Nebraska's Top 10 most improved girls soccer programs

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As the Nebraska girls high school soccer season prepares to hit the stretch run, we've crunched the numbers in an attempt to determine which programs have made the most substantial climbs in MaxPreps' Computer Rankings over a year ago.

And we have a tie at the top.

Bennington and Omaha Bryan both rose 27 spots in Tuesday's updated 2016-17 rankings over MaxPreps' Final Computer Rankings from a year ago, topping the other 62 Cornhusker State teams that have played the minimum amount of games required to claim a spot in the rankings. Only Aurora has failed to compete in the six-game minimum needed to climb into the rankings.

In calculating these turnarounds it has been determined that the team that showed the most improvement in their record from the previous season, would be the victor in the tiebreaker.

Bennington gets that nod and takes over the top spot after improving its record eight games over a year ago. Omaha Bryan was almost as impressive making a substantial 6-1/2 game improvement and earned the No. 2 slot this week.

Of the programs that landed in this week's Top 10, Hastings holds the highest ranking at No. 7 after improving a third best 23 spots over the 2015-16 season. Kearney Catholic and Holdrege round out the top five after climbing 21 and 19 spots upward respectively.

Besides Hastings, Norfolk, Papillion-LaVista South and Columbus are sitting in the Top 15 after going through subpar campaigns a year ago. Of the 12 schools listed here, seven of them have produced winning seasons to date after suffering through below .500 records a year ago.

Although Papillion-LaVista South claimed the final spot in the Top 10 via the tiebreaker we referred to earlier, we have decided to make room for Lincoln High and Columbus after the Links and Discoverers actually tied the Titans' for that final spot.


1. Bennington
Final 2015-16 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 61st (1-14)
2016-17 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 34th (7-4)

2. Bryan (Omaha)
Final 2015-16 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 53rd (4-12)
2016-17 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 26th (7-2)

3. Hastings
Final 2015-16 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 30th (12-6)
2016-17 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 7th (9-1)

4. Kearney Catholic (Kearney)
Final 2015-16 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 46th (6-8)
2016-17 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 25th (7-2)

5. Holdrege
Final 2015-16 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 62nd (1-12)
2016-17 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 43rd (4-3)

6. Grand Island
Final 2015-16 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 57th (0-13)
2016-17 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 40th (3-5)

7. Omaha Northwest (Omaha, Neb.)
Final 2015-16 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 56th (3-13)
2016-17 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 39th (5-6)

8. Omaha South (Omaha, Neb.)
Final 2015-16 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 45th (8-10)
2016-17 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 29th (8-4)

9. Norfolk
Final 2015-16 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 24th (10-8)
2016-17 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 8th (8-2)

10. Papillion-LaVista South (Papillion)
Final 2015-16 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 25th (6-11)
2016-17 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 12th (6-2)

11. Lincoln
Final 2015-16 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 48th (5-11)
2016-17 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 35th (5-4)

12. Columbus
Final 2015-16 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 27th (10-8)
2016-17 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 14th (6-3)