State Poll for Week of 9/25/23

 
I agree. The problem is after Moeller, it’s a complete mess in the local polls. It’s a spider web of beating one team that loses to another who beat someone else and on and on.

Each district can only nominate 3 teams for State voting. The districts use the local coaches poll. Feels like they are hanging on by a thread of potential and possibility of getting healthy.

If you look at conference vs conference, the GCL is having more success vs. the GMC and the ECC. The GMC is too heavy with Mason and West with East getting better. The ECC seems to be balanced. The bottom half of the GMC is getting beaten up a bit locally. St. X and Elder have fared well locally outside of their conference (albeit the X loss to West).

St. X plays Mason this weekend, so that should have a big impact and seeding and rankings.

I watched the Mason vs West game. For much of the game, Mason dominated possession and chances, yet were very susceptible to the counter and had defensive breakdowns. At times they look very good and others the kids look like they don’t care and don’t want to play. They scored a great goal to go up 1-0 at half-time, dominated play, yet still gave up 2-3 breakaways that somehow didn’t lead to west goals. In the 2nd half they were totally uninspiring. The keeper made a huge mistake that led to their first goal and then with 10 mins left they totally got countered and lost track of runners defensively.
 
Philly_Cat said:
I think Mason is overrated
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Circling back to this, Mason is about to finish 3rd in the GMC behind both East and West. I really think the region comes down to Centerville and Moeller to lose. With that said, Centerville just lost to Springboro. I'm giving them a pass, a little, due to it being a next door neighbor and league rival. But it may just be Moeller's region to lose.
 
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Having seen most of the Southwest teams play, I think they all have vulnerabilities and it depends on which teams shows up on a given day. My take on the top 4 Cincinnati teams and Centerville

Moeller has a great defense but lacking offensive power. If an opponent can survive the first 20 minutes of a game against their heavy pressing, they have a shot at beating them. They play through the midfield, so the team that is capable of winning that area of the field will be more successful. Moeller also elected to play a softer local schedule, especially late in the season. Why did they choose to play Hamilton and Mt Healthy, other than to just pad their stats and feel good about themselves? Will they be ready for the playoffs? They will likely be the Southwest regional winner, but I wouldn’t be surprised by an upset either.

St Xavier is similar to Moeller that they press heavily in the first part of the game but then lose energy. They play direct by sending a lot of long direct balls to their physical (but not as technical) front line. If an opponents front line and midfield can shut the long balls down, they’ll shut the team down.

Lakota West has a tall and big front line, and so they tend to play past their midfield and directly to the front line. Their weakness is their midfield and defense, especially on the counter attack.

Mason has a lot of talent and has the potential to be dangerous. Their biggest issue is that they have a couple players in key positions that play as individuals and not in the best interest of the team. I’ve also heard they’ve had some injury issues.

Centerville is like Moeller in that they have a great back line. I think they are actually better than Moellers back line. However, they don’t have as good of midfield as Moeller, so they don’t create a lot of offensive opportunities to score goals. And as strong as their defense is, they also are human and make mistakes (Springboro game).
 
Ehhh, I’m not sure I agree with your assessment of Moeller. Yes, they have a really good defense and midfield, probably the best in the State. And they are better than Centerville, who St. X really controlled much of the night on its way to a 1-0 victory.

A few facts and stats to consider:
- Moeller currently has 13 shut outs in a row, 2nd all time in OHSAA history behind Gahanna Lincoln at 17. There’s a good chance they break the record.
- their starting defense and midfield haven’t given up a goal all season. Walnut Hills scored a goal with 2:41 left in the game on a PK when a backup defender trucked a kid in the box. The PK was against their backup keeper too.
-according to GCL website, their starting keeper has 15 saves, 13 shut outs and 0 goals against. That means their opponents are averaging 1.07 shots on goal per game.
- Opponents are unable to advance through the midfield vs. Moeller, let alone beat their defense.
- Moeller has played the current #2, 3, 4, 5 and 7 teams in the city and scrimmaged the #6 team as well. You can’t play #1 when you are #1.
- Centerville won’t play Moeller in the regular season. Beavercreek will only scrimmage. Sycamore won’t play them, East won’t play them, Anderson won’t either. St. Ignatius couldn’t play them due to schedule conflicts.
- they played two teams from Columbus that are traditionally good year in and year out in New Albany and St. Charles and they played a preseason top 10 team from Michigan.
- their Max Preps schedule rating is very comparable to other teams ranked in the top 10 … better than Centerville and Springboro.
- like a lot of teams this year, moeller lost a game due to lack of referees. Mt. Healthy was one of the only schools to take their call to play a game to fille the schedule. It will likely be a game to get backups minutes before the tournament.

If you peel the onion back a little further, look at how the top 3 teams in each conference have done vs teams from other conferences in the GCL, ECC and GMC. The GCL is dominating. Moeller has beaten everyone. Outside of West beating X, X has dominated the GMC and ECC. And, Elder has quality wins vs opponents in the GMC and ECC as well.

Including the Dayton teams, Moeller is #1 and it’s not close. St. Xavier is the 2nd best team in the region. After that it’s a dog fight between Centerville, West and Springboro. The next tier would include Turpin, Mason, East, Walnut Hills and Anderson.
 
abcxyz123lmnop said:
Ehhh, I’m not sure I agree with your assessment of Moeller. Yes, they have a really good defense and midfield, probably the best in the State. And they are better than Centerville, who St. X really controlled much of the night on its way to a 1-0 victory.

A few facts and stats to consider:
- Moeller currently has 13 shut outs in a row, 2nd all time in OHSAA history behind Gahanna Lincoln at 17. There’s a good chance they break the record.
- their starting defense and midfield haven’t given up a goal all season. Walnut Hills scored a goal with 2:41 left in the game on a PK when a backup defender trucked a kid in the box. The PK was against their backup keeper too.
-according to GCL website, their starting keeper has 15 saves, 13 shut outs and 0 goals against. That means their opponents are averaging 1.07 shots on goal per game.
- Opponents are unable to advance through the midfield vs. Moeller, let alone beat their defense.
- Moeller has played the current #2, 3, 4, 5 and 7 teams in the city and scrimmaged the #6 team as well. You can’t play #1 when you are #1.
- Centerville won’t play Moeller in the regular season. Beavercreek will only scrimmage. Sycamore won’t play them, East won’t play them, Anderson won’t either. St. Ignatius couldn’t play them due to schedule conflicts.
- they played two teams from Columbus that are traditionally good year in and year out in New Albany and St. Charles and they played a preseason top 10 team from Michigan.
- their Max Preps schedule rating is very comparable to other teams ranked in the top 10 … better than Centerville and Springboro.
- like a lot of teams this year, moeller lost a game due to lack of referees. Mt. Healthy was one of the only schools to take their call to play a game to fille the schedule. It will likely be a game to get backups minutes before the tournament.

If you peel the onion back a little further, look at how the top 3 teams in each conference have done vs teams from other conferences in the GCL, ECC and GMC. The GCL is dominating. Moeller has beaten everyone. Outside of West beating X, X has dominated the GMC and ECC. And, Elder has quality wins vs opponents in the GMC and ECC as well.

Including the Dayton teams, Moeller is #1 and it’s not close. St. Xavier is the 2nd best team in the region. After that it’s a dog fight between Centerville, West and Springboro. The next tier would include Turpin, Mason, East, Walnut Hills and Anderson.
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Ok Moeller Parent or Coach (LOL). It’s just the type of arrogance shown above that blind sides the best teams. Best of luck!
 
I think most coaches and anyone who have seen Moeller play would agree that they are having a pretty incredible season. Their defense and midfield have been dominant.

You were very quick to throw stones about their schedule without really doing your research. With only 4 teams in the GCL, I imagine it’s pretty tough to schedule a full 17 game schedule considering the size of the GMC, ECC, GWOC conferences in the area. It often seems like the GCL teams are having to play in Columbus, Cleveland, Toledo, Kentucky or out of state tournaments to get games.

All that said, soccer is a cruel sport and plenty of great teams lose 1-0 on a bad bounce to inferior teams. Outside of Moeller there does seem to be a lot of parity in the SW region and a lot of upsets looming on paper come tourney time.
 
Wingback Willie said:
I think most coaches and anyone who have seen Moeller play would agree that they are having a pretty incredible season. Their defense and midfield have been dominant.

You were very quick to throw stones about their schedule without really doing your research. With only 4 teams in the GCL, I imagine it’s pretty tough to schedule a full 17 game schedule considering the size of the GMC, ECC, GWOC conferences in the area. It often seems like the GCL teams are having to play in Columbus, Cleveland, Toledo, Kentucky or out of state tournaments to get games.

All that said, soccer is a cruel sport and plenty of great teams lose 1-0 on a bad bounce to inferior teams. Outside of Moeller there does seem to be a lot of parity in the SW region and a lot of upsets looming on paper come tourney time.
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Nice try! But the GCL teams play everyone in the conference twice because of its a smaller conference. Plus, take a look at St. Xs schedule. They didn’t schedule any “soft” teams. It was a choice by the Moeller head coach.

My point is that HS sports involve kids, and you never can predict what will happen. Last year, Centerville was a “shoe in” for the regional title until the majority of the team got a stomach bug for the playoff game v Moeller. This allowed Moeller to slip past them! that’s why they play the game; you never know what the outcome will be!
 
Well I for one sure hope that Centerville is not missing majority of its players if they meet up with Moeller again this year! First I have heard about that. Good luck and hope the best team wins but they both have a long way to go to get there. I do think its a little petty to attack Moeller schedule, it has a few soft spots but its also obvious that you are a Moeller hater and won't give them credit regardless.
 
I do think Moeller has a few soft spots in their schedule but I also think they have found ways to win which in tournament is all you need to do is survive and advance. Centerville has hit a wall it seems but I will say talent wise they have it to win it all. They also have the ability to lose in the district finals if they don’t figure it out real quick. Either way it’s gonna be a fun tournament like every year.
 
Splus04 I agree. I have not seen Springboro but Probably them and St X are capable of winning also. St X has great speed up front and we all know that any favorable bounce can win a game.
 
This is baffling — the SWDAB is now allowing their Ohio state sanctioned tournament games to be played in the State of Kentucky at NKU! I guess they were looking for fields that had enough width. Nku is 120 x 75 yard. Western Brown and Aiken will love the size.
 
I believe the rule is as long as the school has played a home game at particular location in question, it’s available for use in the tournament as a home site for district games (leading up to the district final).
 
Never heard that logic. Would like to see that in the district bylaws. Xavier, UC, MSJ, Walnut Hills, Withrow or even Western Brown could have hosted games. ALL IN OHIO
 
Well, if you are referring to Moeller, they only played their home games at MSJ, NKU and their home field according to Max Preps. Their home field doesn't have lights, so that's likely not an option on a Tuesday night. If MSJ has a conflict, then they would have to play at NKU. And, vice versa, if NKU has a conflict, I would assume they would use MSJ.
 
I don’t know that is officially correct. I don’t believe the OHSAA stipulates anything about home field requirements. However, the bylaws do allow teams to travel out of state for games:

Out-of-State Travel
A soccer team may travel out of state to compete in contest scrimmages, previews and games in states or provinces in Canada that are contiguous to Ohio regardless of distance to travel. The states include Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The province includes Ontario. Additionally, a soccer team may travel out of state one time per interscholastic season to compete in states or provinces in Canada that are not contiguous to Ohio after obtaining approval from the Executive Director’s office (Bylaw 9-2-1).
 
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