Lakota East boys soccer holds the No. 1 spot in Eric Hickey's coverage-area rankings. The Thunderhawks girls program sits at No. 3 in Hickey's first girls top 5 of the season, with both teams facing Greater Miami Conference matchups Thursday, Sept. 17.
Hickey, a Badin High School coach who writes the weekly rankings for The Report Ohio, released his boys and girls top 5 on Monday, Sept. 14.
Boys: East tops the field at 5-1-3
The Thunderhawks held the top ranking after beating Oak Hills 2-0 and drawing rival Lakota West 1-1. East sits second in the GMC at 3-0-1, trailing only Sycamore.
Five wins match last season's total.
Junior Miles Polachek leads East with six goals. Senior goalkeeper Nick Maslin paces the GMC with four shutouts. Polachek scored the lone goal in East's 1-0 GMC-opening win over Middletown, and Maslin recorded four saves in that game, according to the Lakota East athletics site.
Fairfield (7-1-1) sits at No. 2 behind senior Mekhi Waters, who leads the GMC with 10 goals. Badin (7-1) is No. 3 with seven straight wins, Hamilton (4-2-2) is No. 4 off its best start since 2016, and Little Miami (4-3) debuts at No. 5.
East travels to GMC leader Sycamore on Thursday. Lakota West visits Hamilton the same night.
Girls: East ranks No. 3 in debut rankings
Hickey's first girls soccer rankings of the fall place East (4-2-2, 2-0-1 GMC) at No. 3. East's most recent result was a tie against Oak Hills.
Senior Bailey Bacher leads East with seven goals and five assists. Senior goalkeeper Emmaline Slusher has posted three shutouts and 55 saves. Bacher scored in East's earlier 2-0 road win over Kings, a game in which Slusher made 10 saves, according to the East athletics site.
Ross (8-0) holds the No. 1 girls ranking, followed by Mason (6-1-1), which shares the GMC lead with Sycamore at 4-0. Fenwick (5-3) is No. 4 and Badin (4-5) rounds out the top 5 after winning four of its last five.
East hosts Sycamore on Thursday with the Thunderhawks sitting one game back of the GMC lead. Mason travels to Oak Hills the same night.
