Boys soccer top 10: Make way for Valencia
January 12th, 2009, 10:22 am · 23 Comments · posted by Damian Dottore, OCVarsity
1. Saddleback - Beat Orange in the Golden West League opener and improved to 12-0-1. Can they get past Santa Ana on Wednesday?
2. El Toro - Played to a 1-1 tie with a talented Trabuco Hills team.
3. Servite - Ok, they tied Mater Dei, which some might think is cause to move the Friars down, but the game was played in A LOT of wind, and that affected both teams. The Friars are better than what they showed on Friday.
4. La Habra - I thought about dropping them down once since they tied Sonora, a team that Servite beat 6-0. But the Freeway League is quite possibly the toughest league in the county, one that doesn't get a lot of attention since it's so far to the North. Let's see what they do against Troy today.
5. Trabuco Hills - The Mustangs move up after tying El Toro, 1-1
6. Valencia - They beat Sunny Hills and since some of the teams in the top 10 had such lackluster weeks, the Tigers come in at No. 6
7. Sunny Hills - The Lancers were on the verge of dropping out of the top 10 completely after losing to Valencia, but they turned around and beat Troy and actually moved up a few spots.
8. Troy - Lost to Sunny Hills, the Warriors' first loss of the season.
9. Fullerton - The Indians beat Buena Park in the Freeway League opener, but they will face a tough test today when they play host to Sunny Hills.
10. Mater Dei - The Monarchs, too, almost dropped out of the top 10 after losing to Century, but they looked impressive while playing to a scoreless tie with Servite.
Teams 11-15: 11. Century, 12. Esperanza, 13. JSerra, 14. Santa Ana Valley, 15. Orange Lutheran
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23 Comments
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Looks like there are games today in boys high school soccer. On a Monday? Is this correct? If so, the La Habra-Troy game looks like a great one. Troy beat them up in the Brea final last month.
Saddleback-Santa Ana is always a rough one since it's a city rivalry. Gonna try to cover that one for the register. I'm thinking Saddleback will win out and remain undefeated.
Mater Dei-SM game. Like I said, can't wait to hear about that hostile enviroment. Same goes for Servite-SM. Teams may not be as good as in past years, but rivalty is intact.
Where's FV and Los Al? Two teams undefeated in league will play today should be a game of the week both tied for league title last season Los Al 11-2-5 FVHS 5-2-4 two teams with only two losses
what is the deal with gving servite props? the OC Register must have a special relationship with them. they get so much media coverage its ridiculous. Servite - win a CIF championship then you might be worth talking about.
valencia is going for more
Valencia got shut out by Esperanza. Trabuco Hills got shutout by Esperanza. Espy, JSerra, and Foutain Valley should be in top ten without a doubt
WTF! EVERYONE IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PLAYED IN THE WIND THE LAST 4 OR 5 DAYS NOT JUST SERVITE FLAMERS! It doesn't matter if they are "better" than what they showed, it's about WHAT THEY SHOWED AND HOW THEY PLAYED, am I wrong people?
And didn't esperanza high school win again tonight by shutting out Newport Harbor? Ehs beat T.HILLS and Valencia when both opponents had home field. Need I say more?
wow these rankings are terrible as usual. Servite can cry all they want about wind, they are still a bad team. any team is capable of beating them. They have a goalie and a tall center back. THATS IT!
does anyone agree?
To Wow: IMHO, the new Newport Harbor coach has difficulty winning with any team he coaches. He can't seem to win with his NH team nor can he win with his Academy team.
THHS is and has been over-rated. El Toro is the real deal and will win a weak Sea View League handily. The benefit of the years of the ET team's core playing together as a club team w/WCFC will be evident over the course of the season and play-offs.
JSerra is a year ahead of schedule with lots of WCFC Premier players playing for this team. They may not win the Trinket League but they will trip up the traditionalists. The best of the bunch are the sophomores in Juan "Crabby" Guiterrez and Lucas DalOrso. S Hudnall is a beast on defense. (Really surprised JSerra didn't open their scholarship wallet to enroll Juan Pablo O. But perhaps they didn't anticipate J. Canales to leave for USNT U17 Residency)
Valencia gets some rec(although the short summary seems like they were given the spot as a gift) and haters come out of the woodwork
I will say I am surprised to see esp so low in the rankings as they are a very strong and well balanced team yet the valencia-esp game isn't reflected by the score and esp sneaked by. Dirty and arrogant players no doubt too. Also I think everyone should lay off servite, they are in my POV definitely one of the stronger teams in the county and deserve their spot.
Hey mr. Zander, riddle me this: can u win if u don't score? Methinks not! If u can't score, how can u "beat" them? U Can't!!! Final question, do they really need anyone else?
PS. did pundit just admit that JSerra has an unlawful soccer scholarship fund? If so, can anyone really be that stupid? Does CIF read this site?
For everyone who talks of past victories from a month or two ago should realize the top ten teams are the top ten best now not one month ago, big changes can happen for a team in that amount of time
Dear Mr Dottore,
In the now makes a valid point that teams improve. Certain coaches always have their teams rolling for league. However, when making a "Top Ten" ....common opponents, strength of schedule, and strength of League need o be considered. This brings me to my thought that you seem to throw a team or two in your others almost trying to provoke controversy. With no disrespect to a couple of schools that at times have had very good teams , I just cant grab onto Orange Lutheran and Santa Ana Valley right now. Here are many others who would be more deserving ..... Fountain Valley, Los Alamitos, Woodbridge, San Clemente, Foothill, Laguna Beach, Aliso, El Modena Just to name a few. Check the records and game scores. While present wins should be valued, consistency and minimal loses over a season shows the ability to play in many conditions and settings. Just food for thought.
Mr. Dottore:
esperanza beats los al.
Three games in a row now in which esperanza is the winner, IS THAT TOP TEN I HEAR? Definately Los al does not deserve top ten, maybe fountain valley even though a loss to Edison today, but honestly how was Esperanza arragant against Valencia? They beat them at Valencia, wait I mean SHUT THEM OUT at valencia, with some fine saves from espy's goalkeeper Stith.
And Mr. Dottore you have to realize that the top ten teams should include saddleback and el toro, but other than that, most of the spots should be Sunset and Trinity league teams without a doubt, this is just getting ridiculous with these bogus rankings. Get servite either #10 or out, they need a smell of reality from their high pedestal they put themselves on. I mean Damien, even when you are talking about La habra in this post, you STILL find a way to talk about servite hahaha its ridiculous, i mean read this below
"4. La Habra - I thought about dropping them down once since they tied Sonora, a team that Servite beat 6-0. But the Freeway League is quite possibly the toughest league in the county, one that doesn’t get a lot of attention since it’s so far to the North. Let’s see what they do against Troy today."
Who from servite pays the bar tab here?
Shake yourself toms. Los AL isn't even ranked so how would that vault Epseranza up? They should have beaten the Griffins today. Esperanza was manhandled by Servite. They were shutout and outplayed in every aspect of the game. The Aztecs have talent and a long-term coach, so they will do well over the course of the season, but you can't ignore the loss to the Friars no matter how badly you want to.
Same for La Habra. Sonora lost to Servite 6-0 in a beatdown that could have been way worse for them. So when the Highlanders couldn't score and tied the Raiders their stock should fall in the eyes of the pollsters.
Servite at #10? Seriously? They lost early in pre-season to JSerra (who beat MD today btw) with their backup goalie and several field players missing. They have one other loss since then in a tournament. How do you justify a #10 ranking at this point?
Stop hating and do your homework - you are way off base here.
Trush granade throwing excuses now? Boo hoo we had players missing blah blah boo hoo
Hahahahaha and wasn't the servite loss over a month ago? same with the friars loss agaisnt Jserra... HMM so you do your homework "truth grnade" cute name btw
Jserra really deserves a top spot in these polls... They've played well at times but I'll admit had a few slip ups... Either way being the top team in the trinity league is no easy task(2-1 victory agianst bosco today) when are they finally going to be recognized for their acheivements ?
Valencia loses.
T hills loses.
Mater dei loses.
Time to make way for ehs and j serra.
Esperanza shutout both trabuco hils and valencia when esperanza was the visiting opponent in both shutout victories.
Jserra post wins against mater dei and st. john bosco in tough trinity league including 3-0 victory over servite earlier this year
Top ten needs to make way for ESPERANZA (3 huge victories in a row in sunset league play), JSERRA (big wins in trinity including bosco and mater dei)
Huh? and Ponderthis are both right
^^^ you are correct you two, Esperanza has been looking very, very good after that servite slip up, number 1 in sunset league play at the moment too after los al win including 3 wins in a row.
JSerra also really great with their young talent in wcfc players and fast pace, when they play servite, will be a must-see for sure
What could possibly be the biggest game in JSerra history will go down Wednesday at JSerra when they host the Servite friars. Led by number #20 joey ponder the JSerra lions will be looking to improve their record to 3-0-1 in league play... This is one you won't want to miss
servite needs to stop making excuses why they loose games...if your team is truly that amazing then your team shouldnt be that unbalanced when ur missing a keeper and a couple of players. Jserra played bosco without two of their best players and still gave a good result...or is it that maybe all you truly got is a goalkeeper?? and maybe one or two decent players on the field?? all i know is that servite has to prove everyone wrong by beating jserra wednesday..and if not..i think servite might start going downhill..but even though jserra has a lot of talent their still young and struggle beating big physical teams cuz of their strength..specially against servite...since their soccer for the most part is physical..
There certainly are some interesting opinions about the state of OC soccer this year. Some of them are pretty contradictory to say the least.
Esperanza has an overall record of 11-4-2 and has lost a league game to unranked Marina. Some here are suggesting that they should be a top ranked team because they have won three games in a row. That same person is suggesting that Servite should be dropped to #10 or lower. It doesn't make sense, especially considering the 3-0 win by Servite at the Aztec's home field.
(btw Esperanza coaching staff - maybe you could call in your results and stats to the Register so they could have an accurate reporting base for your team here online)
JSerra has had a pretty good season thus far with an overall record of 9-2-4 and quality wins over both Servite and Mater Dei. Despite that they are still looking for respect in the polls and from some posters here. This week will be very telling after Wednesday's game vs Servite which features the top two teams of the Trinity League table.
Servite comes in to the week tied for the lead in the Trinity League after shutout wins over both Santa Margarita and Orange Lutheran. They were the only top 5 team to win both games this week. They have an overall record of 10-2-2 which includes 10 shutout games. Despite that there is a chorus of boo-birds who hurl insult after insult at them. The facts simply don't justify the abuse. Wednesday will provide them a great opportunity to take solo possession in the race for the league title.
#1 Saddleback had a rough week losing to 2-0 to Santa Ana.
#2 El Toro edged Northwoods and tied Woodbridge - a lackluster showing for a top team.
This coming week should see some new blood in the top 10.