The High School soccer season will be here soon. Any predictions on the top Kansas teams and players in the State?
Sorry Missourians, you can talk about your teams and players too!

In 6A in the KC area, Olathe South and BV West are expected to be strong, BV North too. I don't think Olathe East ever really drops off much either.

Blue Valley may drop to 5A, BV West possibly also. If West drops to 5A, they should win it all.

How does that work. Don't we already know what class the 2010 boys soccer season teams will be in?

Statewide, I'd pick BVNorth and OSouth and the teams to beat in 6A with their opponents at state likely to come from Washburn Rural or Manhattan in the central region and Wichita SE, East, Derby or Maize from that region. I don't know how competitive the non KC teams will be this year. The Wichita area teams will likely be stronger than the central teams this year.

In 5A, until STA fails to reload and they seem to do that about every year, they will be the favorite.

All the Blue Valley schools will be 6A for 2010-2011 school year as soccer is concerned, if BV drops it will be for the 2011-2012 school year. Don't count out Free State, unless they lost more than I know about they were strong all season and will be back for more, or maybe not?

Classification is not determined until final enrollment totals are in. Last year it happened in mid-September. Only football predetermines what class a team will be in because their last 3 scheduled games are a part of the playoffs. So, no one will know for sure until September when it comes to soccer. But last year, the difference between the smallest 6A school and biggest 5A school was almost 100 students. Unless Blue Valley or Blue Valley West lost a bunch of students, they wouldn't drop down to 5A.

As far as state contenders, I agree BV North and Olathe South should be strong. Olathe East will be right there as always. And I still think that Washburn Rural, despite losing a lot of important pieces from last year's championship team, will be a major factor all season long. And I expect Maize to be the best out west.

BV & BV West are losing students with the fall 2010 opening of the new BV school Southwest, that is why they may drop in class since both were towards the bottom of 6A in size. If West drops to 5A, IMO they would have a good chance to knock off Aquinas, who loses both keepers and their entire back line. West's only bugaboo is a big one though, finding a keeper.

Washburn won't be the same offensively without Golden, who was their playmaker, and was senior-laden with players who came to KC to play club ball. Don't know of any "name" players in this years senior class from Topeka, but Rural does seem to be pretty solid year in year out. Likewise Free State loses their top player Chance. Don't know if this years senior class has any other high level club player besides Diego.

I agree Maize should return as a favorite from Wichita. They played a lot of juniors last year.

Rural had 9 seniors last year and Golden was the only one that ever played club soccer in KC. The other 8 were all products of the local clubs in Topeka (Prodigy, Select and the old Kansas United).

Golden was special and was probably the key factor in their state title. Also, they lost their keeper who was excellent last year. But they still have about 12 guys who were on that team and 8 or 9 that played very significant roles. Also have a couple of transfers that will have a big impact. Not saying they will repeat, but I look at Rural like most look at Olathe East. They will win their league, have a great record and be a factor at the end of the season.

T, with a big bullseye on them and no local U-17 or U-18 boys club teams left in Topeka, I think they could have a tough time when they wander away from conference this season.

They do play Aquinas, SMNW, Wichita East, Wichita SE and in BV North's tournament this year. So they definitely will have plenty of tests out of league.

Always hard to guess and not usually as clear as club ball in that there are such vast talent differences even within individual teams. Potential Div I college players mixed with players that barely play club at all. Mix it all up and voila......a team is born.

Gotta assume STA will win again in the lower division, but should be wide open with the big schools. I hope Blue Valley and Blue Valley West stay with the big schools in that they are good enough to compete and it is a much more interesting division. If West can figure out their back line and goalie, they will be tough and Blue Valley has some of the top players in the city if they can come together and play as a team.

Blue Valley North is loaded with all the top goalies in the senior class. Combine that with several top club players and they seem like an obvious potential favorite. West knocked them out last year, but a goalie can make all the difference.

Olathe East lost a lot, but there is a lot of talent still there and they will be tough. I would lean to thinking South would be the toughest from Olathe.

I don't know the schools out of the KC area, but Free State lost their coach to the new Blue Valley school.