Boys Soccer: Delco Preseason Super 7
Preseason rankings are notoriously unreliable. That’s not a revelation germane to soccer or even this (particularly shoddy) prognosticator, nor is it an excuse for how badly the hierarchy that follows will be jumbled in the coming months by on-field action. But there’s a reason why this problem could be particularly acute for boys soccer.
Last year’s All-Delco team featured two underclassmen. One is Interboro forward Diego Lopez, who returns for his junior season. One is Episcopal Academy goalkeeper Matt Freese, whose senior season will be spent with the Union Academy before he heads to Harvard. The rest of the first team – and for that matter, the entire second team – was populated by seniors. Certain factors are unique, like the distortion by once-in-a-decade classes at Marple Newtown, Springfield and Haverford School. It’s not a lack of talent overall: Of the 22 seniors on last year’s All-Delco team, well over half are playing soccer in college, a half dozen or so in Division I. It is indicative, however, of a thinning of the talent pool, by clubs and developmental academies; the result seems to be fewer out-and-out soccer players emerging as underclassmen, leading to a dynamic similar to, say, football where it requires the superior athleticism of a junior or senior to emerge as a dominant force.
That’s just food for thought, or a lengthy diatribe on why these rankings are unlikely to stick. Either way, here they go. (Note: These are the preseason rankings as they appeared in the paper last week with previews. Games this weekend were NOT taken into consideration.)
1. Episcopal Academy
The Churchmen, which finished second in the Inter-Ac last year, were billed by several coaches I spoke to as preseason favorites, though before knowledge of Freese’s situation was common. The bright side is that coach David Knox has done a good job of rotating in AJ Marcucci in years past, meaning they’re in much better shape than most teams forced to turn to a reserve keeper.
READ: Preview capsules – Episcopal Academy hoping to build on Inter-Ac runner-up campaign
2. Haverford School
Eight Fords in the class of 2016 are playing college soccer. That’s a remarkable level of success on the player development front for Bill Brady at a school that has solidified a reputation as one of the East Coast’s premier programs. But the comeuppance is a hefty rebuild this year, though the Fords are better equipped than most for reasons that don’t need explaining here.
3. Interboro
Disrespect was the theme of the Bucs’ finish to last season on the outside of the playoff picture. So with that hunger burning, you can imagine hopes being high this year that change could happen. Any team with Diego Lopez has a good shot in any game it’s in.
READ: Del Val Preview capsules – Lopez chases history as Interboro aims for redemption
4. Radnor
To the Central League, where Marple Newtown and Springfield must rebuild from the studs, where Ridley won one game last year, where Haverford and Upper Darby have new coaches. That is to say that the notion of what “should” happen in league games is a moving target for weeks to come (with the exception of Conestoga atop the league). Amid that uncertainty, the benefit of the preseason doubt goes to coaches like Joe Caruolo who have proven year after year a penchant for replacing talent without missing the postseason beat.
5. Strath Haven
Take those last two sentences and replace “Joe Caruolo” with “Ryan O’Neill,” and you have an idea why the Panthers are here.
READ: Preview capsules – With former standouts on sidelines, Central League wide open
6. Garnet Valley
Evan Williams and Ben Schelberg were two of the biggest pieces on the Jaguars’ run to the playoffs last year. Both are gone, but a number of key cogs in that lineup return. Coach Jim Wallace seems to have restarted the pipeline of talent that has long furnished the girls team with successive generations of quality players, and the postseason experience will only augment that growth.
7. Penncrest
On paper, Sam Brown is probably the most talented player among the Delco Central League contingent. How the squad will fill around him is a question, though the Lions have proven capable of fielding deep teams in the past.
Honorable mention: Haverford (David Cassanelli inherits a good amount of talent, and the Fords always seem like a sleeping giant with the potential to awaken at any time); Penn Wood (Al Poplawski inherits a program that is perennially competitive, but can he replicate the rapport Ed Kramer built over the years?)
