(photo from the South Fork website)

Out of state competition started this week and it was a mixed bag for the Florida schools. As I mentioned last week, I tend to discount those games since few Florida teams get the opportunity to play these games, particularly the big national powers. Head-to-head and total portfolio are what I look at.

One game that really caught my eye was the Lake Highland-Bishop Moore game, where BM nearly pulled off a huge upset, falling 10-9.

Here’s last week’s Poll as a starting point:

The FLN Girls 1A Top 10 – Week Ending 3/5/23

1) American Heritage-Delray (6-0)

2) Lake Highland Prep (5-1)

3) Ponte Vedra (5-2)

4) St. Augustine (8-1)

5) Episcopal School (6-3)

6) St. Stephen’s (4-0)

7) South Fork (5-1)

8) Saint Andrew’s (6-1)

9) Jensen Beach (7-2)

10) Pensacola Catholic (5-2)

Also Considered:

American Heritage-Plantation (7-0), Bishop Moore (3-4), Edgewood (5-2), Holy Names (4-1), Pine Crest (3-1) and St. Edward’s (2-3)

AH-Delray went 1-1 on the week, knocking off St. Thomas impressively but then fell 14-13 to Cardinal Gibbons (NC), a team ranked a few slots behind them in the USA Lax Magazine South Poll this past week. LHP went 3-0, with one goal wins over IMG and Bishop Moore, and added a 2-goal win over a strong Paul VI (VA) team that defeated Steinbrenner earlier this week.

Ponte Vedra swept two, including an easy win over St. Augustine, and now have 9 days off before facing their own national game versus St Stephen’s & St. Agnes (VA). St. Augustine rebounded with a big win over Gulf Breeze, but I don’t see a score for their game with Pensacola Catholic. They are also off this week and will face a tough test with Episcopal School on the 20th.

Episcopal is off this weekend and will reschedule their Bartram Trail game that was going to be Tuesday. They did not play this week either. St. Stephen’s went 2-0 and gained an impressive one-goal road win over Manatee.

South Fork swept Jensen Beach and Pine Crest to go 7-1, with the only loss by 2 to Vero Beach. And April 3rd game with Boca Raton is the only true challenge left. Saint Andrew’s went 2-1, falling to St. Thomas. They have a tough tilt with Boca Raton on April 5th.

Jensen Beach had an impressive week too, losing by one at South Fork and then handling Jupiter well. Those who went through Who’s In/Who’s Out would see that it currently predicts a South Fork/Jensen Beach 1st round matchup . . . Wow.

Pensacola Catholic took Milton, and if the St. Augustine game was cancelled, that would be a shame since they don’t have another similarly ranked team left to make their mark.

And what do I do with Bishop Moore? 3-6 records against a tough schedule are still 3-6. Laxnumbers has them very high due to that schedule, but their best win is over Oviedo (#22 in Florida in their ranking) and is that enough to leap them over teams with solid records against perfectly acceptable schedules? Maybe I just put them with Pensacola Catholic until I get more info? Not yet. Tough to slot and I could be wrong, but over the years I look for a quality win too, and that’s missing so far.

As is American Heritage-Plantation, as they are now 7-0, but against easily the weakest schedule among these teams I’m considering. At least there are some better games coming up, so we can wait longer to see how they progress. Holy Names has the same issue after going to 6-1. Preseason, it looked like beating ODA was going to be a big help, but ODA’s season has been a complete disappointment.

No one else has shown enough to move up, but I am now watching Community School, which followed a Final Four appearance in 2021 with a difficult 2022 but seems on the right track again.

FLN Girls 1A Top 10 Poll for the Week Ending 3/12/23

1) American Heritage-Delray (7-1)

2) Lake Highland Prep (7-1)

3) Ponte Vedra (7-2)

4) Episcopal School (6-3)

5) South Fork (7-1)

6) St. Augustine (8-2)

7) St. Stephen’s (6-0)

8) Saint Andrew’s (8-2)

9) Jensen Beach (8-3)

10) Pensacola Catholic (6-2)

Also Considered:

American Heritage-Plantation (7-0), Bishop Moore (3-6), Holy Names (4-1), Community School (4-1), Pine Crest (5-2)