Soccer: It's, like, a state tournament, but regional

Soccer in Southern California will this year extend beyond the CIF section championships with the start of the SoCal Regional Soccer championships for both boys and girls. Northern California doesn't have a regional tournament, so this isn't part of a state event, but it's close.

The SoCal Regional, which begins next Tuesday, is split into three divisions, based on enrollment, like football.

Division I is for schools with 2,300 or more students, Division II is 1,000-2,299 and Division III is 11-999. The Southern Section will receive four entries in each division, with the City, Central and San Diego sections getting one each. The remaining at-large team will come from either the City, Central or San Diego sections.

As it stands, according to Eric Maddy, our resident stats guru, eight boys teams and four girls teams from the Southern Section have already clinched a spot in the SCR. Those teams are:

In Boys Division II: Santa Margarita, Newbury Park, West Torrance and Desert Mirage.

In Boys Division II: Oaks Christian, Arrowhead Christian, Salesian, Animo.

In Girls Division II: Granite Hills.

In Girls Division III: Oaks Christian, Lancaster Desert Christian, Calvary Murrieta.

The situation in Division I is very unclear, hinging on the results of Saturday's section championship game. Any reamining slots will be filled by a committee.

I'll have more to say about the SCR once all the participants are announced, hopefully Sunday. It's your turn to talk. Tell me what you think of this tournament. What are the positives and negatives? What division is the strongest? Should the event be extended state-wide?

-- Jaime Cardenas