Sheldon ShealerTOP STORY: Capistrano Valley (Mission Viejo, Calif.) scored its third Excalibur title, first since 1999, with a victory over Edison (Huntington Beach, Calif.) in the final. The result moves Capistrano Valley into the Top 10 this week.
BIG MOVER: Archbishop Mitty (San Jose, Calif.). Mitty jumped from No. 35 to No. 12 following an undefeated showing at the Tri-Valley Classic. The team drew with top 10-ranked San Ramon Valley (Danville, Calif.) in a key regional match.
NEWCOMERS: No. 27 Edison (Huntington Beach, Calif.), No. 44 Scripps Ranch (San Diego, Calif.), No. 45 Melbourne (Melbourne, Fla.), No. 46 Alta Loma (Alta Loma, Calif.) and No. 50 Desert Vista (Phoenix, Ariz.).
NOTES: The winter season includes the following states: Arizona, California (winter), Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.
Rankings through matches played Dec. 30, 2012
| Rk. | School (City, State) | Record | Prev. |
| 1 | Plano West (Plano, Texas) | 0-0-0 | 1 |
| Plano West starts regular-season play in January. | |||
| 2 | St. Thomas Aquinas (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) | 14-0-0 | 2 |
| St. Thomas Aquinas is idle until Jan. 10 when it competes in the National Elite Soccer Showcase in Ft. Worth, Texas. | |||
| 3 | Marcus (Flower Mound, Texas) | 0-0-0 | 3 |
| Marcus starts regular-season play in January. | |||
| 4 | Southlake Carroll (Southlake, Texas) | 0-0-0 | 4 |
| Southlake Carroll starts regular-season play in January. | |||
| 5 | Coppell (Coppell, Texas) | 0-0-0 | 5 |
| Coppell starts regular-season play in January. | |||
| 6 | Capistrano Valley (Mission Viejo, Calif.) | 9-1-2 | 14 |
| Casey Murphy netted that goal that sent Capistrano Valley to a 1-0 victory over Edison in the Excalibur final. The prestigious Southern California event featured nine teams that were in last week’s ESR Top 50. | |||
| 7 | San Ramon Valley (Danville, Calif.) | 8-0-2 | 15 |
| San Ramon Valley defeated Buchanan 2-0 to win the Tri-Valley Classic Invitational title and remain undefeated. | |||
| 8 | American Heritage-Delray (Delray Beach, Fla.) | 17-0-1 | 10 |
| AH-Delray was idle last week. | |||
| 9 | Flower Mound (Flower Mound, Texas) | 0-0-0 | 11 |
| Flower Mound starts regular-season play in January. | |||
| 10 | Douglas (Parkland, Fla.) | 17-0-0 | 13 |
| Douglas was idle last week. | |||
| 8 | Dana Hills (Dana Point, Calif.) | 5-0-3 | 19 |
| Dana Hills was idle last week, but the undefeated start helps this program jump up in the rankings. | |||
| 12 | Archbishop Mitty (San Jose, Calif.) | 6-0-3 | 35 |
| Mitty tied San Ramon Valley in group play and went undefeated in the Tri-Valley Classic, but settled for a third-place finish after finishing behind SRV in the group. | |||
| 13 | Kingwood (Humble, Texas) | 0-0-0 | 17 |
| Kingwood starts regular-season play in January. | |||
| 14 | Vero Beach (Vero Beach, Fla.) | 16-0-0 | 23 |
| Vero Beach was idle last week. | |||
| 15 | Palm Beach Central (Wellington, Fla.) | 13-0-0 | 24 |
| Palm Beach Central was idle last week. | |||
| 16 | Pinnacle (Phoenix, Ariz.) | 9-0-1 | 12 |
| Pinnacle advanced to this week’s Arizona Showcase semifinals, but a group play draw with Scripps Ranch (Calif.) hurts this team’s image on a national level. | |||
| 17 | South Torrance (Torrance, Calif.) | 10-0-6 | 26 |
| South Torrance defeated Top 50-ranked Sunny Hills in group play before winning its bracket at the North Orange County Classic over Downey. | |||
| 18 | Torrance (Torrance, Calif.) | 10-1-0 | 27 |
| Torrance’s lone setback this season is to undefeated South Torrance. | |||
| 19 | Mira Costa (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) | 6-1-2 | 28 |
| Mira Costa’s only loss this year is to Torrance. | |||
| 20 | Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood, Calif.) | 8-1-2 | 29 |
| Harvard-Westlake remains behind Mira Costa, which it lost to early in the season. | |||
| 21 | Aliso Niguel (Aliso Viejo, Calif.) | 7-1-2 | 32 |
| Aliso Niguel was idle last week. | |||
| 22 | Catalina Foothills (Tucson, Ariz.) | 12-1-2 | 22 |
| While many of the top Arizona programs competed in the Arizona Showcase, Catalina Foothills took the week off. | |||
| 23 | Sunny Hills (Fullerton, Calif.) | 11-1-4 | 20 |
| Sunny Hills slides behind South Torrance after losing a head-to-head match in the North Orange County Classic last week. | |||
| 24 | Saugus (Santa Clarita, Calif.) | 12-0-0 | 36 |
| For the second straight year, Saugus surprised Flintridge-Sacred Heart, this time winning on penalty kicks for the Los Tacos Holiday Tournament title. | |||
| 25 | Flintridge-Sacred Heart (La Canada, Calif.) | 8-0-2 | 18 |
| For the second straight year the Tologs place second in the Los Tacos Holiday Tournament, this time dropping a match on penalty kicks. | |||
| 26 | Ursuline Academy (Dallas, Texas) | 5-1-0 | 25 |
| 27 | Edison (Huntington Beach, Calif.) | 9-3-1 | NR |
| 28 | Bishop O’Dowd (Oakland, Calif.) | 9-1-1 | 16 |
| 29 | Madison Central (Madison, Miss.) | 11-0-1 | 30 |
| 30 | Klein Oak (Spring, Texas) | 0-0-0 | 31 |
| 31 | Orange Lutheran (Orange, Calif.) | 12-1-3 | 21 |
| 32 | Los Osos (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.) | 10-2-3 | 47 |
| 33 | San Clemente (San Clemente, Calif.) | 7-3-3 | 39 |
| 34 | Cathedral Catholic (San Diego, Calif.) | 10-2-3 | 7 |
| 35 | Corona del Mar (Newport Beach, Calif.) | 8-2-2 | 8 |
| 36 | Boca Raton (Boca Raton, Fla.) | 13-2-1 | 33 |
| 37 | American Heritage-Plantation (Plantation, Fla.) | 14-1-0 | 34 |
| 38 | Iolani (Honolulu, Hawaii) | 5-0-1 | 38 |
| 39 | St. Francis (Mountain View, Calif.) | 6-0-0 | 42 |
| 40 | Mansfield (Mansfield, Texas) | 0-0-0 | 43 |
| 41 | McKinney Boyd (McKinney, Texas) | 0-0-0 | 44 |
| 42 | Grapevine (Grapevine, Texas) | 0-0-0 | 45 |
| 43 | Claremont (Claremont, Calif.) | 14-2-1 | 50 |
| 44 | Scripps Ranch (San Diego, Calif.) | 9-0-4 | NR |
| 45 | Melbourne (Melbourne, Fla.) | 15-0-1 | NR |
| 46 | Alta Loma (Alta Loma, Calif.) | 7-2-1 | NR |
| 47 | Chino Hills (Chino Hills, Calif.) | 8-1-4 | 41 |
| 48 | University (Irvine, Calif.) | 5-2-2 | 46 |
| 49 | Upland (Upland, Calif.) | 7-2-0 | 46 |
| 50 | Desert Vista (Phoenix, Ariz.) | 12-0-1 | NR |
