# CIF State Playoffs



## espola (Feb 8, 2018)

Northern Cal will have playoffs this year in parallel with Southern Cal

http://www.cifstate.org/sports/soccer/handbooks_forms/2018_NorCal_Soccer_Handbook_.pdf

http://www.cifstate.org/sports/soccer/handbooks_forms/2018_SoCal_Soccer_Handbook.pdf


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## espola (Feb 8, 2018)

Southern Cal seeding entries --

ENTRIES – Seeding Procedures Soccer 
................DI DII DIII DIV DV 
Central.6.......1...1...1....1...2 
Los Angeles.6...1...1...1....2...1 
San Diego.8.....2...2...2....1...1 
Southern.20.....4...4...4....4...4


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## NumberTen (Feb 8, 2018)

Is there a document that details the playoff rules and bracket seeding at the league level?  I guess that you would say the first level of playoffs. San Diego specifically, but I guess Southern section may be the same.


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## USC (Feb 8, 2018)

espola said:


> Southern Cal seeding entries --
> 
> ENTRIES – Seeding Procedures Soccer
> ................DI DII DIII DIV DV
> ...


What does this mean?


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## espola (Feb 8, 2018)

USC said:


> What does this mean?


Central section gets 6 entries, one in DI, one in DII, one in DIII, one in DIV, two in DV.

etc.

In each gender.


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## Juergi (Feb 9, 2018)

NumberTen said:


> Is there a document that details the playoff rules and bracket seeding at the league level?  I guess that you would say the first level of playoffs. San Diego specifically, but I guess Southern section may be the same.


http://www.cifsds.org/uploads/2/3/3/6/23368454/2017-2018_soccer_championships__3_.pdf


NumberTen said:


> Is there a document that details the playoff rules and bracket seeding at the league level?  I guess that you would say the first level of playoffs. San Diego specifically, but I guess Southern section may be the same.


San Diego CIF Soccer Championship Bulletin is posted at http://www.cifsds.org/uploads/2/3/3/6/23368454/2017-2018_soccer_championships__3_.pdf


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## espola (Feb 9, 2018)

NumberTen said:


> Is there a document that details the playoff rules and bracket seeding at the league level?  I guess that you would say the first level of playoffs. San Diego specifically, but I guess Southern section may be the same.


Each league is guaranteed at least one spot in the playoffs, but most leagues cross over more than one Division, so the seeds get a little odd sometimes.  Also, each league champion is guaranteed a first-round home game, unless paired up with another league champion with a better ranking.

Rankings for all teams are shown in the CIFSDS Power Rankings page, arranged by sport, year, gender and division.  The actual seedings are assigned by a committee that meets the Saturday after league play ends - they usually follow the Power Rankings pretty closely.


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## NumberTen (Feb 9, 2018)

espola said:


> Each league is guaranteed at least one spot in the playoffs, but most leagues cross over more than one Division, so the seeds get a little odd sometimes.  Also, each league champion is guaranteed a first-round home game, unless paired up with another league champion with a better ranking.
> 
> Rankings for all teams are shown in the CIFSDS Power Rankings page, arranged by sport, year, gender and division.  The actual seedings are assigned by a committee that meets the Saturday after league play ends - they usually follow the Power Rankings pretty closely.


Thanks, exactly what a newbie needs.


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## USC (Feb 12, 2018)

Playoffs are out...very confusing seeding, hopefully someone can provide some guidance.   For example, there is a school in Southern section that won their league however they ended up in division 4 and the third place team in division 2?   How does this work?  Do they try to balance schools evenly or the schools decide their division??


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## espola (Feb 12, 2018)

USC said:


> Playoffs are out...very confusing seeding, hopefully someone can provide some guidance.   For example, there is a school in Southern section that won their league however they ended up in division 4 and the third place team in division 2?   How does this work?  Do they try to balance schools evenly or the schools decide their division??


Which schools?


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## Cskem (Feb 12, 2018)

I posted this in the other thread but I'll post here as well...How did Esperanza and Foothill get spots in Div 1 when they placed 3rd and 4th in Div 2 league?


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## Snchz13 (Feb 12, 2018)

Cskem said:


> I posted this in the other thread but I'll post here as well...How did Esperanza and Foothill get spots in Div 1 when they placed 3rd and 4th in Div 2 league?


CIF looks at your school league records for the past two years to determine your Division.  I will explain with my school so that it makes sense.  We play in a Division 5 league but because our records of the past 2 years have been positive(won league twice) we will now play playoffs in Division 4.  even though we finished in 3rd this year.  one of the school finished in 2nd place, but because their record the past two years weren't as good, this year they would play CIF in Division 6.   Last year we lost the first round in CIF to a team who played in Division 2 league but because it was their first time making it to CIF in years they weren't considered a D2 team, instead they played under D4 and they lost in the Semis.   This is a new change that started last year.  Godinez HS is a perfect example.  They played in a D5 league, they won CIF in D5 and made State Final, the following year they won CIF in D3 and won State Final.  This year they were moved to D1 CIF even though they finished 4th in their league.


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## Mystery Train (Feb 12, 2018)

Snchz13 said:


> CIF looks at your school league records for the past two years to determine your Division.  I will explain with my school so that it makes sense.  We play in a Division 5 league but because our records of the past 2 years have been positive(won league twice) we will now play playoffs in Division 4.  even though we finished in 3rd this year.  one of the school finished in 2nd place, but because their record the past two years weren't as good, this year they would play CIF in Division 6.   Last year we lost the first round in CIF to a team who played in Division 2 league but because it was their first time making it to CIF in years they weren't considered a D2 team, instead they played under D4 and they lost in the Semis.   This is a new change that started last year.  Godinez HS is a perfect example.  They played in a D5 league, they won CIF in D5 and made State Final, the following year they won CIF in D3 and won State Final.  This year they were moved to D1 CIF even though they finished 4th in their league.


Wow, that's nuts!  I had no idea the schools could be scattered throughout the divisions so erratically.  Thanks for the info.


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## DefndrDad (Feb 12, 2018)

Your explanation makes sense, why CIF would do it like that does not.


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## twoclubpapa (Feb 12, 2018)

DefndrDad said:


> Your explanation makes sense, why CIF would do it like that does not.


In the CIF Southern Section the playoff division for each team is determined prior to the season based on their competitive results from the two previous seasons.  As a result, leagues are no longer homogeneous in terms of playoff division.  For example, the Academy Girls League has Div 4, 5 and 6 teams.  See my post at http://www.socalsoccer.com/threads/2017-2018-cif-ss-girls-high-school-thread.4722/page-3#post-162468


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## twoclubpapa (Feb 12, 2018)

Snchz13 said:


> ....This year they were moved to D1 CIF even though they finished 4th in their league.


Actually, they started the season knowing they would be competing for a Div 1 playoff spot due to the power ranking they earned for the two previous highly successful seasons.  They were lucky to have earned an at large playoff spot this year in Div 1 with a 4th place league finish.  If divisions were still based on the old size criteria their season would already be over.


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## DefndrDad (Feb 13, 2018)

twoclubpapa said:


> In the CIF Southern Section the playoff division for each team is determined prior to the season based on their competitive results from the two previous seasons.  As a result, leagues are no longer homogeneous in terms of playoff division.  For example, the Academy Girls League has Div 4, 5 and 6 teams.  See my post at http://www.socalsoccer.com/threads/2017-2018-cif-ss-girls-high-school-thread.4722/page-3#post-162468


I got ya papa, that’s how they populate the divisions, it just does not make sense to me. So a school has a good class or two and they jump up. The school population does not change, and when that strong group of classes graduates. It’s a seesaw worse than before.


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## fotos4u2 (Feb 13, 2018)

DefndrDad said:


> I got ya papa, that’s how they populate the divisions, it just does not make sense to me. So a school has a good class or two and they jump up. The school population does not change, and when that strong group of classes graduates. It’s a seesaw worse than before.


Personally it seems that the potential "seesaw" effect is better than the other alternative which is a school performs better than their population predicts and ends up blowing out all the teams in their division and winning CIF every year.  The way it is currently set up there is more potentional for teams to play equivalent skill leveled teams at the CIF level.  On another note, on the girls side Academy may have effected some teams so they may have been a Division 1 team for the past 2 years and then lost their "studs" to Academy and so performed poorly.


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## espola (Feb 13, 2018)

Just for the record - San Diego Section assigns divisions using a 5-year weighted average (recent years count more) of season-end (after playoffs) rankings which closely match those published by Maxpreps.com.  When this system replaced the older divisions based on enrollment, there was a limit of the number of divisions a school could move each year.  There are still a couple of schools that  have not moved into the right division (OLP girls, for example).


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## twoclubpapa (Feb 13, 2018)

espola said:


> Just for the record - San Diego Section assigns divisions using a 5-year weighted average (recent years count more) of season-end (after playoffs) rankings which closely match those published by Maxpreps.com.  When this system replaced the older divisions based on enrollment, there was a limit of the number of divisions a school could move each year.  There are still a couple of schools that  have not moved into the right division (OLP girls, for example).


My impression from reading various posts on SocalSoccer in recent years is that current season results are factored into the SDS power rankings.  Is this correct?  If so, it contrasts with the Southern Section approach which relies solely on the two previous seasons.


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## twoclubpapa (Feb 13, 2018)

DefndrDad said:


> I got ya papa, that’s how they populate the divisions, it just does not make sense to me. So a school has a good class or two and they jump up. The school population does not change, and when that strong group of classes graduates. It’s a seesaw worse than before.


(Southern Section) I think that the points structure for W-L-T results and the 25/75 relative weighting for the last two seasons were designed to avoid extreme sensitivity (seesawing) in ranking movements.  Maybe a project I'll take on with some Excel spreadsheet work.


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## espola (Feb 13, 2018)

twoclubpapa said:


> My impression from reading various posts on SocalSoccer in recent years is that current season results are factored into the SDS power rankings.  Is this correct?  If so, it contrasts with the Southern Section approach which relies solely on the two previous seasons.


San Diego Section Power Rankings are based on current year results, but the arithmetic includes the Division of the opponent, which can make a difference of 4 points out of 34 to 50 possible.


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## Bdobyns (Feb 15, 2018)

How did Santiago Corona Women's soccer stay in the top 4 this year--they are the only D1 school in their league and couldn't get a victory vs D3 Centennial or D3 Roosevelt, that is four games, and they finished in second place in league.  Sure they should be in D1 but as a fourth seed, what a joke.  IMO, Troy HS should have been in the top 4, at least they won their league.


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## fotos4u2 (Feb 15, 2018)

Bdobyns said:


> How did Santiago Corona Women's soccer stay in the top 4 this year--they are the only D1 school in their league and couldn't get a victory vs D3 Centennial or D3 Roosevelt, that is four games, and they finished in second place in league.  Sure they should be in D1 but as a fourth seed, what a joke.  IMO, Troy HS should have been in the top 4, at least they won their league.


Just curious where you're seeing the seeding?  Because I'm assuming that the 4 teams that have a bye are seeded higher, which would put Santiago Corona lower than that.  But maybe that team did better in pre-season against stronger teams?  

Of course even using pre-season results can be dicey.  I know our team lost to some teams early in pre-season.  The unknown factor was that almost half the starters were missing those games because of CRL and some of the "gaps" were filled by JV players.


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## Bdobyns (Feb 15, 2018)

fotos4u2 said:


> Just curious where you're seeing the seeding?  Because I'm assuming that the 4 teams that have a bye are seeded higher, which would put Santiago Corona lower than that.  But maybe that team did better in pre-season against stronger teams?
> 
> Of course even using pre-season results can be dicey.  I know our team lost to some teams early in pre-season.  The unknown factor was that almost half the starters were missing those games because of CRL and some of the "gaps" were filled by JV players.


On CIF website, look at the last poll and that will show you the seeding for the top 10.  As for byes, who knows.  Usually you don't see two byes in the same quadrant.


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## twoclubpapa (Feb 15, 2018)

Bdobyns said:


> How did Santiago Corona Women's soccer stay in the top 4 this year--they are the only D1 school in their league and couldn't get a victory vs D3 Centennial or D3 Roosevelt, that is four games, and they finished in second place in league.  Sure they should be in D1 but as a fourth seed, what a joke.  IMO, Troy HS should have been in the top 4, at least they won their league.


I think you're misreading the bracket.  If you look at the CIF soccer playoff bulletin example for how they construct the brackets you will see that Hart, #1 in their league, is the 4th seed and playing an At-Large team.


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## GoPats (Feb 15, 2018)

Bdobyns said:


> How did Santiago Corona Women's soccer stay in the top 4 this year--they are the only D1 school in their league and couldn't get a victory vs D3 Centennial or D3 Roosevelt, that is four games, and they finished in second place in league.  Sure they should be in D1 but as a fourth seed, what a joke.  IMO, Troy HS should have been in the top 4, at least they won their league.


They got the 4th seed because they are ranked 4th by the advisory committee at the end of the regular season (essentially a coaches poll I believe).  While they didn't win their league, I think they likely stayed #4 because they started the season well and only lost one game (to the #2 seed in D1).  Are they the 4th best in D1?  I guess we will see.  I don't see how Troy deserve the #4 seed though.  They lost to a D3 and D4 opponent this year (and to a couple of D2 opponents), so I don't see how they would deserve the higher seed given your argument against Santiago Corona (actually, S/C didn't lose to any D3/D4 opponents, they tied those games).   Seems like Troy got a pretty favorable spot in the bracket though, even if they weren't seeded.


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## GoPats (Feb 15, 2018)

twoclubpapa said:


> I think you're misreading the bracket.  If you look at the CIF soccer playoff bulletin example for how they construct the brackets you will see that Hart, #1 in their league, is the 4th seed and playing an At-Large team.


I am pretty sure Santiago is the 4th seed based upon the final poll.  The bigger question is how did Aliso get a bye in the first round as an unseeded team when the 4 seed has to play in the first round.


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## Soccer1019 (Feb 15, 2018)

Santiago was given the 4th seed and probably shouldn't have been but not necessarily for the reasons you listed.  If you put a premium on winning your league championship in order to be a seed, then no, Santiago should have been moved down.  However, CIF allowed for them to get the seed based on the final poll but then decided that because they were a 2nd place team from their league that they couldn't have a bye over a non seeded league champ in same division for first round.  As such, that is why J Serra was also bypassed for the "bye" as the #5 ranked team (also came in 2nd from their league) and it fell to Aliso Niguel, the next highest ranked team (6th) based on final poll that was a league champ.  All that said, it would've made more sense to just move Aliso to the 4th seed and slide Santiago down and then everything would have looked right.  I think there's a problem with the playoff bracketing language and placement in that it hasn't been updated to address any potential issues (such as a second place team in league getting a top four seed), and that divisions are now based on competitive equity where leagues now have multiple divisions represented verses in the past, all league teams represented the same division...      

As to how Santiago stayed in the top 4 I'd assume it was based on their body of work as fotos4u2 suggested, and not just their league? Schedule looks competitive with some good results against quality teams with quality wins of their own and their only loss coming to an undefeated Upland team.  Centennial is only in Div 3 because of their past two years worth of results which were not favorable.  Clearly, they're a much improved team this year (anyone can see that by looking at their results and #4 seed) which indicates they'll more than likely move up to Div 2 next year which is a more accurate portrayal of their current talent level and is a good reason why they were able to play Santiago to not one but two draws.  Also, Roosevelt is Div 2 not 3 so not being able to "get a victory" is still not a loss and really not as big of a deal as what I think you want to make it.  I think most would agree that in league play, crazy things happen....rivalries, history, a bounce here, a bounce there, injuries, familiarity with each other, or any other combination of factors is what makes league play so unpredictable and fun for almost any league,  Sometimes it just doesn't go the way it "should" based on rankings, rosters, records, overall talent level, division placement etc....however, congrats to both Centennial and Roosevelt on not losing to Santiago (if that's something to be celebrated) and yet again to Centennial on being able to beat Roosevelt, which is what ultimately allowed them to win league.

Troy is good, a quality side with enough talent to make a run but coming out of the freeway league as a champion doesn't exactly mean they should be the fourth seed.  But then again, having a personal connection to Troy might make you biased...J Serra (a 2nd place team from league), Aliso Niguel, La Mirada are all better options IMO.


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## MWN (Feb 15, 2018)

As @twoclubpapa explains, in the Southern Section (not SD), at the beginning of the year (September), the CIF puts all the schools into their respective "Divisions" (not based on population, but the previous 2 years performance).  Here is the document for this year for boys: https://cifss.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Boys-Soccer-Power-Rankings-2017-2018-Web.pdf.  Key take aways:

Schools are put into divisions and ranked:

Based upon a two-year weighted power point total. The 2016 season was given a 25% weighted value and the 2017 season was given a 75% weighted value. 
Strength of the regular season results and playoff performance results over the last two seasons. 
Regular season matches and playoff opponents are weighted based upon the strength of the opponent and the division they were previously placed in.
Note, @fotos4u2 and others ... only the "regular season and playoffs" count.  Preseason is ignored for good reason (teams are playing outside their divisions and CRL and league may impact team makeup).

Now that we have the teams in Divisions and Tiered them, we play the season.  Over the course of the Season, the Boys or Girls CIF SS Soccer Advisory Committee then ranks the teams in each of the divisions throughout the year and finally publishes its "Final" Top 10 Poll - See, https://cifss.org/rankings/2-5-2018-boys-soccer-polls/

When it comes to "byes" and who-plays-who, the Top 10 poll plays a part, as did league finishing.  The goal being to provide some intelligence to the process and not look strictly at records.  Teams that won their league AND appear on the Top 10 poll are likely to get "wild card" teams, whereas, teams the came in 2nd may not get the wild card teams (unless they were also in the Top 10), it all depends on how things shape up.

My personal belief is that 2 year weighted for boys is probably very accurate.  Girls could be 3 or 4 years, but 5 is to much.  I know nothing about CIF SD (except that its below the northern border checkpoint in Oceanside and Temecula and they used to have a professional football team there that moved to the CIF-SS.


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## DefndrDad (Feb 15, 2018)

MWN and Soccer1019,  you both make good points and explain the situation extremely well. My dd is a freshman this year and I have not dealt with CIF since I played way back when. My question is, is this a better system then the way it used to be done with individual leagues populating the same divisions?


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## Bdobyns (Feb 15, 2018)

twoclubpapa said:


> I think you're misreading the bracket.  If you look at the CIF soccer playoff bulletin example for how they construct the brackets you will see that Hart, #1 in their league, is the 4th seed and playing an At-Large team.


Maybe, but my experience has been that CIF will do a final ranking of teams and use that for the seeding of the tournament/playoffs.  You will see that the 1-4 seeds will play the 29-32 seeds, and usually be the teams that get the byes.  With 3 byes listed, even the at-large team would be #29.


Soccer1019 said:


> Santiago was given the 4th seed and probably shouldn't have been but not necessarily for the reasons you listed.  If you put a premium on winning your league championship in order to be a seed, then no, Santiago should have been moved down.  However, CIF allowed for them to get the seed based on the final poll but then decided that because they were a 2nd place team from their league that they couldn't have a bye over a non seeded league champ in same division for first round.  As such, that is why J Serra was also bypassed for the "bye" as the #5 ranked team (also came in 2nd from their league) and it fell to Aliso Niguel, the next highest ranked team (6th) based on final poll that was a league champ.  All that said, it would've made more sense to just move Aliso to the 4th seed and slide Santiago down and then everything would have looked right.  I think there's a problem with the playoff bracketing language and placement in that it hasn't been updated to address any potential issues (such as a second place team in league getting a top four seed), and that divisions are now based on competitive equity where leagues now have multiple divisions represented verses in the past, all league teams represented the same division...
> 
> As to how Santiago stayed in the top 4 I'd assume it was based on their body of work as fotos4u2 suggested, and not just their league? Schedule looks competitive with some good results against quality teams with quality wins of their own and their only loss coming to an undefeated Upland team.  Centennial is only in Div 3 because of their past two years worth of results which were not favorable.  Clearly, they're a much improved team this year (anyone can see that by looking at their results and #4 seed) which indicates they'll more than likely move up to Div 2 next year which is a more accurate portrayal of their current talent level and is a good reason why they were able to play Santiago to not one but two draws.  Also, Roosevelt is Div 2 not 3 so not being able to "get a victory" is still not a loss and really not as big of a deal as what I think you want to make it.  I think most would agree that in league play, crazy things happen....rivalries, history, a bounce here, a bounce there, injuries, familiarity with each other, or any other combination of factors is what makes league play so unpredictable and fun for almost any league,  Sometimes it just doesn't go the way it "should" based on rankings, rosters, records, overall talent level, division placement etc....however, congrats to both Centennial and Roosevelt on not losing to Santiago (if that's something to be celebrated) and yet again to Centennial on being able to beat Roosevelt, which is what ultimately allowed them to win league.
> 
> Troy is good, a quality side with enough talent to make a run but coming out of the freeway league as a champion doesn't exactly mean they should be the fourth seed.  But then again, having a personal connection to Troy might make you biased...J Serra (a 2nd place team from league), Aliso Niguel, La Mirada are all better options IMO.


Yeah, Troy's biggest enemy is their league.  My kiddo graduated last year when they made it to the quarters and barely lost to Mater Dei, 1-0.  I am always hopeful that they will get more love than they have in the past.  Oh well.


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## Soccer1019 (Feb 15, 2018)

When it comes to playoffs, CIF only goes so far as to "seed" and then place 1/4 in the top bracket and 2/3 in the bottom.  After that, there aren't any seeds as it's virtually impossible to do a "true" seed all the way up to 32...What happens next is they place the league champions into the bracket...next are the second place teams and then the 3rd (4th if any), and finally at large or wild card winners...the system is designed to make sure a 1 (league champ) is matched up with a 3 (or 4 or WC or AL team) and to then try and match second place teams with second place teams for the first round...another factor is to avoid having league teams play each other in the first or second round....all of that makes sense with the old format of each league having ALL teams be in same division but now with competitive equity in place, I think the process and procedures need an overhaul....

I think CIF could easily accomplish as close to a true seed (1-32) if they used the Maxpreps rankings....all they need to do is the following:

A. Make sure that maxpreps has all teams classified in proper division for the year (yes, I know they still had multiple teams in the wrong division this year but I believe that has to do with the coach or whomever is setting up the maxpreps account for each team to establish the proper division for your team first)

B.  Make it a rule that ALL teams in ALL divisions have to have their games accurately input for ALL games prior to new school week, so before Monday morning.

C.  Maxpreps releases an updated "ranking" every Tuesday and Friday, complete with strength of schedule and an overall "rating" based on their algorithm which does not take in to consideration any type of human component to it (eliminating personal bias etc...) where coaches have a say.  I don't know particulars of that algorithm but I know it's based on Wins, Losses, common opponents and how every team you play subsequently does the rest of the season.  I'm sure it takes into account wins over teams in a higher division and losses to a team in a lower division into account as well.

D.  If they did this, I think they could use this for their weekly "CIF" rankings and then also use it for the playoffs to do a true seeding where 1 plays 32, 2 plays 31, 3 plays 30 and so on.....just follow the maxpreps ratings....

E.  In order for this to work though, CIF has to do away with their bylaws of not playing a league team in first or second round as well as eliminating the 1st place teams paired up against 3rd (4th etc) and 2nd paired up with 2nd place team from league as their criteria...since leagues are now so spread out within the divisions, does it really make sense to keep those rules?  League championships and your league finish would carry less weight which I don't think is a bad thing since not all league "champs"  and 2's and 3's are equally matched to begin with, especially with leagues now having multiple divisions represented...For example, one league is weak without competition and one is stacked...perfect example is J Serra as a second place team in "league" yet clearly, they're easily one of the best teams in Div. 1 and California....conversely, a league champion in one league that might not be as strong can lose to a 3 or 4 from another league that is loaded.
F.  Personally, if CIF wants competitive equity to be the standard for divisions, why are they keeping the archaic version of how teams qualify for playoffs with "guaranteed" spots for each league when not every league is the same.  League is only 6, 8, 10 or 12 matches depending on league size yet that's what determines who goes to playoffs and the privilege to win a ring?.  Some teams play anywhere up to another 10-15 on top of that (if they played 10 league games, plus 3 tournaments where they get at least 4 matches each (12 games) and still could play another 4 preseason matches to fill out their maximum "20" matches allowed by CIF (tournaments counting as 2 matches each against that number).  Make the whole season count towards playoff selection.  If teams try and stack wins with weak opponents yielding higher wins and less losses, their rating will reflect it in the end more than likely and they'll be middle of the pack if not towards the bottom of their division because other teams have a higher strength of schedule and still might be getting same type of results.  Not only that, teams that don't at least attempt to test themselves and hope to slide into playoffs will most certainly not be ready for playoffs and will get bounced early.  Schedule up make all games matter.

It's late, I'm sure my thoughts aren't all iron clad but it's just a suggestion and thinking out loud...be kind with any comments as it's just an idea and not meant to offend.  I'm sure there are holes in my thinking and I gladly welcome any "that would never work" thoughts for further examination.  Good luck to your teams and schools.


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## MWN (Feb 16, 2018)

DefndrDad said:


> MWN and Soccer1019,  you both make good points and explain the situation extremely well. My dd is a freshman this year and I have not dealt with CIF since I played way back when. My question is, is this a better system then the way it used to be done with individual leagues populating the same divisions?


I believe it is a better system because it is designed to ensure equity within the respective divisions and resulting playoffs.  In the past, schools were placed in divisions based on their school size, now its based team performance, with the only caveat being that cross-country and track and field divisions remain based on school size.  What the CIF is trying to avoid is schools within power leagues from always getting shut out of playoffs and trying to avoid blowouts by placing those teams in different divisions.  Likewise, power teams get put into Division 1 to ensure a more competitive playoff environment.  At the end of the day, however, a team needs to win at least 50% of their regular season games to have a chance to make it to the playoffs, so being competitive in league is still necessary.

Here is the "Playoff" document the CIF-SS publishes:
https://cifss.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/playoffs-blue-book-2017-2018.pdf

How does seeding for the playoff brackets work?  The answers to "How on earth did our team draw that team?" is here on Page 10:
https://cifss.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/1718PLAYOFF-BULLETIN-2.pdf


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## USC (Feb 17, 2018)

Using MaxPreps to seed teams is a great idea...just want to add that the higher seeded team gets the home game, not this coin flip non-sense...for this coming week we have a league champion playing away vs a third place team that barely has a winning record.


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## Soccer1019 (Feb 17, 2018)

UHS vs HBHS perhaps?  I'd agree with eliminating coin flips as well.  Once a true seed occurs you can easily give the higher seed the home game.  Never understood the logic of giving a league champ or a seed the home game in the first and supposedly "easiest" round...where's the benefit there?  At least the CIF State office has it right by allowing the higher seed to keep home games throughout...Granted it's 3 games max and only 8 teams but why can't the CIF sections adopt same?


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## DefndrDad (Feb 17, 2018)

USC said:


> Using MaxPreps to seed teams is a great idea...just want to add that the higher seeded team gets the home game, not this coin flip non-sense...for this coming week we have a league champion playing away vs a third place team that barely has a winning record.


I feel your pain on that one. We are in the same boat.


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## espola (Feb 17, 2018)

USC said:


> Using MaxPreps to seed teams is a great idea...just want to add that the higher seeded team gets the home game, not this coin flip non-sense...for this coming week we have a league champion playing away vs a third place team that barely has a winning record.


Maxpreps uses a totally different (and proprietary secret) method to rank teams which allows them to publish "national" rankings.


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## Soccer1019 (Feb 21, 2018)

Bdobyns said:


> How did Santiago Corona Women's soccer stay in the top 4 this year--they are the only D1 school in their league and couldn't get a victory vs D3 Centennial or D3 Roosevelt, that is four games, and they finished in second place in league.  Sure they should be in D1 but as a fourth seed, what a joke.  IMO, Troy HS should have been in the top 4, at least they won their league.


Care to edit your post after yesterday?  Division 1 is showing to be as tough as advertised.  Los Al, Aliso, Troy, Hart...all "league champs" unable to advance past 2nd round.  I think league results don't always tell the whole story.  Quarterfinal teams left are 4 league champs (down from 10 in first round) 2 second place league teams, a 3rd place team and an at large....anything can happen in playoff soccer.


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## MWN (Feb 21, 2018)

Soccer1019 said:


> ....anything can happen in playoff soccer.


Fixed it for you.


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## Soccer1019 (Feb 21, 2018)

MWN said:


> Fixed it for you.


Touche


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## DefndrDad (Feb 24, 2018)

Playoffs are into the semifinals stage. Any surprises, awesome games, or other comments?


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## Coach_JimmyZ (Mar 3, 2018)

Division 1 final JSerra vs Santa Margarita 0-0 at halftime

Here's a link to live stream of the game

http://player.theplatform.com/p/fs-rsn/SeEjD0vRvxeB


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## espola (Mar 3, 2018)

State playoff seedings will be released tomorrow evening.


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## DefndrDad (Mar 3, 2018)

Some awesome games today!!


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## SimpleSoccer (Mar 3, 2018)

Is anyone watching the J Serra v SM final? I don’t think either team has actually put 3 consecutive passes together the entire game! 

There is so much talent on the field and yet the standard of play is really disappointing. Granted the speed and intensity of both teams is high but considering there are players all over the field committed to top colleges I’m surprised they aren’t able to play under pressure/out of pressure a little better.


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## Projustice (Mar 3, 2018)

J Serra v SM,,, who won?


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## transplant (Mar 4, 2018)

J Serra


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## espola (Mar 4, 2018)

transplant said:


> J Serra


There are a lot of cliches I could post here, but I will leave that to others.

But I will say that it appears from the trophy plaque that Imperial County is back in Southern Section.  I had not heard that.


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## timbuck (Mar 4, 2018)

SimpleSoccer said:


> Is anyone watching the J Serra v SM final? I don’t think either team has actually put 3 consecutive passes together the entire game!
> 
> There is so much talent on the field and yet the standard of play is really disappointing. Granted the speed and intensity of both teams is high but considering there are players all over the field committed to top colleges I’m surprised they aren’t able to play under pressure/out of pressure a little better.


Thought the same thing. Watched the 2nd half with my 7th grade daughter and were really surprised at the “style” of play from both teams.

The ball spent a ton of time in the air or out of bounds. 

All balls were played up the sideline with very few attempts to switch the field or combine more than 1 pass in a row. 

I haven’t watched either team play all season.  Is this the usual style from these teams?


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## espola (Mar 4, 2018)

SimpleSoccer said:


> Is anyone watching the J Serra v SM final? I don’t think either team has actually put 3 consecutive passes together the entire game!
> 
> There is so much talent on the field and yet the standard of play is really disappointing. Granted the speed and intensity of both teams is high but considering there are players all over the field committed to top colleges I’m surprised they aren’t able to play under pressure/out of pressure a little better.


I saw what looked like a pass in the video posted below.


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## Goalaso (Mar 4, 2018)

I was looking at so cal regional championship game brackets from last year. Can someone please explain to me why HB advanced on? I thought the team that won their CIF section and the runner up advanced on. 

Just trying to understand all of this, thanks.


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## espola (Mar 4, 2018)

The FS video of boys D1 final is still playable

http://player.theplatform.com/p/fs-rsn/SeEjD0vRvxeB


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## espola (Mar 4, 2018)

espola said:


> The FS video of boys D1 final is still playable
> 
> http://player.theplatform.com/p/fs-rsn/SeEjD0vRvxeB


The game was a 0-0 draw after regulation and 2 10-minute overtime periods.  Santa Barbara won the kicking circus over Cathedral 3 kicks to 2.  SB Keeper made 3 nice saves while two of his teammates missed the goal completely.  Portero!  Portero!  Portero!

The referees did not succumb to finalitis.

It appears that they were using an NCAA-style clock - the game ended on the scoreboard clock, with the announcer counting down the last 10 seconds, and the clock was stopped on referee signal for events such as issuing a caution.

Bad joke from the announcers (Gascon and Cullicutt?) - Why don't you put a kid named Dracula in goal?  He's afraid of crosses.


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## DefndrDad (Mar 4, 2018)

Regional brackets are out.

http://cifstate.org/sports/soccer/scr_champ_info


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## soccermama213 (Mar 4, 2018)

DefndrDad said:


> Regional brackets are out.
> 
> http://cifstate.org/sports/soccer/scr_champ_info


Can someone explain to me how the regional brackets work. My daughters school is in d4 but  not sure how the teams work. Are we playing local teams, no cal, central, or who? A couple teams are several hours away while the other 6 are so cal. Plus I thought they took too 4 from our division but  one of the semi finalists isn’t in there. Any help understanding is appreciated


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## espola (Mar 4, 2018)

soccermama213 said:


> Can someone explain to me how the regional brackets work. My daughters school is in d4 but  not sure how the teams work. Are we playing local teams, no cal, central, or who? A couple teams are several hours away while the other 6 are so cal. Plus I thought they took too 4 from our division but  one of the semi finalists isn’t in there. Any help understanding is appreciated


Southern California Regional includes CIF Central Section, which goes up to Fresno and beyond.  There are 8 teams entered in each Division, and all games will be played within the next 6 days.  

More details here --

http://cifstate.org/sports/soccer/handbooks_forms/2018_SoCal_Soccer_Handbook.pdf


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## DefndrDad (Mar 4, 2018)

soccermama213 said:


> Can someone explain to me how the regional brackets work. My daughters school is in d4 but  not sure how the teams work. Are we playing local teams, no cal, central, or who? A couple teams are several hours away while the other 6 are so cal. Plus I thought they took too 4 from our division but  one of the semi finalists isn’t in there. Any help understanding is appreciated


I don’t know the rules on how teams were picked for the D4 bracket. But in looking at the teams there are a couple of D5 teams in the D4 bracket.The brackets include teams from San Diego section, southern section and LA city.  Maybe central as well but I haven’t gotten that far yet .


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## espola (Mar 4, 2018)

DefndrDad said:


> I don’t know the rules on how teams were picked for the D4 bracket. But in looking at the teams there are a couple of D5 teams in the D4 bracket.The brackets include teams from San Diego section, southern section and LA city


Regional brackets don't necessarily line up with Section brackets.  Each Section gets to decide which teams to enter in their allotted spots.  In San Diego Section for example there is a third-place playoff game between the losers of the Open Division semifinals to fill one of the DII spots.  When they started the So Cal Regional playoffs in 2008 there were only 3 divisions and schools were entered into Divisions by enrollment, but that is one of the many things that have changed.


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## Surfref (Mar 5, 2018)

espola said:


> Regional brackets don't necessarily line up with Section brackets.  Each Section gets to decide which teams to enter in their allotted spots.  In San Diego Section for example there is a third-place playoff game between the losers of the Open Division semifinals to fill one of the DII spots.  When they started the So Cal Regional playoffs in 2008 there were only 3 divisions and schools were entered into Divisions by enrollment, but that is one of the many things that have changed.


And up until three years ago, all of the Regional championship games were played a Downey High School which has a very nice stadium and field.  I liked the central location for the Regional championship game.  There were good size crowds, the games were televised on one of the LA stations and streamed, and the atmosphere was made you think that you was really electric.  Back then the referees were chosen from a CIF section that had no team in the game.  Now the referee team comes from the home team's section, but no one on the referee crew can have officiated either team prior in the season.


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## soccermama213 (Mar 5, 2018)

Ok thanks for the replies. I do think it would be more fun just to have all the CIF winners play  eaxh other instead


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## espola (Mar 5, 2018)

soccermama213 said:


> Ok thanks for the replies. I do think it would be more fun just to have all the CIF winners play  eaxh other instead


Arranged how?


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## DefndrDad (Mar 5, 2018)

Surfref said:


> And up until three years ago, all of the Regional championship games were played a Downey High School which has a very nice stadium and field.  I liked the central location for the Regional championship game.  There were good size crowds, the games were televised on one of the LA stations and streamed, and the atmosphere was made you think that you was really electric.  Back then the referees were chosen from a CIF section that had no team in the game.  Now the referee team comes from the home team's section, but no one on the referee crew can have officiated either team prior in the season.


 Even though my Dd’s team  will be playing at home tomorrow, I like the atmosphere you describe. The atmosphere in Corona on Saturday was very good. The facilities were not that great, I was surprised.


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## soccermama213 (Mar 6, 2018)

espola said:


> Arranged how?


I don’t know. Just seems weird that on a fluke a 3rd place team could be state champs when they didn’t even make it to CIF finals. 

I agree that the Corona atmosphere was fun and wow what a horrible field


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## espola (Mar 6, 2018)

soccermama213 said:


> I don’t know. Just seems weird that on a fluke a 3rd place team could be state champs when they didn’t even make it to CIF finals.
> 
> I agree that the Corona atmosphere was fun and wow what a horrible field


Take a look in detail at the entries for the NCAA soccer tournaments.


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## DefndrDad (Mar 6, 2018)

I agree that the Corona atmosphere was fun and wow what a horrible field[/QUOTE]

Yes the field was horrible and the scoreboard so bad you could barely read it.


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## espola (Mar 6, 2018)

San Diego Section home games tonight --

DI boys - 5 San Clemente at 4 San Marcos
DII boys - 7 Arlington at 2 Torrey Pines
DIII boys - 5 Villa Park at 4 University City and 6 La Quinta at 3 Del Norte

DI girls - 5 Santa Margarita at 4 Eastlake
DIII girls - 6 Mayfair at 3 Our Lady of Peace


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## espola (Mar 6, 2018)

San Diego Section Survivors

DII boys - #2 Torrey Pines 3-1 #7 Arlington and #8 Point Loma 3-0 #1 Aliso Niguel
DIII boys - #3 Del Norte 2-0 #6 La Quinta

DIII girls - #3 OLP 2-1 #6 Mayfair


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## Surfref (Mar 7, 2018)

There were some lopsided scores in the girls games, 14-1, 12-0, 10-0, 7-0 (x2), 6-0, 5-0.  Those are not scores that you usually see in Regional games.  Either the teams losing teams should have been in a lower bracket or the winning teams in a higher bracket.

http://cifstate.org/sports/soccer/SoCal_brkts_2018/index


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## baldref (Mar 7, 2018)

Surfref said:


> There were some lopsided scores in the girls games, 14-1, 12-0, 10-0, 7-0 (x2), 6-0, 5-0.  Those are not scores that you usually see in Regional games.  Either the teams losing teams should have been in a lower bracket or the winning teams in a higher bracket.
> 
> http://cifstate.org/sports/soccer/SoCal_brkts_2018/index


Sam said she knew it wasn't going to be good from the bus ride up. The girls didn't want the game. She said the second half was better, but being down 4-0 in the first pretty much sealed the deal. JSerra is pretty damn good though.........


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## Surfref (Mar 7, 2018)

baldref said:


> Sam said she knew it wasn't going to be good from the bus ride up. The girls didn't want the game. She said the second half was better, but being down 4-0 in the first pretty much sealed the deal. JSerra is pretty damn good though.........


Is she also coaching club?  It looks like mine will be coaching G8 and G16 teams. She told me that she talked to you a couple weeks ago during State Cup while I was off diving in the Caribbean.


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## Fact (Mar 7, 2018)

baldref said:


> Sam said she knew it wasn't going to be good from the bus ride up. The girls didn't want the game. She said the second half was better, but being down 4-0 in the first pretty much sealed the deal. JSerra is pretty damn good though.........


How about leveling the playing field with private schools?  Tighter rules on recruiting and no loophole for scholarshiped players unless public schools have the same rights.


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## baldref (Mar 7, 2018)

Mine has talked about club. hasn't done anything about it yet. But it seems she has the coaching bug. I hope it's curable.....

Yes, saw your's couple weeks ago and we both cursed you for having so much fun.


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## baldref (Mar 7, 2018)

Fact said:


> How about leveling the playing field with private schools?  Tighter rules on recruiting and no loophole for scholarshiped players unless public schools have the same rights.


i don't know anything about that. it's a high school soccer game. some teams are better and some aren't. I don't know why nor do i really care. I know the school my daughter is associated with is very good. just not as good as JSerra


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## espola (Mar 7, 2018)

baldref said:


> i don't know anything about that. it's a high school soccer game. some teams are better and some aren't. I don't know why nor do i really care. I know the school my daughter is associated with is very good. just not as good as JSerra


Serra is one of the private schools for which DA permits an exemption to the no-high-school rule.  Some say that the point of the exemption is to avoid jeopardizing the players' scholarships; others say that there is no such thing as soccer scholarships in local private schools.


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## Surfref (Mar 7, 2018)

baldref said:


> Mine has talked about club. hasn't done anything about it yet. But it seems she has the coaching bug. I hope it's curable.....
> 
> Yes, saw your's couple weeks ago and we both cursed you for having so much fun.


It only takes a weekend to get the coaches license and I am sure one of the east county clubs would pick her up.  My daughter discovered the clubs are looking for young (early/mid 20's) female coaches to coach their younger girls teams.  Who knows, our two girls may be coaching against each other and yelling at some refs that we know.


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## Surfref (Mar 7, 2018)

espola said:


> Serra is one of the private schools for which DA permits an exemption to the no-high-school rule.  Some say that the point of the exemption is to avoid jeopardizing the players' scholarships; others say that there is no such thing as soccer scholarships in local private schools.


Scholarships are no allowed for high school sports.  The correct terminology is financial aid.  A friend of ours son played football at a private Catholic HS in San Diego and even though the family made over $250,000 a year he got "financial aid."  He ended up playing college football (full scholarship) for Oregon State before blowing his knee out. I also know a couple other girl soccer players who got financial aid to private schools even though the families had really good incomes.


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## espola (Mar 7, 2018)

Surfref said:


> Scholarships are no allowed for high school sports.  The correct terminology is financial aid.  A friend of ours son played football at a private Catholic HS in San Diego and even though the family made over $250,000 a year he got "financial aid."  He ended up playing college football (full scholarship) for Oregon State before blowing his knee out. I also know a couple other girl soccer players who got financial aid to private schools even though the families had really good incomes.


A kid around the corner did not like (or, I should say, his parents did not like) the deal he was offered at a local private school, so the Dad rented a condo in Orange County and "moved" there for a couple of years while the kid was starting quarterback for a private school up there.


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## Lambchop (Mar 7, 2018)

baldref said:


> i don't know anything about that. it's a high school soccer game. some teams are better and some aren't. I don't know why nor do i really care. I know the school my daughter is associated with is very good. just not as good as JSerra


No worries, almost all of those girls will be gone June 2019, unless they hold them back.


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## baldref (Mar 7, 2018)

Surfref said:


> It only takes a weekend to get the coaches license and I am sure one of the east county clubs would pick her up.  My daughter discovered the clubs are looking for young (early/mid 20's) female coaches to coach their younger girls teams.  Who knows, our two girls may be coaching against each other and yelling at some refs that we know.


That would be interesting. I told her getting a gig wouldn’t be that tough with all the people I’ve known over the years.


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## soccermama213 (Mar 7, 2018)

Surfref said:


> There were some lopsided scores in the girls games, 14-1, 12-0, 10-0, 7-0 (x2), 6-0, 5-0.  Those are not scores that you usually see in Regional games.  Either the teams losing teams should have been in a lower bracket or the winning teams in a higher bracket.
> 
> http://cifstate.org/sports/soccer/SoCal_brkts_2018/index


My daughter was one of those scores that won 10-0. We are d4 and won CIF (the 12-0 and was also with the team that we beat 1-0 in CIF finals so they also were good) the team we played sadly was not competitive at all. I’m not sure how they even got into the regionals? I don’t fully understand the regional bracketing but they should of been in a lower bracket


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## Striker17 (Mar 7, 2018)

Surfref said:


> Scholarships are no allowed for high school sports.  The correct terminology is financial aid.  A friend of ours son played football at a private Catholic HS in San Diego and even though the family made over $250,000 a year he got "financial aid."  He ended up playing college football (full scholarship) for Oregon State before blowing his knee out. I also know a couple other girl soccer players who got financial aid to private schools even though the families had really good incomes.


Not splitting hairs here but you can get preferred admission with zero aid. Mater Dei or Gorman anyone? 
With the DA you don't have to be scholarshipped or even get financial aid to participate in high school. You can get a waiver for "other reasons" which girls in private high schools here have been doing this year. I inquired and was told this.
I think there are always loopholes that will be used.


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## Striker17 (Mar 7, 2018)

Fact said:


> How about leveling the playing field with private schools?  Tighter rules on recruiting and no loophole for scholarshiped players unless public schools have the same rights.


This is also US Soccer issue. As long as loopholes are exploited there will be no changes. 
This affects rosters, play time, morale of teams etc but I have seen no consistency in application of rule. I for one am excited about their lack of follow through so I too can hopefully have my cake and eat it too.


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## windnsea26 (Mar 9, 2018)

soccermama213 said:


> My daughter was one of those scores that won 10-0. We are d4 and won CIF (the 12-0 and was also with the team that we beat 1-0 in CIF finals so they also were good) the team we played sadly was not competitive at all. I’m not sure how they even got into the regionals? I don’t fully understand the regional bracketing but they should of been in a lower bracket


I'm guessing you played Mater Dei CV?


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## soccermama213 (Mar 9, 2018)

windnsea26 said:


> I'm guessing you played Mater Dei CV?


Yep. Felt kind of bad for them.


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## windnsea26 (Mar 9, 2018)

soccermama213 said:


> Yep. Felt kind of bad for them.


Me too. I know a few of the kids there.  I thought maybe it was a typo.


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## Surfref (Mar 9, 2018)

windnsea26 said:


> Me too. I know a few of the kids there.  I thought maybe it was a typo.


They played a good game in their final, so I was surprised when I saw the score.


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## espola (Mar 9, 2018)

espola said:


> San Diego Section Survivors
> 
> DII boys - #2 Torrey Pines 3-1 #7 Arlington and #8 Point Loma 3-0 #1 Aliso Niguel
> DIII boys - #3 Del Norte 2-0 #6 La Quinta
> ...


Torrey Pines made it into the DII boys final Saturday, and a home game at that.

Del Norte has the DIII boys home game.

OLP made it to the DIII girls final, but they have to go to Flintridge.


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## windnsea26 (Mar 9, 2018)

espola said:


> Torrey Pines made it into the DII boys final Saturday, and a home game at that.
> 
> Del Norte has the DIII boys home game.
> 
> OLP made it to the DIII girls final, but they have to go to Flintridge.


I'm gonna say OLP is going to take it all this year.  We played them this year and surprisingly won 1-0.  Solid team with a stellar defense.


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## espola (Mar 9, 2018)

windnsea26 said:


> I'm gonna say OLP is going to take it all this year.  We played them this year and surprisingly won 1-0.  Solid team with a stellar defense.


And a private school, so their roster can stay intact.


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## windnsea26 (Mar 9, 2018)

espola said:


> And a private school, so their roster can stay intact.


Yes. I don't think they had many seniors if I recall too.


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## coachsamy (Mar 9, 2018)

Mater CV does a poor job recruiting and their coaching staff are poor as well. Eastlake JV team would probably beat them 10-0 as well.


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## Monkey (Mar 9, 2018)

coachsamy said:


> Mater CV does a poor job recruiting and their coaching staff are poor as well. Eastlake JV team would probably beat them 10-0 as well.


High schools should not be recruiting in the first place. And maybe they prioritize an education over sports.


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## coachsamy (Mar 9, 2018)

Monkey said:


> High schools should not be recruiting in the first place. And maybe they prioritize an education over sports.


Yeah, but they do. Mater Dei has more talent pool to recruit from, and for some reason they go after all the wrong athletes.


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## Monkey (Mar 9, 2018)

And you have first hand knowledge of this unethical practice?


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## espola (Mar 9, 2018)

Monkey said:


> And you have first hand knowledge of this unethical practice?


Recruiting, scholarships, or something else on your mind?


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## G03_SD (Mar 9, 2018)

windnsea26 said:


> I'm gonna say OLP is going to take it all this year.  We played them this year and surprisingly won 1-0.  Solid team with a stellar defense.


Flintridge's roster is loaded with talent as well.  It's going to be a good match. Too bad they didn't get a home game we would have loved to come watch.


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## coachsamy (Mar 9, 2018)

Monkey said:


> And you have first hand knowledge of this unethical practice?


That private schools recruit top players (All Sports) and give them tuition scholarship? I know you don't live under a rock. 

I'll give you one better, Club Coaches luring kids to their clubs so they can make varsity.


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## Monkey (Mar 9, 2018)

coachsamy said:


> That private schools recruit top players (All Sports) and give them tuition scholarship? I know you don't live under a rock.
> 
> I'll give you one better, Club Coaches luring kids to their clubs so they can make varsity.


No I agree with all that.  But maybe the better kids you think they could and should get turn them down to go to schools with better teams.  For example i know kids that play football that would rather go to a public school with a higher rated team then a private school in a lower division.  Also friends play a big role in where kids go to high school regardless of the caliber of the school.


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## Surfref (Mar 12, 2018)

#6 Upland beat #1 JSerra in the D1 girls final.  Does anyone on here have a recap of the game?  I bet Baker was losing his mind.


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## espola (Mar 12, 2018)

espola said:


> Torrey Pines made it into the DII boys final Saturday, and a home game at that.
> 
> Del Norte has the DIII boys home game.
> 
> OLP made it to the DIII girls final, but they have to go to Flintridge.


Torrey Pines and OLP won their finals.

http://www.cifstate.org/sports/soccer/SoCal_brkts_2018/index


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## LadiesMan217 (Mar 12, 2018)

Surfref said:


> #6 Upland beat #1 JSerra in the D1 girls final.  Does anyone on here have a recap of the game?  I bet Baker was losing his mind.


Recap: JSerra defense kicks ball 50 yards up field to charging forwards. Upland intercepts ball and kicks it back the other way 50 yards. JSerra intercepts and kicks ball back 50 yards to charging forwards. Upland intercepts and kicks ball back. Jserra player wearing hard surface cleats slides on artificial turf. Upland scores. JSerra loses. Baker recruits girl who scored.


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## timbuck (Mar 12, 2018)

I asked a friend if he watched the game vs SM last weekend and I mentioned how ugly it was. 
He said Baker’s statement is “save that possession stuff for club soccer.”


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## jojosoccer (Mar 12, 2018)

Kickball over the midfield sounds exactly like HS Soccer.
Sure is hard on the parents to watch. By senior year parents are far more relaxed  watching the crappy soccer. That’s when you realize it’s about the school spirit and playing with their friends.


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## timbuck (Mar 12, 2018)

But why is it so crappy?  In So Cal, for the most part, the HS coaches are club soccer coaches.  And many of the players have been playing club soccer for many years.  
What does it revert to whack and chase?


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## coachsamy (Mar 12, 2018)

timbuck said:


> But why is it so crappy?  In So Cal, for the most part, the HS coaches are club soccer coaches.  And many of the players have been playing club soccer for many years.
> What does it revert to whack and chase?


Have you ever honestly watch a team playing possession against another equally or better skilled team? Me neither. The whole possession thing only works when a team is vastly superior than the other one. Of course there are some exceptions.


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## Lambchop (Mar 15, 2018)

timbuck said:


> I asked a friend if he watched the game vs SM last weekend and I mentioned how ugly it was.
> He said Baker’s statement is “save that possession stuff for club soccer.”


It doesn't matter, almost all of those girls will graduate 2019.


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## SDSoccerfan (Mar 15, 2018)

espola said:


> Torrey Pines and OLP won their finals.
> 
> http://www.cifstate.org/sports/soccer/SoCal_brkts_2018/index


As did Del Norte.  Congrats to all the SD Champs


----------

