kelly Girls Soccer vs. IWA

[watash]

Kelly...............................................3  3  6
Incarnate Word Academy(Houston)......0  0  0

Kelly socres: Zuri Prince(4)Jenny Hernandez, Caitlin Quinn
Kelly assists: Yasmine Afshar(2)Madeline Horning(2)

Kelly record: 3-1-1

A cool, windy night although the wind was not a factor. Kelly dominated from the start. Afshar and Lauren Zito maneuvered the ball into the offensive end all night. Hernandez scored an early first goal and Prince scored 3 of her 4 goals in the second half. Horning and Taylor Long led a suffocating defense which limited IWA to one shot on goal. Lots of first year players saw significant playing time which will help this team in the future. Next game is another district foe, St. Pius on December 1st. Congratulations Lady Dawgs

[GoldenBoy92]

I would put the Kelly Girls Soccer team against any team in the area. They are great all around. They have strong captains and although they lost an excellent player Claire Dykeman. I feel the leadership of the remaining captains and players will carry them through to state. I would eagerly challenge anyone who disagrees.

[FriendswoodFan]

I presume that you are talking about private school teams?  As well as they are doing, and as well as they are coached, the Kelly girls simply could not compete with the better public school teams.

[watash]

Depends on the classification, of course. Kelly can play with any similarly sized public school or even those twice as large. For a school with 225 girls and a team with no seniors, it can play with most 4A and many 5A teams as well.
How many female students are enrolled in Friendswood? From a comparison standpoint, despite their past success, the Lady Mustangs would struggle to compete against the better, larger 5A schools such as FB Austin, Kingwood, Woodlands and Coppell. Also, I have real doubts whether Friendswood could beat Dallas Ursuline, the perennial TAPPS state champion.

[FriendswoodFan]

Let me begin by saying that I am a fan of the Kelly team, and their coach.  I was simply responding to the "against any team in the area" comment by Golden Boy.  

Having said that, I find it hard to understand your point since there are no "similarly sized" public schools that actually play soccer.  In your opinion, do you think that Kelly could beat, or even closely compete against, the PNG girls this year?  I would think that PNG beats them easily.

As for your prediction that Friendswood would "struggle" against "the better, larger 5A schools," you are just plain wrong.  In fact, Friendswood does play "the better, larger 5A schools" every year, and wins an overwhelming majority of those games.  By way of example, over just the last few years, Freindswood has played and defeated such 5A playoff teams as Cinco Ranch, Katy, Clear Lake, Clear Brook, Clear Creek, Seven Lakes, The Woodlands, Cy-Fair, Klein and Memorial (to name just a few).  

I have watched Ursuline play a few times over the years, and they are by far the gold standard when it comes to private school teams.  However, they are nowhere near as good as Freindswood (or any of the other top 4A teams like Highland Park, Rider, the McKinney teams, etc.).  The typical Friendswood team would simply overwhelm the typical Ursuline team.  Even with the best posible coaching, the disparity in soccer talent and athleticism would just be too much.              
 

[FriendswoodFan]

Rip, can you do me a favor and fix your post so that your comments do not appear as mine. 

I have enough PNG fans as it is!  ;)

Thanks.

[Guest Newbie]

I give Kelly girls a slight edge over PNG girls this year. 

[rip2506]

Two of PNG's top players play with my daughter on her club team as does 4 of the 5 top Kelly players. I would give the nod to Kelly this year and next as those top player are all juniors.

With that said, Kelly will have a chance to meet PNG at the Winter Classic on or around Jan 7th. Stay tuned for the results. If I am not mistaken Kelly won the Indians tournament in one of the last two years. When these girls were sophomore's or freshman. I do not recall which.

No knock on PNG.... my neice is an Indian. Just responding to Friendswood's assumption that the current Kelly team could not compete with said Indians.
Sorry Friendswood I have an inside track and you are off base.

Now as for all the other public schools in and around Houston, I have no knowledge which to voice a valid opinion.

Sorry about the quote, it was my first post and as you can see I still do not have it right! :D

[weasel]

I must say that the matchup between Kelly and PNG will be very competitive with some very good soccer players on the field....but lets not forget that although 3 PNG Girls play on that club team...5 others are returning starters for PNG.  PNG won their own tournament last year by defeating a very good Cedar Hill team.  I agree....the Kelly tournament will be competitive, but it will also be the first games of the season for PNG where as Kelly's season started last month!  With that being said...Friendswoodfan, I know yall have a very good team and "sometimes" enjoy your presence on this site...but i think the Kelly/PNG matchup would be very close and entertaining...Good luck to both teams as well as Friendswood!

[rip2506]

Kelly must have won the PNG tournament the year prior.

I have a little wager for you INJUNFAN. If Kelly wins you paint your house Black and Gold!  LOL

[weasel]

I would rather paint it Blue and Gold.....haha

[watash]

Kelly won the PNG tournament 2 years ago including a wins over PNG and Dulles Foster, which if I am not mistaken, is a playoff team from Friendswood's district. Kelly started 5 freshman at the time.
Last year at the Kelly Winter Classic, Kelly split two game with West Brook which dominated the 23 5A district. In different brackets, Kelly finished 3rd while PNG lost to West Brook in the finals and finished 2nd. Kelly started 7 sophomores and one senior at the time.
Injunfan is correct that Kelly has the advantage of starting its season earlier and playing six games before the public school season begins. This apparent advantage is somewhat mitigated by the fact that many girls play club soccer in the Fall. Regardless, the games between Kelly with an enrollment of 225 girls and the annual playoff team from District 23 4A, PNG have been and will be competitive and soccer fans in Southest Texas look forward to the matches.
FF, what is the enrollment of Friendswood?

[FriendswoodFan]

I am not familiar with any team called Dulles Foster, although there is a Rosenberg Foster (not in our district) that usually makes the playoffs.  Maybe the full name is Dulles Foster.  

Friendswood HS has an enrollment of somewhere around 2,000; so presumably about 1,000 girls.  Although there are variations from year to year, the FHS coach usually has from 15 to 25 Premier/D1 players to choose from when building her team.  And, as I noted in response to your earlier post, they do quite well against the other elite 4A and 5A programs.

Again, not trying to slight Kelly in the least.  Good luck in your games aginst all!!  

[Guest Newbie]

[quote name="FriendswoodFan" post="722431" timestamp="1259788331"]
I have watched Ursuline play a few times over the years, and they are by far the gold standard when it comes to private school teams.  However, they are nowhere near as good as Freindswood (or any of the other top 4A teams like Highland Park, Rider, the McKinney teams, etc.).  The typical Friendswood team would simply overwhelm the typical Ursuline team.  Even with the best posible coaching, the disparity in soccer talent and athleticism would just be too much.              

[/quote]
This just in from the Red Bull tourney.
http://proxy.espn.go.com/highschool/rise/soccer/news/story?id=4810739

[watash]

Thanks for that post and link Newbie. Always better to deal in facts than supposition.

It will be interesting to see if FF comes in and mans up to his obviously erroneous position. To be charitable, maybe he hasn't seen Ursuline play in a few years. I don't think it is a leap in logic to assume that if Ursuline is beating the No. 1 5A team in the state and the defending state champ without one of their top seniors( a national team player) then they could handle Friendswood. 

[Guest Newbie]

[quote name="sharkstooth" post="722633" timestamp="1259809749"]
I would rather paint it Blue and Gold.....haha
[/quote]
Hey, do we need to drive by your house to see the new colors?  ;D

[rip2506]

[quote name="Newbie" post="741616" timestamp="1263098387"]
[quote author=FriendswoodFan link=topic=62678.msg722431#msg722431 date=1259788331]
I have watched Ursuline play a few times over the years, and they are by far the gold standard when it comes to private school teams.  However, they are nowhere near as good as Freindswood (or any of the other top 4A teams like Highland Park, Rider, the McKinney teams, etc.).  The typical Friendswood team would simply overwhelm the typical Ursuline team.  Even with the best posible coaching, the disparity in soccer talent and athleticism would just be too much.             

[/quote]
This just in from the Red Bull tourney.
http://proxy.espn.go.com/highschool/rise/soccer/news/story?id=4810739
[/quote]

Thanks for the update Newbie. I thought they were the best team I had seen on a high school soccer field.  They had us 4-0 at the half and then put in the entire 2nd string and we were still over matched.