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Today’s edition of Morning Coffee with FLN on Substack is free so the readers who do not have a paid subscription get to see what they are missing every day! Don’t forget to at least sign up for the free subscription, but understand the real insight is only about one Starbucks Venti or Trenta for iced drinks, or one McDonald’s combo per month, which you shouldn’t be eating anyway!
52 Girls games last night and 36 Boys games last night, but not a lot of big-name matchups; just plenty of games that will be looked back at come playoff bracket time! So, let’s delve a little into some teams that are having good starts, while going about it quietly so far.
Before I get to that, don’t forget to take a look at Crease Kings on YouTube (and as they cycle through the 24/7 FLN channel), where you will find a weekly show dedicated to goalies in the state of Florida, complete with player interviews and tips on how to be a better goalie.
Crease Kings LINK
The college scene continues on, as the SSC schools jockey for position and playoff status. If you missed it on the website, ALL EIGHT Women’s SSC teams, plus Flagler, either were in the IWLCA Top 25 in D2 this week or were receiving votes! As the TV show in the 70’s said “That’s Incredible”! And many of those games can be attended FREE; how do you turn down that opportunity in today’s age of inflation? Take your young lady player to one of them while they can.
I’m catching up on all the Florida kids playing in D1 and should be up and running with those updates soon. It’s always been one of the favorite aspects of our college coverage. You’ll notice that in many of the press release articles posted, FLN has added references to performances by Florida high school alumni to keep you up on that.
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Manatee Girls are now 4-0 and all four wins were impressive, as they took down Academy of Holy Names, Berkeley Prep, ODA and Riverview-Sarasota by a combined score of 76-27. Next Thursday they host St Stephen’s and that will give a lot of insight into how good they are, and a later match with Community School will add to that. 2A is looking like a bear this year in Region 3, with Newsome, Plant, Steinbrenner and Manatee all looking very strong. Manatee is a junior dominant team, as the top 6 scorers are all in that class. They are led by Grace Knowles, with 17G/9A in her first 3 games and she is committed to UNC Charlotte.
Their head coach is Jeff McGuigan, formerly the head coach at IMG, as well as 13 years at RIT in upstate NY. Jim graduated from SUNY-Cortland a few years after I did at Hobart. I’ll be catching up with Coach McGuigan next week and we’ll circle back here after.
On the Boys side, Oxbridge, a traditional power that had a down year in 2023, has jumped out to a 5-1 record, falling only to SA, which is pretty standard for everyone in Region 4 this year. A solid test comes tonight with St Edward’s coming to Palm Beach Lakes, and the schedule still has Nease, Benjamin, Saint John Paul, Palmetto, Cardinal Mooney, Jupiter and Canterbury still to come. The Thunderwolves (yes, after many years, I STILL have no idea what a Thunderwolf really is) are scoring more this year and senior Ryan Stowell leads the team with 16G/16A in the 6 games and there’s strong support from Campbell Zegras, JD Ross and Christopher Lawrence. That’s an experienced group of 2 seniors and 2 juniors. Junior Koury Dowd is at 50% in the net and Soph Tommy McMahon is at 68% on faceoffs. HC Stan Ross is known for developing long poles and stout defense and the formula works well when the offense is clicking. We’ll be watching tonight, as the Pirates are 2-2 and also facing quite the gauntlet in the near future.
Those with memories of last season’s FHSAA approach to at-large bids know that there are sometimes an over-emphasis on won/loss and an under-emphasis on strength of schedule, so here’s a few great won-loss records that might make an at-large bid, so let’s keep an eye on them.
The Wellington Boys will be a great example, as they are 7-0 but against a weak schedule so far, as their only close game was a one goal road win at Park Vista, who is 1-5 against a very strong schedule. Last year they went 6-10 and the best team on that schedule, Jupiter, does not appear this year. Their toughest test is next as they travel Monday to undefeated Belen, who has two good road wins already over Boca Raton and Calvary Christian Fort Lauderdale. So, if they go 13-2 and lose to Boca in the district final for 13-3, how does that play with the FHSAA rankings? We’ll see. Coach Johnny Hernandez’s team hasn’t posted stats yet, but I noticed they are a young team, with only 2 seniors on the roster.
The Apopka Girls are 7-1, with some blowout wins, a one-goal win over Windermere and 4 over Winter Park, but their only loss was 19-0 to Lake Mary! How will the FHSAA look at this if they end up something like 14-3 with a semifinal district loss? That could be a fascinating insight into the FHSAA approach. The corresponding Laxnumbers calculation has them at #56 in Florida and 26th in 2A and they were the #5 seed last year in Region 1 after going 13-5. When I look at Region 1 teams on Laxnumbers there are 7 teams in front of them, including the Winter Park team they already beat. FHSAA is not out yet, so we’ll see the difference.
Apopka’s stats are not up to date, but through 2 games they are led by Emerson Sheyda and Alexis Powell, with 8 goals each in the 2 games posted. Coach Katherine Pickels has a tough district with Lake Mary, Lake Brantley and Oviedo and avoiding the 4th slot might make a big difference. Oviedo is not on the schedule in the regular season, but Lake Brantley is. It’s possible that game could mean a LOT more than realized down the line.
As we draw to the end of Week 3 of the regular season, we sometimes get a reminder of how fast things can change at a high school. We highlighted the Melbourne Central Catholic collapse earlier this week. Western-Davie was the #3 seed in Boys 2A in Region 4 last year . . . they are 1-5 this year with the only win by one goal over Independent South Plantation and have been beaten soundly by 4 others. A safe bet is that they are not making the brackets this year.
The weekend is loaded with interesting matchups, so get out to one! Lambert (Ga) is in town to face both Ponte Vedra and Lake Mary! Lake Mary Boys also host Tampa Jesuit. Community School Boys get the ultimate challenge at home vs Saint Andrew’s; that should have a huge audience there. Saint John Paul hosts Jupiter! The Lake Highland Girls host Ponte Vedra in a rematch of that great semifinal game last year! And we are going to see if the St Thomas-Saint Andrew’s Boys rivalry gets replicated by the Girls!
Have a great weekend!
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#TAFTAG
#LayOffTheRefs
#FloridaRising
#LacrosseFanAndDamnedProudOfIt
#StopYellingWard
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Thursday Results
Boys
Gulliver big over Miami Country Day
First Academy 20-7 over Windermere Prep
Alonso big over Freedom
AH-Delray 9-5 over Archbishop McCarthy
Boca Raton big over Park Vista
Jensen Beach 12-7 over Cardinal Newman
Maclay 11-5 over Buchholz
Palm Beach Central 10-6 over Dwyer
Fletcher 8-4 over St Augustine
Lake Wales shuts out Okeechobee
Winter Springs 13-6 over Father Lopez
Newsome and Durant No Score
Pine Crest 15-6 over Stoneman Douglas
Trinity Catholic big over St Joseph Academy
Wiregrass Ranch and Wharton No Score
North Broward Prep shuts out Pine School
Lake Buena Vista 6-5 over Apopka
Lake Nona 7-4 over Edgewater
Windermere big over Dr Phillips
Bartram Trail 8-3 over Providence
Rockledge and Merritt Island No Score
Foundation and University No Score
St Brendan 10-2 over Florida Christian
Admiral Farragut 12-2 over St Petersburg Catholic
Viera big over Cocoa Beach
Bishop Verot 12-6 over Naples
Colonial and Olympic No Score
Bradenton Christian and Lakewood Ranch No Score
Seminole Ridge 7-2 over Palm Beach Gardens
West Orange 10-6 over Lake Brantley
Satellite 7-6 over Melbourne
Estero 12-10 over Fort Myers
Barron Collier big over Palmetto Ridge
Immokalee big over Lely
Gulf Coast shuts out Aubrey Rogers
*****
Girls
Coral Reef 12-11 over Lourdes Academy
Countryside 7-6 over Largo
Seminole Ridge big over Palm Beach Gardens
Mitchell 8-2 over Calvary Christian Clearwater
Sickles big over East Lake
All Saints’ Academy big over Discovery
Saint Stephen’s 15-6 over St Petersburg Catholic
Miami Country Day 16-13 over Western-Davie
Jupiter 18-6 over Wellington
Fort Myers 6-5 over Estero
Bartow shuts out Okeechobee
Tocoi Creek big over Menendez
Edgewater big over Wekiva
West Broward and South Plantation No Score
Ransom Everglades and Pine Crest No Score
St Petersburg 11-7 over Bradenton Christian
Benjamin and Oxbridge No Score
Academy of Holy Names 12-8 over Berkeley Prep
Pompano Beach 4-2 over Cooper City
Clearwater Central Catholic 11-2 over Sarasota Military
Lakewood Ranch 11-2 over Venice
Lake Buena Vista and First Academy No Score
Nease 9-4 over Fletcher
Forest 9-4 over Lake Minneola
Booker T Washington 15-7 over Milton
Canterbury shuts out Gateway
St Edward’s big over Satellite
Atlantic Coast shuts out Riverside
Timber Creek shuts out Lake Nona
Orangewood Christian 18-6 over South Lake
Leesburg and Tohopekaliga No Score
Colonial and Olympia No Score
Lake Howell 13-12 over Boone
Wolfson and Paxon No Score
NSU University big over Palmer Trinity
Gulf Breeze shuts out Navarre
Sarasota big over Parrish Community
Fort Myers 6-5 over Estero
Bartow shuts out Okeechobee
Wharton 8-7 over Wiregrass Ranch
Apopka 10-6 over Winter Park
Santa Fe 12-11 over Gainesville
Barron Collier and Palmetto Ridge No Score
Pensacola 10-4 over Fort Walton Beach
Immokalee and Lely No Score
Newsome big over Durant
Gulf Coast shuts out Aubrey Rogers
Viera big over Melbourne
Alonso 16-11 over Freedom
West Boca and Olympic Heights No Score
Lake Mary and Lake Brantley No Score
Oceanside Collegiate (SC) big over Bolles
*****
Key Games
Boys
Friday
Berkeley Prep hosts Canterbury
Ponte Vedra hosts Lambert (GA)
Steinbrenner hosts Sickles
Oxbridge hosts St Edward’s
Cardinal Newman hosts AH-Plantation
Episcopal School hosts Gulf Breeze
Maclay hosts Niceville
Calvary Christian Clearwater hosts Mitchell
Saint John Paul hosts Jupiter
Benjamin hosts Columbus
Lake Mary hosts Jesuit
Bishop Moore hosts Lake Highland
Creekside hosts Oak Hall
Saturday
Timber Creek hosts Bolles
St Augustine hosts Gulf Breeze
Lake Mary hosts Lambert (Ga)
Montverde hosts Lovett (Ga)
Gulf Coast hosts Riverview-Sarasota
Community School hosts Saint Andrew’s
*****
Girls
Friday
Apopka hosts Winter Springs
Creekside hosts Oak Hall
West Florida hosts Booker T Washington
Jensen Beach hosts Benjamin
Tocoi Creek hosts Cherokee (Ga)
East Ridge hosts Lakewood Ranch
Steinbrenner hosts Sickles
Bloomingdale hosts Plant
Tampa Catholic hosts River Ridge
Lake Highland hosts Ponte Vedra
Saturday
Benjamin hosts St Edward’s
Community School hosts Berkeley Prep
St Thomas hosts Saint Andrew’s
