Weekly Ratings Watch – 10/6/14

It’s a Monday, which means a return to a one-time recurring CIACsports.com feature, “Ratings Watch.” Devoted fans of CIACsports.com (both of you) may recall this used to be a part of the “Eye on the CIAC” a website feature that has slowly fallen by the wayside. That doesn’t mean we can’t exhume this feature from the wreckage as a means to get a weekly snap shot at who is rising and falling in the CIAC playoff ratings, and with the calendar flipping to October those ratings will begin to garner even more attention. All the rankings can be found by clicking on the specific sport on this page and then selecting the “schedules/results” tab. The header for each sport will also link directly to the rankings for that sport. Without further adieu, we will dive in to the rankings for this week to see what’s new. Going forward our comparisons will be based on the rankings from the previous week, but for this first early-season edition we make the comparison to the final regular-season rankings from last year. This will give us a glimpse of what teams are making noise early that might not have been so loud a year ago.

Girls Soccer:

• Four teams have yet to suffer a loss in class LL, and among them are South Windsor and Fairfield Warde which have both shown big improvements from a year ago thus far. Similarly Simsbury sits at 7-1-1 which matched its win total from all of the 2013 season.
• In class L, two interesting names sit right below a pair of unbeaten teams at the top of the rankings. Ledyard and Masuk both ranked outside the top-10 a year ago, though both were postseason qualifiers, but each is off to a strong start this season. Both are 8-1 to kick off the year with Ledyard ranking third and Masuk fourth in the current rankings.
• Stonington was a .500 team last season to qualify for the class M postseason and this year has already surpassed the seven-win plateau with an 8-2 record to rank third in the class M rankings. Weston was nearly a top-15 team to end last season, and its 5-1-2 record through eight games has them in the bottom half of the top-10 in ninth position.
• Morgan qualified for the class S tournament last season by the narrowest margin with a mark of 6-9-1 but is off to a 7-1 start to open this campaign. Oxford and Putnam are also out of the gate quickly with marks of 7-2 and 6-2 respectively and hold the sixth and ninth spots in the class S field.

Girls Volleyball:

• Familiar names lead the way atop the class LL volleyball rankings but Stamford has pushed its way near the top with a mark of 10-1 that has them third in that class.
• Kennedy played to a 10-10 record last season to rank 22nd in the final regular-season rankings. This year the team has already claimed nine wins this season to sit with a mark of 9-2 which has them sitting comfortably in eighth place in the rankings.
• Class M has seen a bit more upheaval from the conclusion of last season led by St. Joseph which is off to an 11-1 start to rank second in the class behind only unbeaten Granby Memorial. Ellington and Sheehan sit sixth and seventh in the class ratings with identical marks of 8-2 to open the season after the teams combined for 22 wins last year.
• HMTCA has made a big impact on class S thus far this season, posting a record of 10-1 which has them sitting in third place in the S standings. It has also been a good start for Hale Ray with a record of 8-3 which has continued the momentum from its run into the class S quarterfinals last year aften 11-9 regular season mark.

Football:

• Starting with the team at the top of class S, which is where all the unbeaten teams seem to be, we have Northwest Catholic atop the rankings with a mark of 4-0 after a 7-4 season last year. The class S rankings currently feature eight unbeaten squads including Windham and Canton which were both also 7-4 last season and hold the third and fifth-places respectively.
• Berlin has enjoyed the biggest turnaround in class M this season with its 4-0 start putting the team at second place in the rankings after a 5-6 season a year ago. Meanwhile Cheney Tech was 7-4 in class L last season and is continuing some success with a 3-1 record in class M.
• There are six undefeated teams in class L in the early going this season and leading the way are Windsor and Wethersfield at second and third respectively at a combined 8-0. The teams combined for seven losses between them last year but have not suffered a loss yet this year. Also unbeaten is Maloney which sits sixth in the rankings after battling through a rough 1-9 campaign last year.
• In class LL two teams that came into the year with some sleeper buzz and have lived up to that by both going 4-0 to open the season. Shelton is fifth in the rankings with its 4-0 mark while Cheshire is right behind them in sixth with its 4-0 record.

Field Hockey:

• It’s been a banner year thus far for South Windsor with an unbeaten record that has them in second place in the class L rankings. The team is 7-0 after posting a record of 7-5-2-1 last year that had them ranked 11th. It’s also been a strong turnaround for Staples which has only a shootout loss on the resume with six wins after a 6-8-0-1 record last year.
• Perennially strong Branford sits with a mark of 7-2 which has them ranked seventh in class M after an 8-8 season a year ago. Pomperaug is one spot ahead of them in M with its 5-1-1 record which almost has them to their win total of last year when they went 8-4-2-2.
• Lewis Mills was a solid 10-5-1 last year but this season the team is off to an 8-0 start to lead the class S rankings. Granby Memorial is also undefeated with a mark of 7-0 after an 11-5 record a year ago. Also playing well early with a 6-1 record is Killingly which had 10 wins last year.

Boys Soccer:

• New Milford is off to a strong 8-0-1 start to make an impact in class LL. The team is ranked second in the class after a 7-5-3 record last year. Danbury has also surpassed its win total of a year ago when it went 5-3-8 but this year is 7-0-2 and holding the third spot in the LL rankings.
• Middletown has not yet suffered a loss with a record of 8-0-1 and after finishing 16th in the rankings this season are holding the second position in the L rankings. E.O. Smith was right at the .500 point last year at 8-8 and is just one win shy of that record with a 7-1-1 record that has them at sixth in the ratings.
• Bacon Academy is 9-0, matching its win total from last year when it went 9-4-3, and holds the top position in the M rankings. Bullard Havens Tech is off to a 6-1 start in class M nearly matching its 8-5-3 record from last year and holds the fourth spot in the M rankings.
• A record of 6-9-1 barely put Griswold in the postseason last season, but this year the team is ranked third in the class S rankings so far this year with its record of 7-2-1. Two Rivers is off to an excellent 4-2-1 record as well in class S which has them ranked ninth in the class.