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player ready...Darren Geisler, an avid soccer fan from downstate Illinois, sent an email last week thanking me for picking Granite City to advance to the semifinals of the Class 3A state tournament last weekend.
I joked with him that it was nice to see I could pick the out-of-area team right, but couldn’t get the three local teams correct. With that said, I think that shows the depth of teams here in the Chicago area compared with the rest of the state.
Prior to the Class 2A and 3A semifinals, Geisler felt there could be three teams from Madison County that could win the state tournament.
“Would that shock the Chicago soccer community?” Geisler asked.
I don’t think it shocked the area, but he was right. Alton Marquette (1A), Troy Triad (2A) and Granite City (3A) swept the 2011 tournament.
As another reader, Tom Govedarica, pointed out, anyone who follows soccer knows the St. Louis area has always produced strong club teams, which Madison County benefited from this spring.
“Sometimes those of us in the Chicago region forget this fact, as we watch our own talent from Cook, Will and DuPage counties,” Govedarica said.
Well said.
IHSSCA announces its top players: The Illinois High School Soccer Coaches Association announced its top players Thursday night.
The top four players in Illinois, as voted on by the IHSSCA board were: No. 1 Neuqua Valley’s Megan Oyster, No. 2 Loyola’s Carly Stevens, No. 3 Neuqua Valley’s Zoey Goralski and No. 4 Conant’s Courtney Raetzman.
Looking for competition: No. 3 Huntley is looking to add new teams to its schedule next season.
“We have added Hersey for sure,” Huntley coach Kris Grabner said. “I am trying to get more teams to the east of us added in, but it’s been an ongoing process.
“We’ll be down a little next year compared to the past couple of years, but I think we’ll be OK. We just have to have a tougher schedule.”
Some people tend to forget the Red Raiders didn’t win their first varsity girls soccer game until 2004. Despite owning a 104-12-3 record since 2007, it hasn’t been easy trying to get some of the well-known soccer programs scheduled.
“No offense to the teams that we have been playing, but it is hard to be ready for tough competition when you are forced to play weak teams — especially at the end of the season,” Grabner said. “At one point in the past, we added teams to our west because that was our section, and we needed the games for seeding.”
Email Joe Trost at [email protected].