Being on a good team vs. individual development

Darn it! Eclipse won it all. Congratulations!

eclipse may have won, but barely!! in their first game, vs. the texans, they got extremely lucky. they got a lead early in the second half, and got a very lucky second goal. they basically sat in and only defended for the remainder of the game. texans were completely dominating, and should have won the game. they got a goal late, but it wasnt enough, as they lost 2-1, but a great game played by the texans. in the second game, against scorpions, a game that ended 1-1 should have been a scorpions victory, as the ref called a goal offsides that was absolutely not so. in their game against montclair, it was like watching the texans game all over again. this time, eclipe went down early, and got two goals in the last minutes of the first half to go up 2-1. they scored on a scramble in the second half, and once again just sat in and defended. eclipse cmf even got red carded for deliberately fouling one of the montclair girls in the box on a corner kick. she got a pk and scored, making the final socre of the game 3-2, but once again, a very close call for eclipse. both the semis and the finals were very close, 1-0 games. neither team dominated, and the fasct that eclipse won the whole tournament means nothing other than the fact that they got lucky goals and were able to barely hold on until the final whistle blew

Sounds like you saw their games? Did you see them against PDA or Stars in semis and finals?

yes. i saw all of their games, including the semis and finals

Can you tell me your impressions of the teams in the games?

For what it is worth (from a slightly biased source) - the shot that won the final was beautiful. Certainly not a result of nice build up or good passing, but she picked up an errant ball (I think from Stars) and sent a blast into the side net from pretty far out (maybe 30-35 yards?) at the 57th minute. I was amazed the Stars keeper even got a finger on it. Stars didn't have much time to recover in the 60 minute game and they'd missed a number of chances themselves - especially first half. Neither keeper was busy - as I remember it. Just missed opportunities by both teams wide, high, etc.

I'm not going to get in a pissing match with a hater but only want to say that this Eclipse team played outstanding soccer, every player on the roster was key with some key injuries/illnesses/disciplines to overcome, and earned the championship playing some outstanding competition. The Texan game was a classic and both Eclipse goals were scored off the run of play One a beautiful slotted pass from one forward to the other forward who slotted it past the GK and the second goal a buildup goal all the way from the back. Texans scored their goal off a corner kick (how dare they) in the 3rd minute of extra time that was only supposed to be 2 minutes long.

The red card that this hater loves to bring up was not because of the foul. The CR gave Montclair a PK because of a foul, he didn't like how she cleared it (header, claimed that there was a push) out of the box. Same call could be made in many a corner kick play. Fine. But when the CR gives the ball back to the same player, makes an unheard comment to her, than she punts the ball to the center circle from about 15 yards away, and shows her the red... C'mon- CR baited her all the way. Very unprofessional. If you know this girl, you would know that she didn't use any kind of profanity. Just not her.

For the girls to beat PDA in the semifinals without this key player and another key player, CB, shows you what a total team effort this was. And again to beat FC Stars, an incredibly talented team, without this same CB is quite an accomplishment. Well Done Eclipse 16's!!!

ya. sounds like a great kid....the same great kid that got a yellow card in the cfc vs. eclipse match in nc

An adult? questioning the character of a 15/16 year old girl in a public forum based on a couple of cards is totally classless.

She is a great kid!

nothing against the kid....but like ive said, that is a very dirty team. and it only proves my case when a player on the team gets both a yellow and red card on two occasions in one league...

as for the texans game: eclipse got up early and defended for teh remainder of the half. texans were only able to score on teh corner kick because of this. adn they were definitely trying to score on the run of play, rather than eclipse who just plays boot ball.

I was at the montclair game as well, and there was definitely a foul in the box. eclipse girl shoved montclair attacker to the ground. and i would think that the directors of this tournament, seeing as it was a big tourney, would be sure to hire professional refs. they had a number officials at the game, and for you to blame the card on the ref is completely untrue. i dont know exactly what happened, but in a national league game at a national tournament---i wouldnt think that a ref would unnecessarily red card a player.

and as for the other post that asked about the semi and final games. i think that pda is a great team. they did well in the semi game. eclipse scored on a scramble in the box that seemed to deflect off of one of the defenders. towards the end of the game, pda had a few very close chances. one shot from about 20 yards out that, from my angle, looked like it was in, but actually hit the side net. that would have tied the game 1-1.

stars won their semi final game and completely dominated the game. they have three strikers up top that are very good. in the finals, both teams looked very run down. stars got up on eclipse in the first 15 minutes and had a few chances that could very easily have been goals. i thought the game would be a blowout. but, stars started to back off a bit, and eclipse had there share of chances in the second half as well, scoring off a shot from outside the 18 in the last minutes of the game.

well played, but i still think that any of a number of teams could have won this tourney

Dude, you have zero class, you have zero cred on these boards. Your CFC team goes 0-3, and Im sure your full of reasons or excuses on why they went 0-3, almost as much for every excuse why Eclipse did well. Stinky is correct, your a hater.

Sounds like NEN's dd's team played well to make it to the finals of Disney. Congrates. Bird, is your dd on NEN's team as well?? If so, I did not know this.

you know that everything i say about eclipse on these threads is correct...the truth obviously hurts

No, but if I'm going to cheer for a team other than my daughter's it will be NEN's (same club) followed by the Scorpions (same state). But I hope both teams are playing poorly come State Cups and Reg 1 league.....at least when they play my daughter's team. Same goes for PDA.

Scrops? WHY?? Cant stand them

I do the same with your team and the other Massachusetts teams, Bird. (No way PDA! jk) The cold war is not so cold as outsiders seem to think - at least as far as the girls and the coaches go. These three teams need each other for competition! The Stars United team attended part of two of the Scorpions' Disney games. Some of the girls are friends. The Scorpions coaches were at the Stars-Eclipse final and I'm pretty sure JD watched a couple of their games. I don't know how the Scorpions fans feel about our Stars teams but in general I'd say the Stars United fans respect their team and the Rovers (goes without saying!) and would support both as long as they aren't our opponents.

Hey NEN...Did you guys have a Blue and White xmas???

of course it is personal, you have named the player.

who are you referring to?

CFC and Eclipse are both EXCELLENT teams. I would consider them among the best at this age in the region, along with the Hawks. The one game that I have seen CFC outplayed was their opener at regionals against Lexington. Lexington was the better team THAT DAY and CFC was VERY lucky to get a PK in the last few minutes to steal the win.

This has been a very interesting and entertaining discussion about the older girls and the Eclipse and CFC and everyone else, but let me try bring this thread back to the original topic with this question:

What girls club in the Chicago area does the best job developing players at the early (u12 and younger) ages?

I know who doesn't...ECLIPSE!

No response about that game socsocluv? Clearly you know that your CFC team was outplayed that game..

Were you at that game? I didn't think so. Because if you were you would see that, being the first game of the regional tournament, neither team was at the top of their game, but to say that CFC was LUCKY, is just fabricated. Both teams were a bit off, but in the end, the better team was able to pull it together, as they always will be able to do, no matter who is playing, so no. I don't need to respond to that, seeing as it is a completely false evaluation of the game, probably from a Lexington F.C. parent.

LOL! You should take it as a compliment that parents from other teams took the time to pay attention to your game (none of which being LFC or CFC parents, including myself!). And yes, we were watching the game because CFC was playing, not LFC. Did list CFC as one of the 3 best teams in the region? But no, CFC was incredibly lucky that game my friend, and a tie would have changed the outcome of the entire bracket. LFC was the better team that game bud.