Our week 1 coaches poll results are in and the top two teams could not get any closer!

1- St. Thomas Aquinas – There’s just something about knocking off the defending State Champs that can really boost your standing in the polls.  STA announced that they are the team to beat with a hard fought victory over Lake Highland Prep.  St. Thomas got half of the first place votes in the week one poll and a total of 83 points. 2 – Ponte Vedra – The coaches are more impressed with PV so far than that guy who does the FLN Media Poll .  PV had a busy first week going 4-0.  With four first place votes and 82 total points it was as close as it could get.  A couple of voters pointed out that PV has not really gotten into the meat of their schedule yet.

3- Lake Highland Prep – When the State Champs go on the road and loose by 1 to a final four team they don’t disappear from the poll.  As one voter put it, “Great coach,road loss to a talented team.”  With Benjamin, Oviedo, Jupiter, and IMG the next four games they have plenty of strength of schedule to climb back to the top spot.  They had no first place votes (can’t remember the last time that happened) but their 77 points total put them well into third place.

4- Jupiter – One voter described Jupiter, “Great goalie and defense, just the right amount of talent and experience on the other end of the field.”  With solid week- one wins over Pope and Jensen Beach they have a promising season ahead.  No doubt a big win over a highly motivated Douglas team this week will help them stay near the top in our coaches poll.

5- Lake Mary – Three convincing wins in week one earned Lake Mary 38 points in the poll.  A quality win over a talented Tampa Jesuit team by a score of 17-5 proves that this team is going to be trouble for a lot of programs this year.  So far this week they scored a ten point margin of victory over 2014 final-eight team Dr. Phillips.  A February 28th match up with Seminole is going to be a huge game.

6- IMG Varsity – So far IMG’s Varsity team has allowed only six goals and scored a gazillion.  But not every coach who participates in our poll is considering them in this poll due to the uniqueness of their program, which is certainly their right.  Regardless of how IMG’s  participation in FHSAA is perceived (they are not playing for district or state championships) they certainly are a very good team and you should go check them out when you get a chance.  You may see quite a few of their players on ESPN over the next few years.  They have some very good teams looming down the road like PV, LHP, Jupiter, Benjamin and others so by season’s end we’ll know just how good they are. 7- Stoneman Douglas scored a huge opening day win over St. Andrew’s which boosted that program into the limelight this season.  They rolled over Wellington but hit a snag early this week against our number four ranked Jupiter team.  Historically, close losses to other top ten programs don’t cause teams to drop out of the poll.  We’ll see how our voters treat them next week. 8- Benjamin got off to a 3-0 start but our voters still have some unanswered questions about the 2014 finalist.  They should all be answered tomorrow as they travel to Lake Highland to take on the defending champs. 9- Barron Collier comes in ranked 9th this week.  Our voters didn’t hold a loss to IMG against them and they only had one other week 1 game which was a blow out. We saw them pull away from their Naples area rival, Gulf Coast, earlier this week.  Otherwise we need to wait a couple of weeks until they get into the tougher part of their schedule to see what this team really has. 10 – Seminole high school has made their way into the top ten.  They had solid week 1 vicories over good Boone and Oviedo teams.  An 11-7 loss to Lake Highland should not hurt them too much in this poll.  With games against Bishop Moore, Lake Brantley, and Lake Mary coming up they certainly have a chance to move up the list. Others who are knocking at the door include; Saint Andrews – Our voters know better than to count this program out after a singe week 1 loss.  We saw them in action up at Moe’s and they are fast and talented.   Look for them to improve all season long and be in the hunt at the end. Vero Beach – is off to a 3-0 start including a great win over a talented Maclay team at the Moe’s Lax Classic. Boca, Maclay, Nease, Timber Creek, and Bishop Moore also received votes.