IAAM Preview: Oct. 10, 2008

Park @ Mount de Sales Oct. 7, 2008  (Kyle Knopp)

By: Jeff Seidel

SOCCER

The tough IAAM A Conference battle for first place continues next week.

Four teams -- McDonogh, Spalding, Mercy and John Carroll -- are close to the top spot. A key game comes on Tuesday when the defensive-minded McDonogh team heads to Mercy in a tough late-season game.

Spalding has an out-of-conference battle with South River (public school). John Carroll's next game comes against Pallotti, last year's A Conference champion. Pallotti is in the middle of the pack this year, but it eliminated John Carroll in last year's playoffs, so the Patriots will likely remember that.

Friends and Catholic were tied for first in the B Conference. Catholic meets Bryn Mawr on Tuesday while the Quakers get Garrison Forest the same day.

FIELD HOCKEY

In the B Conference, McDonogh's still unbeaten with a good lead over Mount de Sales, but the two schools will meet on Tuesday. It will be a tough game for the Sailors because McDonogh was unbeaten after last Thursday's action.

Garrison Forest holds a narrow A Conference lead over Bryn Mawr. The Grizzlies' lone loss of the season was a 3-1 decision the Class 3A state champion Fallston handed them in a game where a few of their players got injured.

Garrison Forest takes on Spalding Tuesday, and Bryn Mawr meets Notre Dame Prep the same day.

VOLLEYBALL

St. Paul's and Mercy remained unbeaten and were the leaders in the A and B Conference, respectively, heading into weekend end.

The McDonogh Tournament will have a number of big teams on Saturday, but St. Paul's takes on Bryn Mawr on Monday as the regular season begins to come to a close.

Mercy is holding a small lead over Notre Dame Prep in the B Conference. Up next for Mercy is a match on Wednesday against Maryvale Prep. Notre Dame Prep plays on Tuesday against McDonogh.

CROSS COUNTRY

The fields have changed for the re-scheduled Bull Run Invitational at Hereford on Saturday.

For the girls, many of the private schools are in the Small Schools division that will run in the afternoon on the very difficult Hereford course. McDonogh, Archbishop Spalding, Maryvale, Institute of Notre Dame (IND) and Annapolis Area Christian School are competing there.

This should be an especially interesting test for IND, last year's IAAM B Conference champion and a team that's run strongly over the last three seasons. The question will be how competitive IND can be against an A Conference school like McDonogh.

Posted October 10, 2008