Welcome Back!

Welcome back to Coach D's Blog. As the warmer weather continues to return it means LM Soccer is not far away. At this time I would like to make all of our LM Soccer Alumni Members aware of a few things that have, and will be happening in the next several months.

1/  We have added quite a few videos to our LM Soccer Alumni website, and will continue to add more as they become available & digitalized. LM began taking videos of their soccer games in 1984, and through 1996 we have quite a few videos that have held up pretty well. From 1997 through the present we are trying to run down copies of any videos that were taken during that period so we can post them as well. Here are the videos that are on the website now, in their entirety. Check them out:

Individual Game Videos
1987 - vs. Strath Haven, vs. Episcopal, vs. Ridley
1988 - vs. Carlisle, vs. Penn Charter, vs. Pingry, vs. DelBarton

Playoff Game Videos
1987 - District Quarter Final vs. C.B. East
1987 - State 1st Round vs. Emmaus, Semi-Final vs. C.B. East
1988 - District Quarter-Final vs. Souderton, Semi-Final vs. Conestoga, Final vs. Great Valley
1988 - State 1st Round vs. Boyertown, Semi-Final vs. Great Valley, Final vs. Conestoga

Highlite Videos
1986, 1987 - "Road to Glory", 1988 - "A Season to Remember", 1992 - "Success & Sorrow"

Other Videos
* "The Tradition Continues" - An LM Soccer Documentary
* "The Jimmy Brown Story"  - A tribute to Jimmy Brown
* Video of the 25th Anniversary Celebration of the 1987 team's State Championship reunion

2/  The LM Soccer Alumni Weekend dates have been set for this Fall. They are Friday, September 20th for the Steve Fountain Memorial Golf Tournament and Saturday morning, September 21st for the annual "Alumni Game".  Gametime is 10:00 AM at Arnold Field.

3/  The LMSAA will be running the 3rd Fountain of Youth Soccer Clinic on Friday, June 14th at Richmond Elementary School in the Port Richmond section of Northeast Philadelphia. Members of the LMSAA will be giving a "intro to soccer" clinic to 120 eager kindergardeners. Any LM Soccer Alumni in the area who would like to join us to help instruct please let me know (610-585-0981).

State Playoff Results

In Saturday's PIAA State quarter-final playoff action Downingtown West, the lone District 1 team still standing, lost 1-0 to District 12 Champion LaSalle. This is the 1st time since 1978 that District 1 did not have a team in the PIAA State Playoff Semi-Finals.

Lower Merion's boy's soccer team will hold their Awards Banquet this coming Tuesday, which represents the end of another Aces' soccer season. During the off season I will only be posting occasionally until mid-August when the 2013 pre-season practice gets underway. I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season.

Past PIAA State Champions

The PIAA State Championship began in the Fall season of 1973. Below are listed the 42 winners (by year), along with the runners-up, with both team's District number in (   ), and the score of the State Final game (in blue). When the State Final game ended in a tie (after the overtime periods were played) co-champions were declared.

1973 West Snyder (4)  2-0  Upper Moreland (1)
1974 Middleburg (4)  4-0  Tulpehocken (3)
1975 Bethlehem Liberty (11)  1-0  North Allengheny (7)
1976 State College (6)  2-0  Bethlehem Freedom (11)
1977 ELCO (3)  2-1  Bethlehem Liberty (11)
1978 Fleetwood (3)  4-0  Upper St. Clair (7)
1979 ELCO (3)  3-0  Harriton (1)
1980 Fleetwood (3)  2-0  Radnor (1)
1981 Mount Lebanon (7)  2-1  ELCO (3)
1982 Neshaminy (1)  2-1 OT  Fleetwoon (3)
1983 Bethlehem Freedom (11)  1-1 OT co-champions with Trinity (7)
1984 Neshaminy (1)  1-0  LOWER MERION (1)
1985 Council Rock (1) 4-2  Moon Township (7)
1986 Strath Haven (1)  1-0  West Chester East (1)
1987 LOWER MERION (1)  2-1 OT  Fox Chapel (7)
1988 Conestoga (1)  3-1  LOWER MERION
1989 Downingtown (1)  1-0  Mount Lebanon (7)
1990 Fox Chapel (7)  1-0  Downingtown (1)
1991 Strath Haven (1)  1-0  Upper St. Clair (7)
1992 Wilson West-Lawn (3)  1-0  Strath Haven (1)
1993 Great Valley (1)  1-0  Wilson West-Lawn (3)
1994 Bethel Park (7) 2-2 OT co-champions with Neshaminy (1)
1995 Strath Haven (1)  8-0  Erie McDowell (10)
1996 Strath Haven (1)  6-0  North Allegheny (7)
1997 Coughlin (2)  9-5 OT  Erie Cathedral Prep (7)
1998 Downingtown (1)  1-0  Peters Township (7)
1999 Downingtown (1)  4-2  North Allegheny (7)
2000 North Allegheny (7)  1-0 OT  Emmaus (11)
2001 Strath Haven (1)  1-1 OT co-champions w/ Erie Cathedral Prep (7)
2002 West Chester Henderson (1)  2-1  Chartiers Valley (7)
2003 Upper St. Clair (7)  1-0 OT  West Chester East (1)
2004 Upper St. Clair (7)  2-0  West Chester Henderson (1)
2005 Warwick (3)  1-0  West Chester Henderson (1)
2006 Council Rock N. (1)  2-1  Manheim Township. (3)
2007 Peters Township (7)  2-1 OT  Downingtown West (1)
2008 Downingtown West (1)  2-1  Peters Township (7)
2009 Father Judge (12)  0-0 OT co-champions with Central Daulphin (3)
2010 Hempfield (3)  2-1  Central Bucks East (1)
2011 Conestoga (1)  1-0  Upper St. Clair (7)

LM Boy's Soccer All-America Selections

Over the years the Lower Merion boy's soccer team has had a player selected to the High School All-America Team 10 different times. The most recent being Aces' goalkeeper Drew Cotler (pictured at right) who was selected in both his Junior (2005) & senior (2006) years. Other selections include:

1987 - Drew Misher
1988 - Chris Schreiner
1989 - Lou Spivak
1990 - John Howard
1991 & 1992 - Will Kohler
1993 & 1994 - Jon Hanks

State Playoff Results

It's a good thing that District 1 got a 5th team in the PIAA State Playoffs this year because that team (Downingtown West) was the lone survivor of the 1st round last night, beating Hempfield 1-0. #1seed Abington lost 4-1 to Wilson Reading, #2 seed Central Bucks East lost 1-0 to Delaware Valley, #3 seed Souderton lost 1-0 to Stroudsburg, and #4 seed Pennsbury lost to LaSalle 2-0.

Downingtown will play LaSalle in the 2nd round at a time & place TBA.

State Playoffs Begin Tomorrow

Five of the 16 teams in the 2012 PIAA State Soccer Playoffs are from District 1, and rightfully so as the PIAA State Crown has gone to a District 1 team 19 times in the past 30 years.

Here are tomorrow night's 1st round opponents for the 5 District 1 teams (4 of which will stay in the Eastern bracket):

#1 seed Abington plays District 3's 3rd seed Wilson at Coatesville Area H.S. (7 PM)
#2 seed C.B. East goes into the Western bracket to face District 6 champion State College at Scranton Memorial Stadium at 5 PM
#3 seed Souderton will play District 11 champion Stroudsburg at Nazareth Area H.S. at 7:30 PM
#4 seed Pennsbury will face Catholic League champion LaSalle (District 12) at Northeast H.S. at 7 PM
#5 seed Downingtown West will play District 3 champion Hempfield at Hersheypark Stadium at 7 PM