Weekly Ratings Watch – 10/20/14

Perennially strong Immaculate has been on a steady rankings rise. Photo by Paul Stockmann, MaxPreps.

Ten days from today will be the final day to count for CIAC fall sports with the exception of girls swimming and football. This means, quite simply, that the ranking movement we see now may be schools settling into their final spots in the respective top-10 rankings with the postseason imminent. This is a fun time of year, and keeping an eye on the rankings is a part of that fun.

Girls Volleyball:

• Girls volleyball was arguably the least chaotic sport in the rankings, including three teams hanging on to position atop the rankings. The only class with a new team at the top was S which saw Seymour jump from third to first. The rest of the movement in S was at the bottom where Terryville and Hale Ray switched spots and Capital Prep moved into 10th place.
• A two-spot rise for St. Joseph from fifth to third in M was the biggest move in that class, while Waterford also moved up two spots and now holds down eighth place. Sheehan suffered a three-spot slide to seventh in that class.
• Mercy, Maloney, and Platt all debuted in the top-10 in the final three spots with Mercy eighth, Maloney ninth and Platt 10th. Bristol Eastern dropping two positions slid up two teams into the upper half of the top-5.
• Fairfield Ludlowe was the biggest mover in a positive way in class LL picking up three wins to move from eighth to fifth. Greenwich jumped up two spots to eighth in the rankings while South Windsor fell to sixth from third.

Boys Soccer:

• A three-win week and a big rise for Valley Regional highlighted a bunch of big movers in class S. Valley Regional is now 8-1-3 after the three wins and climbed from seventh to second. Cromwell also made a big move in the class going from ninth to fifth. Windsor Locks and Coventry also both made appearances at the bottom of the top-10.
• Class L also saw one big riser on the week, though very little other movement. Platt Tech won three matches to climb from eighth to fourth in the class.
• Class M was very stagnant in terms of movement with only Rocky Hill coming from outside the top-10 to ninth ranking as a rise of more than one spot. Waterford fell two spots which then prompted one spot rises from Montville and Bullard Havens Tech.
• One big climber and a big slider were the most significant changes in LL this week. Hall picked up two wins to jump from 10th to sixth, while New Milford entered the week atop the class but dropped two matches to fall to seventh.

Girls Soccer:

• New teams occupy the first and second spots in the class LL rankings this week, with Glastonbury moving up one spot, and Fairfield Warde making a big leap from seventh to second on the strength of two victories. Also jumping up is Simsbury which is now fourth after ranking sixth a week ago.
• Immaculate was a riser in L a week ago and the team moved up again this week in what was a quiet week overall for the class. Immaculate was outside the top-10 two weeks ago, was eighth last week, and now sits in sixth. A three-position slide to 10th place for Ledyard was the only other significant move in the class.
• Woodland and Stonington were both big movers in class M over the past seven days. Woodland won twice to jump into the top half of the top-10 at fifth after ranking ninth last week. Meanwhile Stonington sits comfortably at seventh after being outside the top-10 last week.
• Parish Hill moved from seventh to fifth in the biggest positive move in class S. Three victories moved the team up two positions while MLC also moved into the top-10 at nine.

Football:

• Class S saw some major shakeups this week as the class went from seven undefeated teams to four. The biggest beneficiary was Valley Regional/Old Lyme which vaulted from seventh to third, while Northwest Catholic bumped up two spots to assume the top ranking. Capital/Achievement also moved up three positions, climbing from eighth to fifth.
• Ledyard is one of three remaining unbeaten teams in class M and the team produced a big move as it won its sixth game. It now holds the second spot in the rankings after sitting in fourth last week. Cheney Tech also went up two spots from ninth to seventh while Wolcott’s first loss dropped it from second to eighth.
• Darien improved to 6-0 on the year which pushed it from fourth last week to second this week in class L. Platt bounced up three spots from 10th to seventh in L, while Wilbur Cross assumed that 10th position after ranking sixth last week.
• Class LL now has the most remaining unbeaten teams with five squads still holding unblemished records. Southington is one of them and the team moved up one spot to now hold the top position in the poll after topping Hall which fell from fourth to seventh. Fairfield Prep came back into the top-10 at eighth after falling out for one week.

Field Hockey:

• Three or four-spot climbs were the order of the week in field hockey, led by Northwest Catholic moving into the upper half of the class S top-10. The team won twice to move from ninth to fifth in the rankings. Old Saybrook also had a strong week to jump from outside the top-10 to seventh.
• South Windsor in L also moved up four spots this week as two victories pushed them from eighth to fourth. Westhill debuts at 10th in the LL rankings after a big win over a Darien team that holds the spot directly ahead of them.
• Avon won twice over the past seven days to rise from fifth to second in class M. Matching them with a three-spot rise is Lauralton Hall which won three times to jump from seventh to fourth.