As promised, here are my first rankings of the season at the halfway point: May 1st. A little NOTE: After each team's record I am including their out-of-state record since so many teams play multiple out-of-state games and as a point of reference because these rankings are the top teams in CT.
#1 Darien (8-2) (3-2)
-No surprise here, the Blue Wave are as ridiculously good as everyone thought they were going to be coming into the season with six division one athletes! For their resume, they have wins over St. Joseph, Greenwich, Wilton, Brien McMahon, and St. Anthony's (NY) one of the better teams in the entire nation. Also for impressive out-of-state wins they beat Yorktown (NY) and Niskayuna (NY) while their two losses have come against the #1 team in the nation, Haverford (PA), and then Manhasset (NY). Coming up this week they have two away games at a good Fairfield Ludlowe (Tuesday) team and New Canaan (Saturday).
#2 Fairfield Prep (6-2) (1-2)
-Also undefeated in-state, the Jesuits have some people arguing they should be the number one team in the state. It is certainly hard to argue with the quality wins they were getting week in and week out at the beginning of the season but one must remember Darien has a ton of good wins too with similar margins of victory and they play in a better conference. Prep has beat Hand, defending Class L champion Cheshire, and Glastonbury. Their out-of-state win against Chatham (NJ) was statistically their best opponent (that they beat). However, Prep is currently on a two-game losing streak after falling to a mad good Delbarton (NJ) school and by one goal to a just as good, if not better, Chaminade (NY) team. The Jesuits can get back to winning with Cheshire at home Monday, a trip to Greenwich on Thursday and then a home game against Xavier on Saturday...all very good teams! No, they will never face Darien.
#3 Ridgefield (8-1) (2-1)
-Statistically better than Prep, the Tigers are off to a great start! Although they are also undefeated in-state, their quality wins are not nearly impressive: Somers (NY), Staples, John Jay (NY). Their one loss was to an absolutely filthy Summit (NJ) squad that is on a 58 game win streak! Ridgefield can really bolster their stock this week with three quality games: Greenwich on Tuesday, Wilton on Thursday and Fairfield Ludlowe on Saturday.
#4 Brien McMahon (7-2) (0-0)
-The Senators would be virtually undefeated if they did just a little better in their 8-9 loss to Simsbury and if they didn't schedule Darien this year (4-11) loss. Their wins are outstanding with the likes of St. Joseph, Wilton and Fairfield Ludlowe (Brookfield and Branford are also decent teams). They host Staples on Tuesday then travel to Norwalk, not a bad team, on Saturday of this week.
#5 Wilton (4-4) (0-2)
-One may say that even 4-2 can't be good enough for #5 but how about if the losses are Darien 7-14 and Brien McMahon 10-11 and then three of those four wins are Danbury, Glastonbury and Greenwich (fourth is Fairfield Warde). The two out of state teams they lost to are St. Anthony's (NY), number 18 in the nation, and La Salle College High (PA), ranked 10 spots higher than Prep in nation (70 vs 80). Wilton can end their current two game skid this week when they have four straight AWAY games, Tuesday to Friday, but it won't be easy: New Canaan, Joel Barlow, Ridgefield, and finally Westhill!
#6 Greenwich (4-4) (0-2)
-Also 4-2 in state, the difference between them and Wilton is a 8-9 loss on 4/21. Greenwich's other in state loss is by seven goals to Darien and their two out of state are Conestoga (PA) and Warde Melville (NY), #6 and #2 in the nation respectively (Darien is 13)! For wins they have Westhill, Danbury New Canaan, and Staples so that should expel any doubts one may have had about the Cardinals. This could be the best or the worst week of their season with Ridgefield and Prep coming to them on Tuesday and Thursday and then a trip to Billerica Memorial (MA), an 8-2 team, on Saturday!
#7 New Canaan (5-4) (1-3)
-Have you figured out the FCIAC is the best conference for lax yet? A 4-1 (in-state) team is 6th in the conference even with wins over Fairfield Ludlowe, St. Joseph, Norwalk and John Jay (NY). Greenwich is their loss in CT and they have lost three out of state games: Somers (NY), a team they should have beat, Summit (NJ), 13-0 and #1 in NJ, and Lawrenceville (NJ) who is 11-1. The Rams have an easy game against Rye (NY) on Thursday but on Tuesday they get Wilton and on Saturday they get Darien, the #2 and #1 teams in the FCIAC respectively; all three are home games!
#8 Staples (7-2) (1-0)
-The 7th and final FCIAC team in the Top Ten...that's more than half and Prep is in Fairfield County so almost all of the first 8 teams! The Wreckers topped Ludlowe in OT, Norwalk, Danbury, and Glastonbury but lost two very important games to Ridgefield and Greenwich. They make a trip to Norwalk again on Tuesday for a big FCIAC game at Brien McMahon, one that really either team can win. Then they should pick up two wins at Horace Greeley (NY) on Thursday and at home versus winless Fairfield Warde on Saturday.
#9 Newton (8-0) (0-0)
-The reason the Nighthawks are so high is that they are undefeated and all in state. Their wins are decent with New Milford, Brookfield, Conard, St. Joseph and New Fairfield. They should go to 9-0 at Immaculate in Danbury on Tuesday but a home game against Barlow on Thursday will be their biggest game of the year thus far and may knock one of the two out of the Top Ten!
#10 Joel Barlow (8-0) (0-0)
-Also undefeated and all in state wins, just slightly less impressive. The Falcons big wins are Masuk, Hand and Simsbury. Spots 9-15 are really close and honestly Xavier of Glastonbury could be #9 and #10 (or #10 and #9) they just aren't undefeated. Barlow has a talented team and can prove it with four huge games this week. To start, they can silence a lot of people by beating Weston on Monday. Wednesday they have anothe home game and this time they get Wilton...their chance to crack into the top eight in my rankings. Thursday they can either rebound with or continue rolling on Newton at Newton and then Barlow rounds out the week at a good Guilford team on Saturday!
Here are the teams just out of the top ten. Once Xavier plays some more quality opponents they can move up or down. The first five out, 11-15 are a big win away from a big jump. #16-20 need so show me some more to move up but they are very good teams in their own conferences and classes; 21 and 22 are just a step down from them but still quality opponents.
11 Glastonbury (5-3) (1-0)
-Beat Hand and Medfield (MA); losses are Wilton, Prep and Staples.
12 Xavier (6-1) (0-0)
-Beat Simsbury, Southington and Conard and their only loss of the season is Hand.
13 Simsbury (6-3) (0-0)
-Beat Brien McMahon, Cheshire and Conard; losses are Xavier, Barlow and Hand.
14 Cheshire (5-3) (0-1)
-Beat Hand twice and SouthingtonSimsbury and Bat Shore (NY)
15 Daniel Hand (4-5) (0-0)
-Beat Simsbury and Xavier but lost to Cheshire twice and Glastonbury (also Barlow and Prep) so placing them was very hard.
16 New Fairfield (8-2) (1-1)
-Beat Conard and Weston; lost to Newton and Rye (NY).
17 Fairfield Ludlowe (6-3) (1-0)
-Beat Conard, Southington and Mamaroneck and lost to Staples in OT but also only beat Norwalk in OT; lost to New Canaan and Brien McMahon too; still searching for that big win.
18 Southington (7-3) (0-0)
-Losses are Cheshire, Xavier and Ludlowe but they've shown they got some talent this year.
19 Hall (9-0) (0-0)
-9-0 but no quality wins.
20 Weston (6-2) (1-1)
-I don't know why everyone likes the Trojans so much, their only thing close to a good win is Mamaroneck (NY) but they've lost to New Fairfield and Huntington (NY).
21 St. Joseph (5-4) (0-0)
-Good players and they are that team that I think is really poised to have a breakout game; they still have Ludlowe, Greenwich, Wilton and Staples left to do it against; their losses are all to top ten teams, Darien, Brien, Newton and New Canaan, but they their best win is Norwalk.
22 Conard (4-5) (0-0)
-Just made the cut with no quality wins but a quality team that has really shown it in their losses: 9-11 to New Fairfield, 7-8 to Newton, 5-6 to Ludlowe, 1-3 to Simsbury and 3-5 to Xavier; they play great defense and that is an extremely valuable assest; much like St. Joseph, they are on teh verge of pulling a major upset; Southington, Glastonbury and Cheshire (and Hall) remain for the Cheiftains.
23 and 24 - Norwalk (4-5, 0-0) and Danbury (5-4, 0-0) may make some noise in the middle of the pack.
NOTE: I did switch Xavier and Glastonbury on 5/2 from 11 and 12 to 12 and 11.
No comments:
Post a Comment