SoutheasternOhioPreps.com

Preseason Top Ten

1. Athens - Athens comes into this season as defending district champs and is returning their entire defense. Should b tough to beat.

2. Marietta - Made it to the district final game last year. They will be returning most of their starting line up and should b at the top like most other years.

3. Chili - Another team that also always competes for the #1 spot in the district. With a very powerful offense, they could rack up a lot of goals on teams this year. They are the returning SEOAL champs as well.

4. Warren - Warren proves to be a tough opponent year after year. A couple of close losses last year could easily be turned their way this season. A solid team with a good record from last season.

5. Logan - They are always a top contender in the SEOAL and are never an oppenent to take lightly.

6. Waverly - One of the elite teams in the district last year with an outstanding record. Look for this team to prove itself this year as they hope to make a deeper run into districts.

7. Fairfield Union - FU is a growing progam that made it deep into districts last year. Look out for this team to be even better and for them to remain a tough opponent.

8. Minford - With an impressive 17-2-0 record last year and a run to the elite 8 in the state, Minford will b back with vengeance this year. Minford has a solid defense with good speed up top, a hard combo to stop.

9. Hillsboro - Hillsboro made a run at districts two years ago and had a great record last year. A team that always is at the top of the district.

10. Jackson - Jackson looks to come out a lot stronger this year than last season. They have had a competitive progam is the past and maybe they will be competitive again this year.


What are your thoughts?

I think Zane Trace could be added to the list. I've seen several teams play so far this pre-season. They are the best team that I've seen so far.

I think Alexander will be much improved this year. I've seen them play several times so far and they've improved each time I've seen them play. They had a nice showing at their shoot-out a couple weeks ago.

I've been told that South Webster should be fairly competitive this year. They're supposed to be returning 8 or 9 starters.

Minford did have a great year last season. They did, however, lose 12 seniors. Should be interesting to see how they fill those holes. Especially the speed up front.

I would probably add Zane Trace, Alexander, and Webster to the list and remove Minford, Jackson, and Hillsboro.

Good luck to all teams this year. Should be some good soccer in SE Ohio.

This is a good list. There are a lot of teams that have picked up their level of play. Most of these teams are all capable of knocking off a top tier squad on a given night.

Zane Trace is a very strong team. They played tonight in a scrimmage at Waverly and lost 2-1. Both teams played strong but Waverly got free a few times in front of the net. Zane Trace is very talented and works the ball around good.

South Webster might be the best team in the SOC. Minford lost a lot. Hillsboro lost their best player from last year and Zane Trace is always good.

I was told that athens lost a scrimmage to minford a few days ago. Hard for me to believe, can anyone confirm this? I think the burg would fit nicely in the top ten list at or around #4. Webster will be a solid team but with the loss of more tallent to the burg I would probably have to drop them from the top ten.

Yes, Minford won 2-1 over Athens in a scrimmage at Minford. Athens is playing at South Webster tonight in another scrimmage.

B1OHIO wrote:I was told that athens lost a scrimmage to minford a few days ago. Hard for me to believe, can anyone confirm this? I think the burg would fit nicely in the top ten list at or around #4. Webster will be a solid team but with the loss of more tallent to the burg I would probably have to drop them from the top ten.

Are you saying that some of South Webster's team transferred to Wheelersburg? I read that South Webster beat the Burg in a scrimmage.

To add to my previous post... Minford will be stronger than some assumed. Their goalkeeper is absolutely outstanding and they are playing better defensively now then when I saw at this time last year. I believe the keeper stopped over 15 shots from Athens in our scrimmage. They obviously graduated a ton of talent up top, but their goalkeeper and D will keep them in games. The big issue for Minford is depth. They only dressed 15 or so kids for the Athens scrimmage and unless there were some kids missing, Minford is going to have to worry about having enough subs if a few injuries hit. If they can stay healthy, they will be competitive.

Nice folks in Minford. Good luck from the Athens side this season. We're going to South Webster tonight and look to see another good scrimmage. The games and scrimmages between Athens and SW have always been close and exciting.

Well, first of all, scrimmages are scrimmages, it can still be hard to tell... but anyone who thinks South Webster is going to be down is probably going to be mistaken. We've heard that South Webster is playing really well and we've (Athens) been playing SW for four years now and every year they put out a very competitive team. Coach Claxon deserves some credit for fielding such a competitive team every year. I would be guessing this year is no different, regardless of who left. I'll be interested to see how SW looks tonight.

Waverly defeated Northwest on saturday 7-1 and will finish up with Washington Court House on Wednesday and Peebles on Saturday. Depth won't be a problem this year as Waverly has at least 20 players who could contribute to varsity this season.

South Webster and Zane Trace are both better than Jackson.

South Webster lost to Athens 3-1. It was a pretty good game (1-1 at the half). It looked like Webster got tired in the 2nd half. Mental toughness & time will take care of some of that.

Athens has a good squad. Solid defense, hard working midfield & some talent up top. Their keeper did a nice job tonight too!

Jackson lost a lot, but I'd say they will improve a lot as the year goes on.

I may have spoke too soon about dropping sw from the top ten sounds as though they are still looking good. A player parrent from minford tells me that they are way down on numbers lost 12 seniors and gained only one freshman, and also have three ineligable sophomores. leaving them with 15 or 16 depending upon getting a foreign exchange student.

Athens opens the season with Chillicothe, Logan, Marietta, Jackson and Alexander. At the end of the first five matches, Athens should know more about the maturity and depth of this year's team. The team is young at key positions and should improve as the season progresses. The defense is seasoned and dependable.

High school soccer is clearly improving across the region. Here's hoping that improved competition in 2009 produces teams that can compete beyond the district. Good luck to all.

I'd suggest Zane and Webster should be on the list
Though I have only seen them in preseason once each, they lost very little if any from last year.
In both cases, I thought they looked a bunch better than the others playing.

B1OHIO wrote:I may have spoke too soon about dropping sw from the top ten sounds as though they are still looking good. A player parrent from minford tells me that they are way down on numbers lost 12 seniors and gained only one freshman, and also have three ineligable sophomores. leaving them with 15 or 16 depending upon getting a foreign exchange student.

I've also heard no JV for Minford this year.

I personally have seen Webster play but not Trace. I agree that Webster could easily find their way into the top ten. From what i've seen their flat back four seems strong and they have great intensity in the center midfield positions. Webster could make a strong case to be in the top ten and im sure theyll prove it during the season.