03 Plano Labor Day Tournament

Clearly there are two team in gold bracket that don't belong. Per got soccer rankings:
- NYSA is ranked 30th in region 3
- NTFC is ranked 50th in region 3

There are two teams in silver A and B that should replace NYSA and NTFC based on regional ranking and recent strength of teams played and there outcomes.
- OFC is ranked 10th in region 3
- Sparta is ranked 18th in region 3

Considering the recent strength of teams played and there outcomes, the competitive strength of these teams becomes much clearer. As jamestren mentioned OFC is clear #2 team in OK and Sparta has tied Cosmos-black, Fever-black and LP-barnes and beat FWFC-black in last 3 tournaments played.

Hopefully tournament directors recognize mis-matches and strengthen brackets accordingly.

Regional rankings seem all over the place. Many Gold teams(D'feeters and Sting Flanagan) fall below the cutoff mentioned above so I'm not sure thats a consistent way to seed.
As for results, I am not sure about the Okla teams but I can see Mutiny, Sparta, and Odyssey all competing well in Gold and probably all prefer to be playing in Gold this weekend. On prior meetings, those 3 teams have won against teams in the Gold bracket or played them competitively. They have also lost to some of those same teams as well as lost to each other on any given day.

Yawn... Its going to rain anyway.

Reccostx, I wouldn't get my hopes up about a bracket change for any teams. I get the feeling that the TDs aren't putting much thought into this year's seeding aside from club, state & top 2-4 seeds being split. All our kids will just have to go out and beat whoever shows up, just like always.

Man, it wouldn't take much to fix these brackets with very little effort. I just now looked at the schedules and beyond Solar Gold getting the one and LP Elite the two, I'm really having a hard time figuring out 3 through 8.

I'm assuming that Fever got the 3rd seed which means TSC Amos is the 6th seed. However when I look at Bracket 4 I'm struggling to see any team in that group that would be considered the 4th seed. DT Scott or Sting Hilton should clearly be 4th or 5th and you could probably even make an argument one of them could be the 3 seed. Instead it looks like the TD has one as the 8 seed and the other as the 7 seed.

1. Solar Gold
2. LP Elite
3. Sting Hilton
4. DT Scott
5. Fever
6. TSC Amos
7. LP Rush
8. Sting Flannigan
9. Andromeda
10. FWFC
11. D'Feeters
12. NYSA 03
13. LP Barnes
14. Sting Skaife
15. CVFC
16. NTFC

That literally took me 5 minutes to figure out, while on a conference call. Sure you could swap a few teams a spot or two but right there is a pretty simple seeding that I think most folks wouldn't disagree with too much.

I think there is a lot of disparity between the top and bottom teams in the tournament, much more than in years past probably.  However, I believe the teams that probably consider themselves to be top 10 teams all have a path to advance and be successful.  Bracket 4 is definitely WAY off, and there is a possibility none of those four teams would advance if placed in one of the other four brackets, but it is what it is.  I'm sure the four teams standing on Monday will have earned it.  Even bracket 4 teams will have to go through a very tough quarterfinal game if they want to advance to Monday.

Speaking of which....  Predictions?  I saw on another board Solar Gold is going to beat everyone by 10 this year.  Can anyone push them this weekend.  

Could really care less about who comes out on top, as long as the NTX teams kick some OK A$$!

In all honesty, I would be curious to see how Sting Hilton, Solar Gold and LP Elite all do.

My guess is that Sting H will be borrowing some fire power, that team is pretty beat up. I think that is the only wildcard of the bunch - the rest should perform pretty close to the order GrandTX listed above.

Since Sting G is not playing, I would agree with Herradura.

gettingwhipped wrote:Could really care less about who comes out on top, as long as the NTX teams kick some OK A$$!

Something tells me Texas coaches don't stay up late game planning against the Oklahoma 03' teams..... We love coming down and competing. It makes us better, win or lose.


BTW> Is DT Scott really #4 in this group? I think they tied our '04 team at Beat the Heat didn't they? Or was that a different DT team? Maybe they were missing players?

We played Hilton last year. That's a good team. Fever? I don't think we've ever played them. I see they tied Elite so they must be pretty solid??

Looking forward to it. I love Dallas soccer fields, Dallas restaurants, and Dallas parents who are always super friendly and welcoming.....

GrandTXSoccer wrote:Man, it wouldn't take much to fix these brackets with very little effort. I just now looked at the schedules and beyond Solar Gold getting the one and LP Elite the two, I'm really having a hard time figuring out 3 through 8.

I'm assuming that Fever got the 3rd seed which means TSC Amos is the 6th seed. However when I look at Bracket 4 I'm struggling to see any team in that group that would be considered the 4th seed. DT Scott or Sting Hilton should clearly be 4th or 5th and you could probably even make an argument one of them could be the 3 seed. Instead it looks like the TD has one as the 8 seed and the other as the 7 seed.

1. Solar Gold
2. LP Elite
3. Sting Hilton
4. DT Scott
5. Fever
6. TSC Amos
7. LP Rush
8. Sting Flannigan
9. Andromeda
10. FWFC
11. D'Feeters
12. NYSA 03
13. LP Barnes
14. Sting Skaife
15. CVFC
16. NTFC

That literally took me 5 minutes to figure out, while on a conference call. Sure you could swap a few teams a spot or two but right there is a pretty simple seeding that I think most folks wouldn't disagree with too much.

Grandtx-- I agree on all except
14-- Sting Skaife-- LHD3 finished 7th ( Odyssey, Mutiny and I think Solar Chelsea finished higher
15. CVFC- I don't know much about this team
16. NTFC-- is this the D'feeters USA team? I haven't seen them play in a while so they could be stronger. How did they get in gold? I could be missing something though.

Good stuff

Well I think fc dallas youth red and Sparta from silver A should be in gold. Than solar royal from silver b should be in group A with cvfc and NTFC should be in silver B.

jamestren wrote:

gettingwhipped wrote:Could really care less about who comes out on top, as long as the NTX teams kick some OK A$$!

Something tells me Texas coaches don't stay up late game planning against the Oklahoma 03' teams.....    We love coming down and competing.  It makes us better, win or lose.


BTW>  Is DT Scott really #4 in this group?  I think they tied our '04 team at Beat the Heat didn't they?  Or was that a different DT team?  Maybe they were missing players?

We played Hilton last year.  That's a good team.  Fever?  I don't think we've ever played them.  I see they tied Elite so they must be pretty solid??

Looking forward to it.  I love Dallas soccer fields, Dallas restaurants, and Dallas parents who are always super friendly and welcoming.....  

Hmmmm, so I asked... The story goes... The game didn't relate to the score with the 04/03 OK team. There were 03 guest players right? Did your DD play in this game jamestren?

If so, the OK shot on goal was supposively beautiful, but the only one of the entire game - was that your geo spotter's shot that was so beautiful?

Nope. Goal scored was one of the 04's. It was a very good shot. There were a couple guest players, but they did NOT play a lot this game because it was the consolation game and coach was giving minutes back to the 04's. But... 11 players on the field were 04's half that game, and even when there was help, it was 2-3 players, not an entire side. ....... I never said they were bad. They just didn't strike me as the same level as Sting Hilton or LP Elite. Maybe they are. I only saw half the game. Very possible it was one-sided.

Ok - so a 4-0 win, plus a 10+ shots on goal tie for the OK teams, and a 2-0 loss to a very respectable FCD Premier team is not a bad showing for a pre-season tournament for DT-Scott. For sure no means for dis-respect.

I would say bring the OK-"A" game to any D-1 or D-2 NTX Classic team  - and that means don't count out FCFW Black or Sting F - because both of them will bring you pain.... Fair warning

I would be disappointed if we came down and didn't get 3-4 hard games. It's a lot of $$ to travel if we thought we were better than the teams we play. Went 2-2 last year, but got 3 of our 4 best games of the year. I'll take that. I'm not going to guarantee we win any. Hope the girls come ready to compete. Just keep the temps in the 90's and the rain away and we'll be good.

I am sure they will be quality - they always are a pleasure to play. You guys are welcome in our backyard to shoot on our goals anytime -  but no keying cars this year!!!

Herradura, I'll save you a seat on the sideline. You'll find us Okies are lovable people.

haha, I look forward to it! I am always good for a party

herradura wrote:My guess is that Sting H will be borrowing some fire power, that team is pretty beat up. I think that is the only wildcard of the bunch - the rest should perform pretty close to the order GrandTX listed above.

Herradura, I don't have this on good authority but I would be surprised if Hilton borrowed any "firepower" this weekend.  It flies in the face of a development first philosophy.  Perhaps an '04 may be brought up or Sting Sanchez player would be added to the bench for spot duty (just grasping at straws) but you don't want "just a body" because that player(s) would need to fit the team playing style in order not to disrupt the flow of development so that may be unlikely too IMHO.  I know Hilton will be down the same 3 players from last weekend.  Hilton himself will be present during the tournament unlike last week so 1 of the 4 missing components from last week will be back.  

It should be a grueling tournament for everyone with the heat but I would expect Solar Gold and LP Elite/TSC Amos to be in the final with Gold claiming the crown.

outonthelimb wrote:

herradura wrote:My guess is that Sting H will be borrowing some fire power, that team is pretty beat up. I think that is the only wildcard of the bunch - the rest should perform pretty close to the order GrandTX listed above.

Herradura, I don't have this on good authority but I would be surprised if Hilton borrowed any "firepower" this weekend.  It flies in the face of a development first philosophy.  Perhaps an '04 were brought up or Sting Sanchez player was added to the bench for spot duty (just grasping at straws) but you dont want "just a body" because that player (s) would need to fit the team playing style in order not to disrupt the flow of development so that may be unlikely too IMHO.  I know Hilton will be down the same 3 players from last weekend.  Hilton himself will be present during the tournament unlike last week so 1 of the 4 missing components from last week will be back.  

Should be a grueling tournament for everyone with the heat but I would expect Solar Gold and LP Elite/TSC Amos to be in the final with Gold claiming the crown.

Never say never, but agree with OOL that it's typically not Hilton's style to bring in "firepower" to backfill for injuries for the sake of getting a result. With the potential for up to 6 games over 3 days in 90+ degrees, it certainly wouldn't be a shock if he used some guests to help with depth on the bench, but if he does bring on guests, I'd fully expect them to be developmental players rather than ringers.

Gotta love that new player/ pass rule

Its a tournament. Nothing to do with the new player / pass rule.

But really, if you are going to bring in players - which they should IMO- why not bring in quality players who are within the organization and from the very teams who subscribe to the same program and developmental process as set forth by the technical director?

Or do all teams within Sting not follow the same ethics and developmental mantra?

Sorry, Im not buying "If we do, it will be 04s or developmental players"..  

Whatever, It's going to rain anyway...

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I wouldn't be opposed to Hilton adding players for the sake of development of those players that he brings in "and" to add depth to the team during a tough tournament (unless it mucked w/ my kids playing time which is not a concern for me this weekend).  It serves his current team well if he rolls with the 13 healthy players that he has giving more time on the field to some of those players who otherwise wouldn't have played as much or in a particular position if the injured players were available.  

I have no earthly idea if every team / coach in Sting subscribes to the program and development process that he sets for as the technical director.  However I do know that not all players are coming along at the same rate or being coached the same way in a game so you can't just drop a player into a slot as a guest player and expect everything to flow smoothly.  Therefore I think it makes sense to choose your guest wisely (even those from within the same program) such that the guest player and the guest team benefit equally....not the trophy case.

I'm more in favor of bringing a player up a level to guest play than I am in bringing a player or "ringer" down a level or down a team.  For example 2 of the aforementioned injured Sting Hilton '03 players traveled with the then Sting Q 02 (Now Sting Brown '02) team for a few trips last season.  That experience provided a push and development opportunity for the '03s and didn't upset the flow of what Q was doing with his '02s as those '03s fit his teams style of play as well were versatile enough the play the positions that he was shorthanded in.  A win-win for everyone.  Stuart/Kioumars could have pulled ringers from Sting Higgy that would have been much better than the '03s but then that wouldn't have been a win-win for development per se.  It might have brought back a trophy from Phoenix or more wins from Austin though.

If your daughter is available to play this weekend then give Hilton a call.  I'd be shocked that he would turn your child away if her involvement helps both her "and" the teams development.

herradura wrote:But really, if you are going to bring in players - which they should IMO- why not bring in quality players who are within the organization and from the very teams who subscribe to the same program and developmental process as set forth by the technical director?

Or do all teams within Sting not follow the same ethics and developmental mantra?

Sorry, Im not buying "If we do, it will be 04s or developmental players"..  

Whatever, It's going to rain anyway...

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Don't hate and wish for bad weather cuz ur team ain't playing Herradura
They'll get all the games in...we have all day Monday too