EARY LOOK AT 2021

H

Hambone and Swiss

Member
Way to early for this but it is always fun. Who looks strong for 2021. (Other than St. Ignatius). I know DIII better than the other divisions and would give the nod to Ottawa Hills. Very young this year with, I believe, one senior, but very strong. They should be the top of DIII next year. Although Troy Christian loses three top notch defenders, they also have a lot coming back and will be very good. In Cincinnati I think you will see Madeira and possibly Cincinnati Country Day at the top. Madeira basically had 11 new starters this year and, other than their center back and keeper, they were almost all underclassmen. Columbus will have Worthington Christian and Grandview Heights again, although I think Wellington will be back in the picture next year as they also started a young team and started to really come together at the end of the year. Mooney certainly has the chance to run the Northeast again as I believe they started 6 freshman and sophomores in the state final against Mariemont, but the seniors they lose will be hard to replace. (I think Mariemont may have a similar issue - they have a number of starters back but the seniors they lose will be really hard to replace). I think Wheelersburg, Botkins, Greenon, and Blufton will all be down next year. (Watch out for Legacy Christian and Georgetown - they are going to surprise a few people in the SW). ,
 
 
I'm not sure about Legacy, I thought they were very senior heavy. I'll be interested in watching the Georgetown team as not many strong teams from that area.
 
Good point on Legacy. My information was from their game with Troy Christian and it seemed they had a pretty good core of underclassmen but you would know better than me. Georgetown has a few really nice underclassman and the play a pretty good brand of soccer. They are not going to beat a Madeira or CCD, but they will be better than people think. I also failed to mention Academy as a team to watch - they were also young last year and made a nice run to the regional semis.
 
Up North I would say:

D1 Iggy for sure. Medina of course. Been a while since we had a state final without either school in it.

D2 is tough everywhere because so many teams change divisions and I believe this is a year for realignment. If you look at the top 20 enrollments in D2 you'll see names like Aurora, Howland, Tipp City, DeSales and Revere. Any of them could be on the move. With the NE being one big 'super' district that now includes Bay it's really tough to determine who will get out of there.

D3 Mooney did indeed start a ton of freshmen and sophomores though they lose their center mid and also their highest scoring forward. Some young leaders will have to step up. South Range loses several seniors. Crestview is an up and coming program with a large number of kids and a couple youngsters who are really good.
 
SW Ohio Thoughts

D1
Sycamore seems to be the top team from 2020 that returns the most talent. I’d look for them to be a top team down here. Moeller will be a year older and their transfers will play the entire year, watch for them to be back on top. Loveland and Milford always seem to be in the conversation and Anderson returns a talented core. I’m sure Mason and St. X will be top 5 teams as well.

D2
Summit and Wyoming both graduate most of their attack. Indian Hill was young this year. My guess is all three of these teams will be 1-3 again for the 3rd year in a row. I believe Mariemont may be moving to DII? If so they are obviously in the conversation.

D3
Mariemont graduates a lot but also returns almost half their starters. Don’t count them out. Madeira returns almost everyone. They may be the favorites. CCD and 7 Hills will be in the conversation as well.
 
Keep an eye on Bellbrook. They made a lot of noise during this past season.....and their core was the junior class.
 
A note about CCD. They weren’t healthy much of the season, but they were early and late...and they were leading Mariemont 1-0 with under 10 left in regular season (lost 2-1)...and 2-1 with 6 left in the tournament (lost 3-2 in overtime). To my knowledge, these were Mariemont’s only real scares the entire 23-0 state championship season. And CCD was young.

I agree that Mariemont will surprise people next season. The two biggest stars (outstanding players!) are gone, but I was super-impressed by the (large) supporting cast. Mariemont, indeed, was the largest D3 school in the state, so don’t know if realignment to D2 is possible or not.

Madeira returns a lot from a good district runner-up squad (lost to Troy Christian 1-0). My experience in D3 is that you need at least one (possibly 2) 20-30 goal scorer(s) to be a legit state championship contender. Madeira needs to develop that between now and then.

I’ve been consistently impressed by Troy Christian (and they’ve knocked us out twice in the past 4 seasons). Very smart, disciplined, hard-working team. They return a legit scorer. Definitely a team I’m paying attention to.

(Seven Hills is always tough, so don’t ever count them out.)
 
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