by rrsoccer9 » Tue May 26, 2009 8:39 am
John,
Let's get a few things straight. First off, now we know how everything ended up and with all things considered, the coach of the year will most likely be St. Mary's.
Second, the first CHS/JHS game was on the turf, it was the second game for Century and first for Jamestown, and Jamestown did not have their starting GK and had to move arguably the best OM in Brooke Winson to goal. Subsequently, you are correct, CHS won handidly. With both teams at full strength and on grass, JHS was clearly... CLEARLY the better team when they played the second time around.
I don't know if you know Shea that well and to criticize his handling of dissapointments, wins, and unfair calls... is probably, well, unfair.
First off, I don't know what kind of dissapointments Sarah has had at Century. They clearly overachieved this year, which makes her a good coach, but really... dissapointments? She took over the best situation possible and really hasn't had any dissapointments so far. Shea has to coach in a town where support is low, numbers are improving, but low, and talent is diminished. Still, he finds a way to be upbeat.
If you want to understand strategy, understand how the Jamestown boys have made it to State the last two years. That is strategy. Beating the #2 seed St. Mary's two years ago was due to coaching. You can ask anyone from either team and they would say that St. Mary's was outcoached... Minot would do the same of this year. Shea strategizes for those games. No matter what they do with the west region tournament, Shea will always find a way to come out of those tournaments.
If we look at the way Jamestown wins and the way Century wins, take a look at the last couple of years... how many come from behind victories does Jamestown have and how many does Century have? In game adjustments and half time adjustments are a lost art in coaching. Seems to me, Shea has done much better in this regard.
I think both deserve recognition as probably the best two coaches in west for girls soccer. They both play a great style of soccer and when they play, it is probably the best game to watch in the west every year. Minot and St. Mary's play and ugly, direct style of soccer that can become quite boring. Mandan doesn't have the talent to play pretty and Bismarck will get there in time now that Mel is gone.
Mr. Cena,
At this point, it really doesn't matter who gets coach of the year, but I think you should learn to keep your comments to yourself until everything has played out especially when you should have clearly seen that Century was overachieving at the beginning of the year with the talent they have. I will reserve comment about the state tournament for that reason, but I think we are in for an upset weekend.