High School Soccer 

Important Dates 

  
TSSAA Soccer Information

Eligibility 

• Each player must have a completed and signed physical, concussion information form and sudden cardiac arrest form, evidence of which must be on file at each school before the student-athlete can participate in practice, try-outs or a competitive contest. Additionally, an assumption of Risk, emergency contact information and informed consent forms must also accompany the physical. The Athlete Health Record includes those 3 requirements on 1 form. 

• All student-athletes must be listed on the TSSAA eligibility form. The last day to submit Eligibility forms is the First TSSAA Official Day of Contest. 

• All teams must have a basic first aid kit, injury ice & bags, water, and a copy of each student-athlete’s emergency contact info accompany them to all competitions and practices.  All coaches must be CPR & First Aid certified. 

• Contact the school Athletic Director for secondary insurance information. 

Games and Scheduling/Re-scheduling

TSSAA limits high schools to play a maximum of 16 games and 2 tournaments. Tournaments count as 2 games. 

Arbiter Sports/Digital Sports 

All home games must be loaded into Arbiter Sports which is used by the referee assignor.  If you need a username and password for Arbiter Sports please contact Mark Herrington at mherrington@refereeinmemphis.com ;

Inclement Weather: Cancellation or postponement of games for inclement weather is the responsibility of the Athletic Director of the home team or his/her representative. The final decision and notification to the visiting team, umpire or assigning agent, and the MSCIAA must be made by 11:00 a.m. on the day of the game.  If there is any question as to playing conditions of Park Commission fields, the final decision for determining whether or not the field is playable will be made by the Park Commission representative. 

Rescheduling Inclement Weather Games: The home team is responsible for obtaining field assignments for make-up games and contacting assigning agents to obtain referees.  The home team is responsible for contacting the visiting team within three days of the postponed game and setting a date for the rescheduled game. 

Field Availability & Maintenance

Parks Services Fields:

Memphis City Parks    (901) 636-5580 office 

Games postponed on Park Commission fields should be rescheduled through the Park Commission office. Please contact them between 10am and 12pm to confirm if a field is playable. 

MSCS Field Maintenance

Fields are cut and lined by vendors on a regular rotation. Lining is based on schedules on the MSCIAA website.

All stadium fields must be scheduled through the MSCIAA Office. 

• Turf Fields-Halle Stadium, Melrose Stadium, Kirby Stadium, Whitehaven Stadium, Crump Stadium, Cordova Stadium 

• Grass Fields-J.P. Freeman Soccer Field, Raleigh-Egypt Stadium, Cordova Field 

Equipment

Corner flags are mandatory equipment.  All schools playing on grass fields must purchase and supply for game corner flags.  The MSCIAA has corner flags with bases for turf fields available for loan for the season for schools playing on turf fields.  The schools will be held responsible for replacement costs for broken or lost equipment. 

Cancellation of Games

Teams canceling games last than 24 hours prior to the start or not showing up for reasons other than weather or school closure will be responsible for paying the referees.  If a school needs to cancel a game it is their responsibility to contact the MSCIAA, their opponent, referee assignor and referees. 

Referees

Assigning Agent 

Mark Herrington 

Cell: 901-674-4478 

Email: mherrington@refereeinmemphis.com ;

Referee Fees

The home team is responsible for paying the referees for each game. Fees for league games are reimbursed at the end of the season. 

Varsity- If 2 referees each shall receive $90. If 3 referees the split shall be $90/$80/$80. 

Referees will call the home team’s financial secretary by noon on the day of the game to supply their names and contact information; if the financial secretary has not been contacted by that time on the day of your home game contact the assigning agent. 

MSCIAA Championship  

There is a championship game for Class A, Class AA and Class AAA. To be eligible, you must play all teams in your district and MSCIAA teams in your classification.

Qualifiers are the top teams in each district for Class A. In Class AA, the top 2 teams will play with the additional eligibility of Bolton* in District 14. For Class AAA, the top 2 teams will play with the additional eligibility of Germantown* and Cordova* in District 15.
 *Eligible team's points against their district and MSCIAA teams within their classification count. 

 The top team is decided using the following points system:

SCORING/TIEBREAKERS-Modified FIFA 

1) SCORING

A)    Divisional winners will be determined by the following 4-point system.  Only divisional game will used to determine divisional winners. 

a)    Win-3 points 

b)    Ties-1 point 

c)     Loss-0 points 

B)    Forfeit is scored as a 3-0 loss and the opposing team will be awarded 3-points. 

C)    If teams are tied, rule (2) will be used to break the tie. 

2)  TIE-BREAKERS 

A)    To determine divisional winners and seed for the championship. 

a)     Winner of head-head competition. 

b)     Highest goal differential- goals for minus goals against with a (maximum 3 goals per game). 

c)     Least total goals allowed (maximum) 3 goals per game). 

d)    Most shutouts 

e)     Most goals scored 

f)      Penalty kicks 

**TSSAA Independent Game Participation Rule** 

Article II, Section 21 prevents students from participating in an organized game outside of school competition once their name is listed on the school’s eligibility report. In an effort to provide guidance to coaches and administrators as to what constitutes an organized game that would result in a violation, the following interpretation was established for students whose names have been placed on their schools soccer eligibility report: 

In the sport of soccer, student athletes who have been submitted on a school’s eligibility report can only participate in scrimmage situations with an independent team involving 6 versus 6 players or fewer. Scrimmage situations or contests between more than one independent team are not permitted regardless of the number of players involved. Schools have the opportunity to request an exception to this rule if the event that they wish to participate in is recognized as an Olympic Development Event by the National Federation of State High School Associations. Schools wishing to make this request should email Mark Reeves at mreeves@tssaa.org. ;