South Jersey Coaches Cup field set with Shawnee earning both top seeds

One of the highlights of the local high school season every year is the South Jersey Coaches Cup. Sixteen boys teams, sixteen girls teams battling it out for a trophy.

Even before games kick off this Friday, we already know that a new champion will be crowned. Neither Sterling on the girls side or Clearview on the boys side made the top 16 rankings to try and defend their titles. Sterling is 6-6-1 on the season while Clearview is 6-6-2.

Shawnee is the top seed in both tournaments.

Saint Augustine Prep, which was upset in the first round as a top seed last year by Lenape, is a No. 2 seed. Both finalists from last year – Eastern on the girls side, Washington Township on the boys side, come in as No. 3 seeds.

Eastern has won the competition six times while Shawnee girls have won three. Shawnee boys have won it a dozen time but you have to go back to 2006 for the last time either program lifted the trophy. That was the year the boys won it for the fifth time in six years.

While Shawnee will be the favorite to pull off the double – they are the last to do it back in 2003 – Paul VI girls will be tough and a team like Audubon could follow the Sterling example as a smaller school making a run to the girls final. On the boys side, it might be to Saint Augustine’s benefit that they don’t have the weight of being the top seed while Schalick will want to prove that their entertaining brand of free flowing attacking soccer will work against bigger schools.

First round games will be played Friday and Saturday, followed by Round 2 games on October 28, semifinals on October 30 at DeCou Sports Complex in Cherry Hill and the finals back at DeCou on November 2.