2007 MN High School Soccer State Champions!

Congratulations to that champions and all of the players, coaches and fans that qualified for the State Tournament!

* Anoka High School – Boys AA Champion
* Duluth Marshall HS – Boys A Champion
* Lakeville South HS – Girls AA Champion
* Totino-Grace HS – Girls A Champion

Brackets can be view here:
* Boys A bracket
* Boys AA bracket
* Girls A bracket
* Girls AA bracket

2007 Individual Soccer Awards

Congratulations to the 2007 individual award winners. All are excellent choices and deserve the awards for their outstanding efforts and success in high school soccer.

Coaches Association Mr. Soccer

• AA - Colin Monestario (Wayzata High School)
• A - Keido Poure (St. Bernards High School)

Star Tribune Metro Player of the Year

• Keido Poure (St. Bernards High School)

Pioneer Press Player of the Year

• Mike Hutton (Apple Valley)

2007 Boys Sections

Some highlights and predictions for the 2007 Boys Soccer Sections. I don’t know all of the teams and section well, but I’m taking a shot. Best of luck to all the teams, coaches, fans and parents!

Click on the section links below to see the MSHSL brackets and scores!

1AA - #1 Lakeville North – LN is the class of this average section and should win it.
2AA - #1 Eden Prairie – only Edina in the final should make this section tough for EP. EP wins the final though.
3AA - #1 Apple Valley – one of the toughest sections – AV and Burnsville in the final and it should be a barn burner – Eastview could be the surprise in this section
4AA - #1 Hill Murray – this section demonstrates the parity in soccer this year – no great teams here, but the top 5-6 are capable of winning it. Toss up.
5AA - #1 Osseo – surprised Osseo gets the top seed. This is a strong section and any of the top 5 teams could win it. I predict #3 Champlin Park wins it.
6AA - #1 Wayzata – probably the strongest section with any of the top 5 teams capable of winning it and doing well at state. Even though Wayzata has been scoring goals of late, I predict St. Louis Park wins it.
7AA - #1 Anoka – probably the best job of seeding by the coaches. Only Anoka, Coon Rapids and Blaine have a shot to win it. I say the semi-winner between Coon Rapids and Blaine beats Anoka in the final.
8AA - #St. Cloud Apollo – Traditionally out state teams get clobbered at state. Apollo should win the section.

1A - #1 Rochester Lourdes – this is a big section with 16 teams, but I can see anybody putting up much of a fight against Lourdes.
2A - #1 Mankato West – looks like a Mankato West v Mankato East final.
3A - #1 Blake School – I guess this is a good section for Class A, but really not many good teams. Blake and SPA should get to the final.
4A - #1 St. Paul Humboldt – what a great season for the boys from Humboldt! Congrats! This section has 4 good Class A teams in Humboldt, St. Bernards, Mahtomedi and South St. Paul. I say Mahtomedi over South St. Paul in the final.
5A - #1 Totino Grace – has teams that have historically been strong Class A schools, but not this year. This section is tough to figure out. Even #5 Mpls Edison has a chance to win it, although it should be Totino…don’t bet any money on this one.
6A - #1 Benilde – should be Benilde, Orono and Breck are the class of this section. I predict Orono in an upset in the final over Benilde.
7A - #1 Duluth East – hands down Duluth East rolls through the final.
8A - #1 Hillcrest Lutheran – just like AA, the winner of this section probably will not fair well at the state tournament.

2007 D1, D2 and D3 Players and Teams

Use this post for chat about non-MIAC college players, teams and scores.

2007 HS Soccer

Hard to believe that captains practice is starting in the next week or so. Time for some high school soccer talk. With the relative parity last year, will this year provide one or two dominant teams? Who are your favorites to win State for AA and A? Who will be the surprise teams? Who are the favorites for Mr. Soccer? Note the links for getting to the coach's site, schedules and stats and the State high school league.

2007 MIAC Men

The MIAC was very competitive last year and the talk is that a number of teams will be much improved over last year. For anyone who had a chance to see any games, you know that the MIAC is very entertaining soccer. With St. Johns and Gustavus finishing 5 points ahead of the the 3rd place team, can anyone else rise to their class?

That said 3rd - 8th place were also very good teams and capable of beating #1 and #2 on any given day. I will predict that 2 of the top 4 teams will change this year. Even though Augsburg may have snuck up on a few teams last year, with their young team, transfers and coaching, I will go out a on a limb and say they will finish even higher in the conference this year. Look for MAC and Carleton to also be improved. Should be a great season.

U20 World Cup; Men's National Team; Copa America; American's Overseas

A place to talk about non-MN youth soccer. Lets talk about the U20 World Cup, the Men's National team, the Copa America and Americans overseas (mostly Europe).

What happened? Where are we going?

Even 3 years ago, Wings SC were poised to be MN's top soccer club. With the recent updates to the gotsoccer.com club rankings, the Wings have officially slipped to #3 and have been surpassed by their next door neighbors PSA.

OK, gotsoccer.com may not be the best team ranking, but it does reflect relative club strength. Before anyone jumps on PSA being a 1 trick pony with 15 Boys, 3 years ago, Bangu was reliant on the original Tsunami Sota girls for club ranking points. Congrats to PSA.

If I recall previous rankings point totals, Wings have accumulated about 1/2 of the points they had just 2 years ago. I think most would agree that the former DOC Steve Bellis was instrumental in building the club to notoriety. Has his departure led to their slide? Can they recover?

I think most would agree that having a number of top clubs, focused on developing elite players and teams, is probably the best scenario for MN youth soccer. This post is not meant to dig at the Wings, or their current DOC or board, but to create a spot for discussion around what is next for MN club soccer. How will clubs continue to attract and develop top players and teams?

Regional Scores

A spot for USYSA Regional scores and comments.