Girl’s Soccer Petitions Playoff Schedule
September 13, 2016
The Raider girls’ soccer team has had countless successful seasons within Prince George’s County and in their division. They have won the county championship for the past three years, but have yet to make it to the state championship. This doesn’t reflect on the quality of Prince George’s County soccer or on our Raiders, but on the seeding and scheduling of the Maryland soccer state playoffs.
The state tournament bracket is made up of teams from all over the state of Maryland. However, two teams not located in Prince George’s County, Leonardtown High School and North Point High School, have somehow gotten into the bracket composed of only Prince George’s County teams.
These two schools get to play against the lowest seeds in the county, giving them a big advantage. And this also adds two extra teams to the county bracket. With more teams in the bracket, the Raiders have to play more games than other county champions in order to qualify for the state championship.
Teams in the county have other disadvantages with the new playoff scheduling. They have to travel farther distances to play Leonardtown and North Point. They also have to fit more games into a smaller period of time, giving them less time to prepare for each match. This has led to no team from our county moving on past the regional round of the state playoffs, which hasn’t happened for years.
According to senior Hannah Thomas, the Raiders were “more fatigued than the teams (they) played outside of their bracket,” leading to their loss before they reached the state championship.
This is also affecting their time in school, said senior captain Inonge Kaloustian. “Teams throughout the county had to miss more classes” due to their games being squeezed into small frames of time.
Despite their outstanding season last year, the Raiders are not ranked in the top 10 according toTthe Washington Post.
However, the Raiders are returning numerous starters. This experienced varsity team is still viewed by many as a team to beat in the state of Maryland.
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M. Muyangwa • Nov 15, 2016 at 11:12 am
The point here is that Leonardtown and North Point should not have been moved from 4AEast to 4A South. Doing so crowded the 4ASouth (13 teams) vs. 4A East (9 teams) thus forcing PG teams to play more games in order to advance in the playoffs. Furthermore, this move was not done on transparently (no PG rep was present at the meeting at which the decision was made and no minutes were kept) or according to the rules since the boys soccer teams were not moved from East to South even though the same schools are represented on both sides. Bottom line: a lawsuit was filed and the petition made. The result: the Maryland body that governs sports in public high schools recognizes this decision unfair to PG county schools is returning Leonardtown and North Point to the East for the 2017 and 2018 seasons. More importantly, regulations have been adopted to ensure that what happened to PG county girls soccer does not happen to PG or any other county again. This lawsuit and the petition were about ensuring eual opportunity for all of Maryland’s student-ahtletes. Mission accomplished.
TH • Oct 19, 2016 at 9:42 am
Misleading. North Point is in Northern Charles County not too far from “PG”. Yes, Leonardtown is farther south but both schools are 4A. So the opposite is being proposed by you? Leonardtown and North Point travel all the way to PG? Win more games become a higher seed and you will host those teams. Don’t know your record but you say you had an”outstanding season last year, the Raiders are not ranked in the top 10 according toTthe Washington Post”, well you got a first round bye and still lost to North Point 4-0. Whereas Leonardtown was ranked all year in the Top 5 and had to actually play a first round game. Imagine that!