Girls’ soccer: Southern Section rankings, my rankings

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A quick peek at the Southern Section girls’ soccer Division I poll shows that Excalibur Cup winner Los Alamitos is No. 1, followed by Esperanza at No. 2 and Long Beach Wilson at No. 3.

The section’s voting coaches have done a great job of identifying the top three teams so far this season, but they don’t have them in the right order, at least not in my opinion. The poll is used to determine playoff seedings.

The Griffins (13-3-3, 3-0 Sunset) are a really good team, but did the voters forget that Wilson (15-1-3, 5-0 Moore) beat Los Alamitos, 1-0, back in November?

The Bruins have also played Esperanza (12-1-3, 2-0-1 Susnet) to a 0-0 draw in early December, but what sets Wilson apart from the Aztecs are its victories in the Aliso and Mater Dei tournaments. The Bruins beat No. 7 Mater Dei and No. 8 Buena to win those championships and they’ve also beaten No. 5 El Toro as well.

Wilson has the resume and record to be No. 1, now they just need the recognition.

Here’s my girls’ soccer top 5 rankings for the week.

1 -- Wilson (15-1-3) ... handed Poly it first league loss, 4-0, to take control of the Moore league.
2 -- Los Alamitos (13-3-3) ... Won Excalibur Cup and that says a lot. They are streaking at the right time.
3 -- Esperanza (12-1-3) ... Aztecs host No. 2 Los Alamitos on Thursday.
4 -- Hart (9-1-3) ... Defending Foothill League champions are off to another fast start.
5 -- Santa Margarita (11-2-4) ... Boast victories over Long Beach Wilson and Los Alamitos (lost to Los Alamitos second time around in Excalibur championship game).

-- Jaime Cardenas

-- Image from http://sacketsharborschool.org