Scrimmages start this weekend and next so it’s tough to make any reasonable predictions - I would say after last season and watching club all year that Carondelet is the team to beat until proven otherwise. Then you’ve got SHP, Soquel, SRV, Campo, Miramonte and Acalanes. Beyond those 7, it’s anyone’s guess. I would suspect, Redwood, Leland, Monte Vista and Davis to all be solid.
If I had to put it out there blindly without seeing any games, then I would go:
SRV is too high, Miramonte is too low. Davis will be in the top eight. All three mentioned teams have most or all of the key players return. In particular, Miramonte lost only one of the top seven scorers from last season, and are, obviously very well coached. Davis lost none, and are well coached as well. SRV lost one (?). BTW, Miramonte beat SRV last year.
Hopefully SRV/Miramonte/Davis can face off in the Acalanes tourney and we can see what’s what… Big early season game is SRV vs. Carondelet on Sept 1st (opener for each squad). That will be a fun one.
Agree. Last time SRV played Carondelet, SRV lost just by two. It should be a good game. As for the Acalanes Invite, it is a fun tournament, and a building block toward the Norcal Invite, Sections, and Regionals. If you remember, SRV played well at the Acalanes Invite last year, beating Acalanes and Campo, only to lose to Acalanes and Miramonte in October and miss on the Open Division.
Good list heading into the season. Might suggest a couple of swaps with SHP over SRV and Miramonte over Acalanes. Soquel will to be a tough matchup for everyone they face. Carondelet will have their work cut out to repeat as they backfill a few important players and will bring out the best in their opponents. We soon shall see!
Clovis is probably the favorite. They have a strong junior class and some strong seniors. AG will be very strong in 2027 and they can still win this fall as well.
Yes they will continue. Also they just launched their inaugural U14 girls team. Expect them to be a threat across all female-only age groups this year.
After watching a whole lot of scrimmages the past couple weeks, here’s my final preseason ranking of NorCal - focused on NCS: Carondelet still looked like the team to beat - lots of returning starters and decent depth. Soquel looked physical and strong from the outside. Injury at goalie could be rough. SRV returns the entire team from 2025 and most of the group that earned 2nd place at JOs in 16u. Campo looked to have a strong starting lineup, we’ll see on the defensive end. Miramonte will be prepared to play but they also looked to be plagued by the injury bug. SHP returns a strong core. Acalanes is going to miss Del Rosario and some of the supporting graduating seniors. The north bay looked off, but I expect Davis and AG to put up some strong showings. As always, just my opinion as we had into the season. SRV vs. Carondelet on Tuesday.
Carondelet
2/3 Soquel/SRV
4/5/6 - Campo, Miramonte, SHP
7 - Acalanes
8/9 - Davis/Arroyo Grande
10+) Leland, Clovis, Monte Vista and I’m sure others I’m missing
Splitting hairs… but I personally would switch places with Davis at #7 (they return everyone) and Acalanes #8 (Del Rosario was 1/3 of their scoring last year, and as you mentioned had a couple other strong players who graduated).
I like your enthusiasm for SRV. They are bringing back everybody and they also have a strong freshmen lefty who played on that 16u team (and she did not play up so she is pretty mature!). Bottom line, SRV will be good this year! Still, just a quick reminder that you initially placed SRV 3rd and then tied for 2nd early in the season last Fall (afaik, you stopped posting your rankings after that). Of course, we will know in November- you might be right this time, who knows My general feeling is that you tended to rank Miramonte lower than they deserved and maybe you do not have a full picture of better teams outside of the Bay Area.
My general feeling is that you tended to rank Miramonte lower than they deserved and maybe you do not have a full picture of better teams outside of the Bay Area.