Top high school programs uphold power

by Will Parchman

April 29, 2014

This week’s TopDrawerSoccer.com High School Teams of the Week travels through Oklahoma and Missouri for a pair of nationally-ranked top five sides. The impressive part isn’t merely getting to the pinnacle. It’s staying there, and both these teams have done an admirable job so far as we get closer to the final postseason run of the 2013-2014 high school soccer season.

Boys: Norman North High School (Norman, Okla.)

It’s not easy being at the top. Norman North knows the feeling. With 2013 Oklahoma Gatorade Player of the Year Mauro Cichero back for his senior year - and fresh off a brutal 2-1 loss to Edmond North in the 5A state title game - nobody had a taste for the pinnacle as much as North did to start 2014. Despite a glut of teams gunning for one of the state’s best - including Edmond North, which sits just above their rivals in the national rankings - Norman North has hardly skipped a beat.

Last week provided as much proof as any. On Tuesday, North got the week started right with a 3-0 win over Grant, and then they followed that with an impressive 11-0 drubbing of nearby Lawton on Thursday to round out the week with a 2-0-0 slate. This postseason is shaping up to be another battle of wits between the North rivals Edmond and Norman, and if the entertaining regular season is any indication, we’re in for one heck of a postseason show down the road.

Girls: St. Teresa’s Academy (Kansas City, Mo.)

Regionally, most in the midwest had an inkling St. Teresa’s was going to be a power again this year, but could they have expected this much? Probably not. St. Teresa’s climbed to a No. 1 national ranking earlier this month on the back of an incredibly impressive string of results. That includes wins over the top three teams in Kansas: St. Thomas Aquinas, Blue Valley West and last year’s Kansas 6A state champ Blue Valley Northwest. The machine marches on.

Last week fed into that narrative. On Monday, St. Teresa’s smashed Platte County 9-0 to set the table for a memorable clash with Blue Valley Northwest in Overland Park, Kan. In the end, the clash was only memorable for St. Teresa’s, which walked away impressive 5-2 winners to push its record to 9-0-0. The team will get a solid test this weekend at the Tournament of Champions in Burlington, Iowa.

Honorable mention

Boys: J.L. Mann High School (Greenville, S.C.); Skyline High School (Sammamish, Wash.)

Girls: New Trier High School (Winnetka, Ill.); Cosby High School (Midlothian, Va.)