Top five undefeated surprise teams of 2021

Regardless of the hours of phone calls and hundreds of texts and emails to get a preseason handle on the high school soccer teams, there are always going to be major surprises. Today, I take a look at five of those schools that have surprised pretty much everyone, perhaps themselves with undefeated seasons. <p class="p1"><strong><span class="s1">BOYS</span></strong></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><strong>Fishers (Ind.)</strong> — There was a clear No. 1 in Indiana when the season started — and that was Noblesville. As Indiana began postseason play this week, Noblesville remains the team to beat. But there’s one instate squad that might give Noblesville a run for their money — a band of youngsters from Fishers, which, like Noblesville, also located the Indianapolis suburbs. Coming off a 12-7-1 season in 2020, there was certainly no reason nationally to pay attention to Fishers. But that position changed on Aug. 30, when Fishers played Noblesville to a scoreless draw. Fishers followed up that result with an undefeated run this year and enters the weekend matches at 15-0-2. Forty-five of the team’s 64 goals have been scored by underclass players, which includes junior standouts Keiji Nakamae and [player_tooltip player_id="11353" first="Noah" last="Reinhart"], who have combined for 34 goals and 25 assists. Fishers could be a factor this year and next given there are only six seniors on the roster.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><strong>Hoosac School (N.Y.)</strong> — Who-what? Yes, Hoosac School. This tiny boarding school on the New York-Vermont border has gone international and has assembled a stellar prep program. Now, when I say tiny — I’m talking 200 students in grades 8 through 12. While a majority of the players are from Spain, this year’s lineup has players from Bermuda, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Italy, Kenya, Nigeria, Portugal, Russia, and Trinidad &amp; Tobago. Oh yes, and there are about five Americans on the roster. Hoosac’s top team went 1-0-1 at the NXT LVL Invitational and has been posting impressive results against club and small college programs, as well as other prep/residency schools. The top players all Division I college prospects, including [player_tooltip player_id="32283" first="Jeremy" last="Ogango"], Lapo Romieri, and Matheus Souza.</span></p> <p class="p1"><strong><span class="s1">GIRLS</span></strong></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><strong>Homestead (Ind.)</strong> — As often is the case, the decision of one or two key players to play (or not) for the high school completely changes the trajectory of a team’s season. Homestead is the perfect example. Penn State commit [player_tooltip player_id="22252" first="Amelia" last="White"] played high school as a freshman and Homestead became a state-ranked program. She focused on club the past two years and Homestead was still good — not great. With White back in the lineup, 2021 has been perfection for this team. Homestead is 17-0 and White has factored in 35 of the team’s 94 goals this season. </span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><strong>Mount Notre Dame (Ohio)</strong> — This happens from time-to-time, a bunch of elite Cincinnati club girls opt to play high school soccer and a team jumps up almost out of nowhere. The last time this happened, it was Lakota West a few years ago when Kailyn Dudukovich and friends turned that program into a state title contender. The past two years, it’s been Mount Notre Dame, which is nationally known as the school where Rose Lavelle played for four years before going on to an illustrious college, pro, and international career. MND, as it’s recognized locally, is off to a 12-0 season following on last year’s 17-1 season — mostly built behind a talented Class of 2023 group that includes Peyton Kohls and [player_tooltip player_id="25226" first="Lauren" last="Fields"]. Before the pandemic, this team struggled to an 8-9-1 season. Two years later, MND is in the conversation for national No. 1 consideration this year — and perhaps next!</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><strong>Notre Dame (Ky.)</strong> — A coaching change and a bunch of quality players hanging around and even coming out for the first time turned Notre Dame Academy into an overnight power. An early season undefeated instate start was still shoulder-shrug material, but then a two-game sweep at the Lady Eagle Invitational, including a 1-0 win over perennial national power Carmel (Ind.), sent a message that this team was for real. Then, the Pandas put a 5-0 hit on defending champ Sacred Heart (Ky.) just to reinforce the point. The team’s top players include Xavier commit [player_tooltip player_id="22428" first="Natalie" last="Bain"], Wright State commit [player_tooltip player_id="31242" first="Marina" last="Ruthsatz"], Cleveland State commit Ella Simkonis, Eastern Kentucky commit [player_tooltip player_id="31240" first="Emma" last="Spivey"], two-sport standout [player_tooltip player_id="22427" first="Macie" last="Feldman"], and junior standout and elite prospect [player_tooltip player_id="22425" first="Kennedy" last="Clark"].</span></p>