I just wanted to add this, because it gives and idea of how well the kids have done in their first season so far.
In our eight school league, four schools have boy’s soccer. This year and next, each team will only play each other one time in league play (we played one team twice, one in league, one in district). We beat two of the teams in our league by 10-0 (ten goals stops game due to state mercy rule), and tied the other 3-3. The team we tied has yet to play the other two, so several scenarios have arisen as to who can and will win the League title.
As it stands now, we have seven points (3 points for a win, 1 for a tie, 0 for a loss). The most points the teams we beat can accumulate is six points. That leaves the team we tied. They still have to play the other two teams. Should they beat both teams (they should) they will have seven points as well. That leads to tie breakers.
The first tie breaker is head-to-head in league. We tied so there is no change.
The second tie breaker is wins in league. We would still be tied with each team winning twice.
The third tie breaker is goals against in league. We have three total goals against us in the league, as does the team we tied, but they still have to play the other two teams. If they get scored on in either game, we would win the league. If they post two shutouts, we would still be tied.
The fourth tie breaker is goals for in league. We have score 23 goals in league, with two 10-0 mercy rule shutouts. If the team we tied doesn’t beat both teams by the same scores, we would win the league. If they win both games 10-0, then we would share the league title.
It looks pretty go for us so far, but there is a small problem.
The ten-goal mercy rule is only invoked in the second half of a game. All games must go at least one half, so if the team we tied manages to score more than ten goals in a half without being scored on, they would win the league. Could it happen? It would be difficult, but I don’t think impossible. So to sum up, we have a very good chance of winning at least a share of our league title.
It’s not a lock, and winning the league wouldn’t put us in the state playoffs, but it would be a nice way to introduce ourselves as a varsity program.
I’ll let you know how it turns out.
Darren Copeland 