Last year there was some interest in the New England Private Schools. I'll try to revive it. Teams to look out for: - Bridgton Academy - loaded up with PG's. Could defeat alot of college teams. Just beat BBN 6-1 (although BBN might have been resting some starters). - Winchendon - won class B last season without losing a game. Team language is Polish as it seems half the team played on the Polish U-17 team. I don't see anyone touching them in class B again this year. - Brooks - won it all last year but lost their dynamic striker duo - Davies and Fucito to college. Has reloaded and will be back. Not as potent an offense but hard to beat. - Andover - lost to Brooks in the finals last year. On paper, a better team this year. Watch out. Expect them to peak late. My early season pick for class A champs. - Nobles - lost in PK's to Winchendon last year in the semis. This was the closest anyone came to beating Winchendon last year. Lost two incredible seniors (Videira to Duker, Tierny to VA) but still loaded. Great offense, young defense, excellent coach - can beat anyone. - Belmont Hill - semifinal loser to Andover last year. Have 8 starters returning with some new talent including a freshman in the National pool. Very deep team. - BBN - their best 6-7 players are as good as anyones but will their bottom 3-4 players step up ? Will they be consistent all year ? Excellent coach. Look for them to be right up in the ISL all season. - Exeter - Suprised me last year with their competitiveness. No surprises this year. They are one of the best teams. I think their tradional rivals Andover are slightly better but they will be neck and neck all season. - Loomis -Chafee - I don't see them matching their past glory this year. - I don;t know much about the other strong CT teams - Taft, Choate, Salisbury, etc - perhaps someone else can fill us in.
Hey Dr Jay, thanks for the update and info. Looks like a very competitive season, keep us informed through the year, hope there will be some more input for those if you in contact with the schools and programs.
None of these players actually played for the Polish U17 team. All of the U17 players from that age group are with Polish Professional club teams except one who is at Olympique Marseille.
Interesting thread. I actually played at a NE prepschool in this league, albeit this was a little while ago. Choate was always be quite strong as was Hotchkiss. They both had the benefit of recruiting from other countries. Hamden Hall, while not large, was New England Champion for something like three years running in the mid-90s when Carlos Parra, the first Project-40 player if I'm not mistaken, was captain of the team.
Maybe not but Winchendon just beat Bridgton Academy 5-1. That's one good high school team regardless of how high up in the Polish pecking order these kids played before. I'll say it again - I don't see anyone touching them in class B. Unless they get some injuries. When I saw them play they only had 3-4 kids on their bench.
Can anyone recommend Prep schools with Post Graduate year. Looking for quality coaching, teams that play a passing game- not kick and run. As well as a program that gets its players on college teams.
Here are my predictions (no particular order) Class A: teams to look out for Andover Salisbury Avon Bridgton Exeter Class B: teams to look out for Westminster St. Pauls Nobles Wilbraham Winchendon Class C: teams to look out for Millbrook Rivers Beaver Country Day Rye Country Day Class D: I know nothing about this class
Pretty good predictions. But 1/3 of the way into the season, I think you may be able to narrow things down a little more. I think Class A is going to come down to Andover or Exeter. I'm still sticking with Andover. If Winchendon decides to play up, they'll be there too. Bridgton is good but have been a little inconsistant. I may be wrong but I thought Salisbury is B. As for B, you might as well hand it to Winchendon now. St Pauls and Nobles are both pretty good but the ISL has 6 or so top teams this year. After the dust settles, if one of the ISL teams ends up with only 1 or 2 losses, you can bet they will be contenders for the title. Nobles has only one real scoring threat (although he is a big threat) and their back line is a little slow (although they have not yielded many goals so far). I haven't seen St Pauls yet, so I'll wait on any predictions there. In C, you can rule Beaver out. Despite their good record, they stink. Rivers would beat them by 5 goals.
I'm fairly sure that Salisbury elected to play up this year after years of qualifying for the class b tournament P.S. Is anyone a suscriber to http://studentsportssoccer.rivals.com/ Id love to read the article they have about NEPSAC in there but unfortunately im not a suscriber Perhaps one of you would be so kind as to post the article on this board?