Checking in on the Minnesota High School Soccer Scene 10-5-11
Where did the fall go? Just 6 weeks ago the high school soccer season in Minnesota started. By week’s end, most teams will have completed their regular season schedule. So with only one more Minnesota State High School Soccer Coaches Association (MSHSSCA) poll left in the year, I thought I’d do a quick check to see who currently are the hottest teams in the State.
Sectionals start next week with the 2011 State High School Tournament taking place from October 26 – November 3. IMSoccer News will once again bring you coverage of the quarterfinals and up-to-the-minute coverage of the semis and finals that take place in the Metrodome.
Here is the MSHSSCA coaches poll for the week of 10-2-11
Note: At the end of each ranking you will also find a list of the scoring leaders for boys and girls.
Rank – Rank last week – School – Record
BOYS 2A
1 (1) Eastview Lightning (13-0)
2 (2) North St. Paul (13-0)
3 (3) Stillwater Area (12-2)
4 (5) Edina (12-1)
5 (6) Bloomington Jefferson (8-2)
6 (4) Minneapolis South (12-2)
7 (7) Minneapolis Southwest (10-2)
8 (9) Eagan (9-3)
9 (10) St. Paul Central (10-1)
10 (8) Eden Prairie (7-3)
Others receiving votes: Lakeville North, Wayzata, Apple Valley
BOYS 1A
1 (1) Prairie Seeds Academy Lycans (9-0)
2 (2) Benilde-St. Margaret’s (12-1)
3 (3) St. Paul Academy (12-2)
4 (4) Rochester Lourdes (11-2)
5 (5) DeLaSalle (12-1)
6 (NR) Holy Angels (8-2)
7 (6) Holy Family Catholic (9-4)
8 (NR) South St. Paul (10-4)
9 (7) Trinity School (9-2)
10 (NR) Duluth Marshall (9-3)
Others receiving votes: Totino-Grace, Little Falls, Hermantown, St. Paul Humboldt
| BOYS INDIVIDUAL LEADERS | |||||||||||||||
| RK | NAME (SCHOOL) | GM | SHOTS | GOALS | ASSISTS | POINTS | |||||||||
| 1 | #11 Mukwelle Akale (FR) (DeLaSalle) | 12 | 47 | 36 | 11 | 47 | |||||||||
| 2 | #10 Sam Forsgren (SO) (St. Paul Academy) | 14 | 37 | 30 | 15 | 45 | |||||||||
| 3 | #3 Grant Bell (SR) (Little Falls) | 10 | 55 | 26 | 10 | 36 | |||||||||
| 4 | #9 Lance Gaspar (SO) (Mankato Loyola) | 12 | 0 | 23 | 1 | 24 | |||||||||
| 5 | #11 Connor Kanuit (SR) (Hermantown) | 12 | 59 | 23 | 2 | 25 | |||||||||
| 6 | #10 Hayden Speaks (JR) (Sartell-St. Stephen) | 14 | 0 | 23 | 12 | 35 | |||||||||
| 7 | #6 Fredi Bormann (JR) (PIZM) | 14 | 52 | 21 | 11 | 32 | |||||||||
| 8 | #9 Tony Kuplic (SR) (Trinity School) | 13 | 0 | 21 | 12 | 33 | |||||||||
| 9 | #3 Mathew Gweh (JR) (Eastview) | 15 | 0 | 20 | 8 | 28 | |||||||||
| 10 | #4 Won Suk Chung (JR) (East Ridge) | 14 | 78 | 19 | 6 | 25 | |||||||||
GIRLS 2A
1 (1) Lakeville North Panthers (12-0)
2 (2) Mahtomedi (15-0)
3 (7) Eagan (11-2)
4 (5) Burnsville (11-3)
5 (6) Woodbury (11-3)
6 (4) Wayzata (11-2)
7 (8) Eastview (10-2)
8 (9) East Ridge (11-2)
9 (10) Centennial (10-1)
10 (3) Eden Prairie (8-2)
Others receiving votes: White Bear Lake, Minnetonka, St. Michael-Albertville, Lakeville South, Mounds View, Rosemount, Park of Cottage Grove, Duluth East
GIRLS 1A
1 (1) Benilde-St. Margaret’s Red Knights (11-0)
2 (2) Blake (13-1)
3 (3) St. Paul Academy (12-1)
4 (4) Totino-Grace (9-3)
5 (7) Holy Angels (7-3)
6 (5) Rochester Lourdes (12-1)
7 (6) Orono (9-4)
8 (NR) La Crescent (11-3)
8 (9) Visitation (10-3)
10 (8) Minnehaha Academy (7-3)
Others receiving votes: Chisago Lakes, Park Center, Monticello, Kasson-Mantorville, South St. Paul
| GIRLS INDIVIDUAL LEADERS | |||||||||||||||
| RK | NAME (SCHOOL) | GM | SHOTS | GOALS | ASSISTS | POINTS | |||||||||
| 1 | #16 Clare Culligan (JR) (St. John’s Prep) | 15 | 0 | 38 | 10 | 48 | |||||||||
| 2 | #12 Daniela Zavala (SR) (Minneapolis Roosevelt) | 11 | 0 | 35 | 7 | 42 | |||||||||
| 3 | #0 Jenna Roering (JR) (Centennial) | 15 | 0 | 26 | 8 | 34 | |||||||||
| 4 | #5 Madison Comb (SR) (Rockford) | 15 | 86 | 24 | 9 | 33 | |||||||||
| 5 | #25 Alex Freeman (SR) (Duluth East) | 13 | 0 | 23 | 4 | 27 | |||||||||
| 6 | #4 Alyssa Blahnik (SO) (Burnsville) | 15 | 118 | 23 | 3 | 26 | |||||||||
| 7 | #19 Laurel Ramer* (JR) (Kasson-Mantorville) | 14 | 5 | 22 | 11 | 33 | |||||||||
| 8 | #14 Sophie Babo (FR) (Orono) | 15 | 67 | 22 | 14 | 36 | |||||||||
| 9 | #11 Marta Anderson (JR) (Mankato East) | 15 | 77 | 21 | 9 | 30 | |||||||||
| 10 | #7 Bayley Ertl (JR) (North Branch) | 13 | 52 | 20 | 4 | 24 | |||||||||
Comments are closed.
I love the compressed schedule of HS soccer–from a fans perspective. We have also been blessed with some nice weather this “fall.” Let’s hope it stays this way before teams make it to the Dome. I hate standing outside in cold, rainy weather…even if I am watching soccer.
Come on you Cougars!
Great season it is. I wish they broadcast more highlights on local channels instead of high school football reels for whole hour. slight bias?
So where is the clown that likes to complain about how this site has lost its focus and forgotten its mission?
This is about Minnesota soccer.
Why isn’t that guy posting some thoughts here?
@yankiboy, I only complain about the weather, poor officiating, people who forget to turn of their cell phones in church, Jozy Altirode, Coach Bradley…but never about coverage in IMS. I trust you were referring about someone else. BTW, you owe me a “shout out” for GUARANTEEING that the Stars would make the play-offs and beat Tampa Bay!
@soccerpop, Randy Shaver is a lazy bum and should be fired!
Thanks Soccer Boy!
But Yankiboy I am talking about Minnesota Soccer~! and You?…..no
It’s MN Soccer. Go Stars too..
@Soccerpop: I’m here learning about MN soccer.
No suprise Mukwelle is the boys scoring leader.
In all seriousness, I think some of these scoring leaders are mostly ball hogs. For example, I know of one player on this list who has 21 more goals than the next player on their squad. Having watched this player, I would agree that they are a good soccer player and very talented. However, there were numerous occasions from my observation that the player in question could have been a real “leader” and passed the ball to a teammate for a goal. Instead the shot either went high, wide, or was saved with easy by the goalkeeper. In sum, I think closer scrutiny should be given to some of these “leaders.”
Just my humble opinion…
Soccer Boy, what the hell does that mean? What are they supposed to change the stats because someone should have (in your opinion) pass the ball? This makes no sense.
Watch goal scorers throughout the world. They do the same thing. It’s an intense, almost narcissistic believe in themselves that makes them a good goal scorer. Something that I have heard top coaches throughout the US say that we don’t encourage enough. The player who’s temperamental. The player who is selfish with the ball.
In this country we encourage pass, pass, pass and we wonder why we still don’t have clinical finishers on the National level?
Do me a favor and read this article – the whole article.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/27/magazine/mag-27Soccer-t.html?pagewanted=all
“It hasn’t been easy to be different, especially on the soccer field. “At the beginning of one game I got the ball and beat three girls to score a goal, and my coach pulled me off the field,” Cowie remembers. “He said, ‘You should have passed.’ I said, ‘But I scored a goal, Coach.’ He sat me out for the rest of the half. At halftime he asked me, ‘Are you ready to play properly?’ I said, ‘Sure.’ I did the same thing, and he took me off the field for the rest of the game.” Cowie was 10. She recalls another match during which her teammates screamed at her to pass every time she got the ball. She still scored a hat trick in that game.”
And you wonder why we have so many good midfielders and so few forwards in this country?
@BQ, I always preach to the kids that I coach that they need to be a little more selfish with the ball. In fact, if you would have come to my daughter’s soccer match the other day, you would have heard me get into an exchange with some parents when I praised a player for taking a defender 1 v. 1 versus passing.
I think the point I was trying to make with a particular player (observing IMS policy of not mentioning under 18 players by name) is that I have seen countless times over the last two seasons where incorrect decisions are being made. Yeah, you win your conference match 8-0 and everyone pats themselves on the back–but the score should have been 12-0. (I believe that “It ain’t worth winning, if you can’t win big!) However, when you lose the match you need to win (play-offs) because its all about you, then yeah, kudos to you for being a superstar and not winning a championship.
I consider Messi to be the best soccer player on the planet right now. Beyond his ability to score, I admire his ability to create opportunities for others. That is why he is so dangerous, why Barcelona is so successful, and the player I am thinking of will never be in the same catagory.
PS: Nice article. In my book, any coach who takes a young player off the pitch because they score too much should forever be bared from coaching soccer. The challenge for coaches in this position is to develop the young player, make them better and give them the freedom to improv on the pitch!
PSS: Juggling is over-rated. I can do 100 consecutive touches and feel the need to do no more.
@all. We do have Messi like player locally. This kid at De La Salle is something that you guys should consider watching. I believe he is #1 rank player in the country for his age group and he is showing it in the high school level as a freshman. I watched him many played times over the summer and very exciting to watch. One thing that also stood out is especially kids at this don’t is when he lost the ball he will eventually do everything he can to get it back.