I had our DII District Head Coaches Meeting today.  We voted on the seeding.  The top three seeds went as predicted and were unanimous.  Holy Name went #1, Rocky River #2, Bay #3, Buckeye #4. I feel like we are a good team, probably right there with River and Holy Name, but it is hard to argue with a 13-1-1 record.  This Wednesday, we will show all the coaches that they got it wrong!!!

A big decision came when I had to chose between Holy Name and River for our second game.  I agonized over this all weekend.  I finally decided that Holy Name was the better team, and we had a better chance to reach the District Final by playing River first.  Either way, as the #3 seed, we will need to beat both of them to come out of the District –two big games, but two winnable games!

In our opening match, we will host the winner of Padua (#6 seed) and Firelands (#8 seed), which will be played on Wednesday, 10/19, in a Sectional Final.  Our game will be played on Saturday, 10/22 at 7:00.  Once we win the Sectional,  we will travel to Rocky River and play in a District Semi-Final on Wednesday, 10/26, at 7:00.  The winner of this game will play the winner of the Holy Name bracket at Holy Name (St. Ignatius Field), on Saturday, 10/29, at 5:00.  I have attached a copy of the bracket to this email.  It is very unfortunate that three of the best girls teams in our Northern Ohio were put in the same District  (not just in DII, but in all the Divisions – to be honest, I would rather play in the DI bracket rather than the DII bracket.  I think it would be easier this year).   It is my understanding that the boys got the #1 seed today (CONGRATS to them), with a sub-500 record.  They are a good team, and played a very tough schedule, but Holy Name and River are not that good on the boys side – our tough luck, and our Bay boys got a huge benefit.  Oh well, the DII girls brackets do make for a challenging and fun two weeks of soccer.

So, once we take care of Brunswick tomorrow, we will play Rocky River at home for the WSC Championship on Wednesday, have a few days off and a bye in the Sectional semi-final, and then play most likely, Padua at home the following Saturday, and then River on the road the following Wednesday.  If we can win these games, we are in the District Final. A victory over Holy Name would send us into Regional action.  Sounds complicated, but if we can win three games in the Tournament, we win the District and qualify for Regional play. Mr. G.

Our Varsity is at  4-2-1 with Westlake coming up.  I lived in Westlake for 7 years, and coaching back there a long time ago.  I have a lot of friends and coaches that live in Westlake.  When I played sports for Bay, back in the day, Westlake was ALWAYS our number one rivalry in the SWC.  A win there is always special, and it has been awhile since we have come away with a win.  So, let’s work hard this week and get ready for a tough game.  Like Strongsville this year, they have historically had good solid teams that have gone deep into the playoffs each year.  This year, although they are good, they are not powerful, and I think they are ripe for a beating.  Let’s bring home two victories on Monday.