Can a high school call their soccer team Varsity if they do not have a JV team or is it just called a soccer team?

Answer 1

Certainly, they can. The qualification "varsity" occurs when a team is regularly engaged in competition with other teams from other schools in recognized leagues or associations of whatever sort, as in varsity soccer, football, Baseball, etc. Oftentimes, the younger or weaker players from popular varsity teams are themselves organized (or are selected for) a "junior varsity" team. These weaker or younger teams then play the weaker or younger players from other schools and the upshot is "junior varsity" competition. However, nothing requires the school that sponsors a varsity team to have a junior varsity team; it is just traditional, especially amongst larger and more established high school programs. When there is no varsity team, you sometimes have "club" teams where members compete with other school clubs (but almost never with other varsity teams of the same sport) in more informal matches. Such club teams are even sometimes recognized as having won "championships," but these are less trusted honors, because of the small number of schools that participate, and the often unofficial rules that govern them.