie had a good record but didn't beat anyone respectable until substate play when they knocked off Kennedy in a shocker. You could throw Newton into that category as well. Good record but didn't play anyone or at least beat anyone that was legit. I'd prefer to reward the teams that play a demanding and difficult schedule even if those teams have a few more losses vs. rewarding the teams that don't schedule anyone worth a sh*t and rack up wins.

 

[ZTJ13]

i think johnston should be somewhere in the top 10 they were a young team last year and were very good at the end of the season

 

[goldshoes20]

1.IC West
2.CR Kennedy
3.WDM Valley
4.Ankeny
5.Dowling
6.Ames
7.CR Wash
8.Pleasant Vallley
9.Urbandale
10.Johnston

 

[Goal Scorer]

Goldshoes - A couple observations regarding your pre-season top 10.

1) I thought I was being generous when ranking CR Kennedy at #3. What exactly have they done to earn the #2 ranking? They have never even qualified for the state tournament. Just want to know your logic in putting them ahead of Valley, Dowling, and Ankeny. All of whom have made the state tournament consistently over the last 5 years.

2) Ames below Dowling when Ames beat Dowling head-to-head and played in the championship game last year???

3) Ankeny below Valley when Ankeny has beaten Valley the last 4 times they have played???

I don't mean to be critical but what are basing your rankings on? I don't think they are way off, but I do question Kennedy at #2 and having Ames so low to start the season.
This post was edited on 9/25 11:20 AM by Goal Scorer

 

[qcgymrat]

Goal Scorer;

Based on the fact that CRK beat ICW last year and they have a number of EIU kids on the team, I think CRK is just as good a pick at #2 as anyone else, Dowling, Valley or Ankeny. I doubt CRK would lose to Bettendorf like Ankeny did in the consolation game last year.

As for your not knowing much about PV, just know that they beat both Ames and Dowling last year and lost to Ankeny on an own goal, 1-0. They'll be solid again this year.

 

[Goal Scorer]

Spare me! Kennedy lost to Prairie in substate play didn't they? Bettendorf, Ames, and Dowling are far more talented than Prairie. Quite frankly, until Kennedy gets to the tournament they should not be mentioned amongst teams like IC West, Bett, Valley, Dowling and Ankeny. Those teams have consistently made the tournament. Valley, Bett, and IC West nearly every year. Dowling and Ankeny 4 of the past 5 years I believe with a state championship each. IC West and Ankeny bring back the most experience of any of the aforementioned teams and they not only have traditionally had more success, but they also made it further last year. Your logic is skewed and you are putting too much stock in Kennedy's win over West.

For what it is worth, I do think Kennedy is top 5 material. If you factor in past success and returning players, I just don't think you can jusify putting them ahead of IC West or Ankeny. You could probably argue they belong somewhere between 3-5 with Valley and Dowling. A Valley team that has missed the tourney the past 2 years and a Dowling team that lost a lot to graduation. I think that is an unbias and fair assessment.

 

[bett-bulldog]

there is no doubt that kennedy has some good players, however if you break down the teams rosters ic west holds the advantage. of the 18 players on the nationally ranked Eastern Iowa United club team, 10 go to west high, there is no other school in iowa who can put a line up of kids who play on a nationally recognized team. there are odd things that happen in high school sports (xavier upset to norwalk in 2007) but i dont see this loaded ic west team losing a game this year purely based off how the school districts worked out and who ended up going to which high school. call it luck, but ic west was given a remarkable senior class and are the only team out there that can beat themselves. look for good competition from kennedy and bettendorf. a match up in state with valley or ankeny could be interesting but i dont see a team that stacked going out their senior year with a loss.

 

[Rockeyes]

Iowa City West has been in like 8 straight State Championship games, are the defending champs and with this group coming back may have the best high school team in the history of Iowa.

Brad Stiles is a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame

 

[hsfan12]

goal scorer: kennedy has made it to the state tourney and ames was only good because of one player, they will not make it to state this upcoming year. ic west will repeat as champions because of the depth they have with 8 or 9 starters being on the eiu team.