HS: Fall SIMA FAB 50, Sept. 20

by Sheldon Shealer

September 20, 2016

Let the churn begin

The entire Northeast region is into its two-games-a-week season now, and the volume of matches around the country is picking up, leading to plaenty of surprise results and changes throughout the rankings.

Sixteen new boys teams and 11 girls teams join the SIMA FAB 50s this week. While that seems like a lot of turnover, truth is all 27 were in the TopDrawerSoccer state and/or region rankings before joining the FAB 50. Basically, at this point of the season, the top teams are pretty well identified. Now it's a matter of which teams win marquee state/regional matches and find a way stay consistent against the rest of the schedule.

The big change this week is at the top of the boys SIMA FAB 50 where Rockhurst Jesuit (Kansas City, Mo.) moves to No. 1 following a loss by St. Benedict's Prep (Newark, N.J.). St. Benedict's lost to a prep school program, and fell to No. 4. Rockhurst already has two tournament title wins and has yet to compete in the Jesuit Classic this week and the Gateway City Soccer Classic the following week. In order for the Hawklets to stay at No. 1 it will have to be perfect against a very challenging schedule that could add up to nearly 30 matches.

Scotch Plains-Fanwood (N.J.) moves into No. 2, with St. Ignatius (Cleveland, Ohio) at No. 3.

Scotch Plains is early in its season and likely has 20+ matches remaining to be played. St. Ignatius might be in the best position to ultimately ascend to No. 1 since the team is nearing the midway point of the season. Still, St. Ignatius has out-of-state clashes with SLUH (Mo.) and currently undefeated and state-ranked Cherry Creek (Englewood, Colo.). If the top three falter, St. Benedict's could end up right back where it started -- at No. 1.

BIG MOVERS: BOYS: No. 19 Edwardsville (Ill.). Edwardsville jumped from No. 40 to No. 19 in this week's SiMA FAB 50. The perennial Illinois AAA title challenger is off to an 11-match undefeated streak and checks in as the top-ranked team in the St. Louis area, which features several SIMA FAB 50 programs. ... GIRLS: Eastern (Voorhees, N.J.). Eastern jumps from No 27 to No. 10 this week following a 4-0 win over former state-ranked Washington Township (N.J.). The team is led by high-scoring forward Amira Ali, a Rutgers commit who scored three goals against Washington Township.

NEWCOMERS: BOYS: No. 9 Boulder (Colo.), No. 20 Pennington School (N.J.), No. 21 Hersey (Arlington Heights, Ill.), No. 24 Christian Brothers Academy (Lincroft, N.J.), No. 27 Sachem North (Lake Ronkonkoma, N.Y.), No. 34 Medina (Ohio), No. 37 Beavercreek (Ohio), No. 40 DuPont Manual (Louisville, Ky.), No. 42 St. Charles East (St. Charles, Ill.), No. 43 Stillwater (Minn.), No. 44 Barrington (Ill.), No. 45 McHenry Community (McHenry, Ill.), No. 46 Lewisburg (Pa.), No. 48 Summit Country Day (Cincinnati, Ohio), No. 49 Rockford (Mich.), No. 50 Denver East (Colo.). ... GIRLS: No. 25 Westfield (N.J.), No. 33 Skyline (Sammamish, Wash.), No. 34 Kentridge (Kent, Wash.), No. 36 Maryville (Tenn.), No. 37 Fremont (Ogden, Utah), No. 39 Broadneck (Annapolis, Md.), No. 40 Urbana (Ijamsville, Md.), No. 44 Archbishop Spalding (Severn, Md.), No. 45 La Cueva (Albuquerque, N.M.), No. 49 Central Dauphin (Harrisburg, Pa.) and No. 50 Clarence (N.Y.).