Sports

New seeding system in NYSAISAA creates oddities in boys soccer bracket

The New York State Association of Independent Schools Athletic Association (NYSAISAA) went away from a seeding committee in selecting the participating teams for the state tournament this fall to avoid human error. Yet, unlike recent years, many boys soccer coaches are perplexed how the choices were made.

After a trial period last year using the Massey Ratings – a system for rating and rankings sports teams that was created by Ken Massey, a professional statistician, and is used by the Bowl Championship Series – the NYSAISAA opted to use it on its own this season. Athletic directors filled out forms online and the league forwards the information to Massey, whose system seeds teams based on overall record, strength of schedule and head-to-head competition.

There were few complaints when it came to the brackets for girls volleyball and girls soccer, though the same cannot be said for boys soccer. For the first time in several seasons, the top seed didn’t go to the Ivy Prep League champion; instead Rye Country Day School is No. 1, followed by Ivy champion Horace Mann and runner-up Collegiate.

Several coaches were surprised Poly Prep, which finished fifth in the Ivy, was seeded fourth, especially since Hackley, the fifth seed, beat the Blue Devils twice during the regular season. Now Hackley will have to travel to Bay Ridge for a quarterfinal matchup.

“I was surprised, I thought we might be down around seven or eight,” Poly Prep coach Gerry Stone said. “The fact we beat Packer, we had some decent non-league wins, is that enough to get us a No. 4 seed? I still have to say I’m surprised.”

Fieldston, which also finished ahead of Poly Prep, has a play-in game against Lycee Francais for the eighth seed. The other two play-in games feature ACIS regular-season champion Packer against Long Island Lutheran, with the winner facing Collegiate, and UNIS taking on Columbia Prep for the right to meet Horace Mann.

The two teams – Horace Mann and Collegiate – favored by some to reach the final will now likely meet in the semifinals. Rye Country Day of the Fairchester League did go 2-0 against teams in the tournament and 11-2-0 overall, beating Fieldston and Columbia Prep. Lions coach Neil Berniker was hopeful his team would receive the top seed after winning the Ivy League for the first time since 2008, but he wasn’t overly disappointed.

“We’re going to move on with the tournament, hope we get to the finals and whoever we face, play them for the championship,” the coach said. “It’s the first time we’re going through this system. It’s the fall season and I’m sure people will have comments one way or the other, whether it was fair to them or not.”

NYSAISAA postseason coordinator Bob Annunziata said last year the seeding committee and Massey came up with nearly identical seeds. The organization wanted to eliminate human emotion and “finger pointing,” Annunziata said. By quantifying things like strength of schedule, overall record and head-to-head results through Massey’s system, the Horace Mann athletic director says it will get the NYSAISAA the result it desires.

“Is this fool proof? I don’t know,” Annunziata said. “But it’s pretty darn close to where we’ve seeded in the past and we’re pretty comfortable it’s doing what it’s supposed to.”

zbraziller@nypost.com