Yesterday I posted the new league alignments for girls soccer. I said that I thought they were the same for boys soccer. They are for the most part, with a few small changes.

I spoke to Section 1 director Jen Simmons today and got the official boys leagues. Here they are.

Conference 1
League A: Arlington, Beacon, John Jay-East Fishkill, Lourdes, Poughkeepsie, Ketcham
League B: Brewster, Carmel, Lakeland, Mahopac, Panas, Yorktown
League C: Arlington-B, Dover, Haldane, Kennedy, North Salem, Pawling
League D: Croton, Hen Hud, Ossining, Peekskill, Putnam Valley

Conference 2
League A: Gorton, Lincoln, Saunders, Scarsdale-B, Woodlands, Yonkers
League B: Mamaroneck, Mount Vernon, New Ro, Scarsdale, White Plains
League C: Ardsley, Dobbs, Hastings, Irvington, Sleepy, Schechter
League D: Bronxville, Eastchester, Edgemont, Pelham, Tuckahoe

Conference 3
League A: Fox Lane, Greeley, John Jay, Somers
League B: Byram, Harrison, Port Chester, Rye
League C: Briarcliff, Pleasantville, Rye Neck, Westlake
League D: Blind Brook, Hamilton, Keio, Valhalla

Conference 4
League A: Clarkstown North, Clarkstown South, North Rockland, Ramapo, Suffern
League B: Albertus, Nanuet, Nyack, Pearl River, Spring Valley, Tappan Zee

Section 1 has changed its requirements for teams to qualify for sectionals. This was motivated by the new league alignments, which I detailed in the previous post.

Now that league schedules are no longer motivated by school size, you will see a lot of big schools beating up on little schools. Teams that would have gone 8-8 in a normal league against comparable schools might now go 5-11 because they have to play tougher, bigger competition.

Take Lourdes, which went 13-3-2 last year. It’s now got to play Arlington, Fishkill, and Ketcham a total of six times. Is that six losses right there? Could be.

To compensate, Section 1 lowered the standard for making the playoffs. Teams now only have to win 25% of their games to get in. Or 25% of their league games. Or 25% of their class games. Or 25% of games against their class and above. Basically every team is in the playoffs. It is almost impossible to not qualify at this point. I know the system is designed to help little schools that got shafted by the league alignments but jeez, do we really need 4-12 clubs in the playoffs?

How about 1-15 clubs? Could happen. Take Sleepy Hollow for example. Sleepy, a Class A team, plays just four games against Class A competition this season. Two vs Ardsley, one vs Eastchester, and one vs Pelham. That’s it. All Sleepy needs to do is win one of those games and it would be 1-3 (25%) against its own class, which is good enough to get in the playoffs. So yes, its possible to get a 1-15 team in the playoffs.

The other rule change for the playoffs regards seeding. The Harbin point system, which was used the last few years to determine seeding, is no more. Playoff teams are now given a point score at the end of the season according to the following stipulations.

-    Four points for every win, regardless of class
-    Two points for every tie, regardless of class
-    No deduction of points for losses
-    Two bonus points for playing a team who has a winning percentage of .750 or above; teams receive this if they win or lose
-    One bonus point for playing a team who has a winning percentage between .500 and .749; teams receive this if they win or lose

The latter two awards are given to reward teams that play tough schedules, even if they lose those games. So a 9-7 team that played three great (.750 or better) opponents and three good (.500-.749) opponents will be seeded higher than an 11-5 team that beat up on cupcakes.

For the purposes of awarding bonus points, opponent winning percentage is determined at season’s end, not when you play them.

The leagues in all sports underwent unprecedented changes this offseason. Thank the economy. Last year Section 1 voted to arrange leagues based solely on geography. Seems the bus rides for some schools were too long and costing too much money.

So they threw all of Section 1 together and pulled out leagues based, for the most part, on who was close to one another, regardless of school size. Class AA Ossining is with Class B Croton. Class AA Gorton and Lincoln are with small Class B Woodlands. Poor Class C Valhalla is with Byram Hills, Rye, Harrison, and Port Chester. Yikes.

Here are the league alignments for girls soccer. I’m 99% sure these apply to boys soccer too but I haven’t gotten official confirmation yet. I’ll let you know when I do.

Conference 1
League A: Arlington, Beacon, John Jay-East Fishkill, Lourdes, Poughkeepsie, Ketcham
League B: Brewster, Carmel, Mahopac, Panas, Yorktown
League C: Dover, Haldane, Kennedy, North Salem, Pawling
League D: Croton, Hen Hud, Ossining, Peekskill, Putnam Valley

Conference 2
League A: Gorton, Lincoln, Saunders, Woodlands, Yonkers
League B: Mamaroneck, Mount vernon, New Ro, Scarsdale, Ursuline, White Plains
League C: Ardsley, Dobbs, Hastings, Irvington, Sleepy, Schechter
League D: Bronxville, Eastchester, Edgemont, Pelham, Tuckahoe

Conference 3
League A: Fox Lane, Greeley, John Jay, Somers
League B: Byram, Harrison, Port Chester, Rye, Valhalla
League C: Blind Brook, Briarcliff, Hamilton, Keio, Pleasantville, Rye Neck, Westlake

Conference 4
League A: Clarkstown North, Clarkstown South, North Rockland, East Ramapo, Suffern
League B: Albertus, Nanuet, Nyack, Pearl River, Tappan Zee

Hey all, there have been a couple fan rumblings about getting something on the blog, which means people are getting into soccer mode. That’s good.

You’ll get your wish tomorrow. The preseason coaches meeting is tomorrow at 6:30. I plan to be there. There should be plenty to talk about then. One of the things I’ll tackle is the new league alignments, which are completely different than last year. So expect to see that at least, plus whatever else comes out of the meeting.

Readers should know that The Journal News is undergoing a lot of changes right now. Most of you are aware that the newspaper industry isn’t doing so well right now. The Journal News is no exception. We’ve had to make a lot of cutbacks over the last few months. Some of my colleagues and friends have lost their jobs. One of those was Jeff Gold, who covered girls soccer last year and was a contributor to this blog.

August has brought further change. We are still sorting through personnel issues today. Unfortunately this has brought us close to the school year. Normally at this time we would be talking to coaches and players, blogging regularly, and working on preview sections for the newspaper. Because of our restructuring, reporters have not been given those responsibilities yet because few are sure how it’s going to shake out.

This is why the blog has been quiet. I can’t even promise you that I’ll be the boys soccer beat writer this fall. I hope I am but there are no guarantees. I asked special permission to attend the preseason soccer meeting because it’s so important, but beyond that I make no promises.

The football blog has been active for a few reasons. First, because football starts practice earlier than the other sports. Second, because football writer Kevin Devaney is the one person in the department who can be sure what sport he will cover in the fall. Third, because like it or not football is top dog in this area. Football brings in more readers and has more interest than any other high school sport. Fans of other sports don’t like it but it’s true.

Please give us a little patience as we sort things out. Sports editor Susie Arth is committed to local sports and I know that as soon as things stabilize she will give soccer the attention it deserves. We will definitely have the situation sorted out before the fall season begins. Just bear with us and keep checking back. I’ll update you as soon as I have information about anything soccer-related.

North Salem’s Brian Span has committed to play at the University of Virginia on a full scholarship. UVA is one of the most successful programs in the most successful conference, the ACC, in the nation.

This comes on the heels of his being named to the U-15/16 East Conference squad by the U.S. Soccer Development Academy. Only 44 players nationally were named Conference players. Joining him was Somers’ Taylor Washington, a rising junior at Rye Country Day.

You can read the full story here.