No offense to any of these kids and the parents who support them. But AB teams from IWSL have no business playing in the Qualifier. They will get smoked and there is a huge gap between A and AB in 2007. Some of the results have proven that thus far in tourneys. Some of these clubs are pushing teams for the sake of the club's long-term strategy/marketing. At best they will finish 2-8,3-7 and still play in the qualifier/lowest bracket the following season. Not sure if that helps a kid's development at all. In fact, keep losing and watch parents and kids quit altogether. Or go to a new club and repeat the cycle. Winning and team/individual development at lower levels is a good way to elevate a kid. Have them cycle through the top teams if they earn a spot. You can roster 30 for MRL. You even see a gap between a Pre ECNL team and a FC alliance who played in the A. 9-0. Berwyn played evolution and lost 8-1. Palatine celtic is a B team playing second tier brackets and lost to wizard 5-0. Tc Premier is a great example of an AB team (now the highest bracket in 07 iwsl) losing to FC united and evolution by 10 plus goals. LG Celtic is a B team struggling in second tier brackets of a tourny. List goes on. Not sure if this is delusional parents/coaches or brand marketing gone awry.
Whats interesting about this is with the rosters at 30, Eclipse could just be cycling ECNL and IWSL kids in for games to just win in the Qualifier. Again, it's not against the rules but dilutes the strength of the team and doesn't do much for the former IWSL players.
Can you share a link that shows FCU Copa and Predator playing in the B and C divisions of the IWSL? I assure you both teams would wipe the floor with the top teams in those divisions. Same for Eclipse... So I am assuming you mean their 2nd and 3rd teams. Big difference.
The U13 qualifying season is not the problem. Any team should be able to enter if they want to give it a try. The issue is that the state doesn’t cap the number of teams involved at the older ages so you have teams playing in low divisions of MRL or the MRL qualifying division at u14 and up. Those divisions are a joke.
One other thing about u13 is that many teams have a lot of turnover so “A” Division teams from u12 might not be as strong if they have lost kids to ECNL or DA. I have seen teams that never were higher than AB at u8-u12 end up in MRL premier 2 by u14 because they kept all their players, added a few from other clubs that broke apart and more than half the “A” Division teams have been decimated by players jumping to the big clubs.
First Divisions are way above A teams from my experience. I would say Qualifiers are generally but once and awhile a team drops out and the league gets one in that shouldn't. (Cough *Lyons Township* Cough)
Hey, Was referring to the transition from A/AB iwsl to the MRL qualification for the u13. lots of teams taking shots, 22 total. Including teams from iwsl B,C and second teams from FC united. But point taken from all. It is just a qualifier. I have a lot of respect for clubs that stick together and grind it out at 13 and 14. Especially possession teams!
NK at the Eclipse Challenge Cup told his 05 team that everyone had made the ECNL team. Roster of 22 at 05.
You realistically have never heard of second team called the "b" team and could not tell that in context? And the Michigan nationals refernce would apply to the IWSL "E' division? I am not sure of your purpose with your reply....
Not really - I usually hear of them and refer to them as 2nd teams and 3rd teams. When someone says A/B/C then I think they are refering to IWSL. Not trying to jam you or be picky.
And by the third or fourth game parents will figure out that their are 15-16 players "really" on the ECNL team and 6-7 players actually playing IWSL with another team that will never step on the field in an ECNL game.
According to who I know there, yes. Frankly I think OB is very poorly run. What I think will eventually happen is that the boys side will pass the girls side in terms of talent and so on. I also think in 2-3 years you will see stronger teams in NB and more kids from TC, Galaxy staying put or looking at Inter and perhaps CSA to jump over. Of course you'll have a much smaller percent likely taking a look at Sockers as well. All of this is already happening this season. CSA got a few top ECNL girls back and Sockers did as well. I believe TC may have got one player as well. Some of these are players who were promised ECNL play and got very little. I can say we are very happy with those who came over.
TC lost their starting striker at 05 to Eclispe and Galaxy lost one of their best players either last year or this year to Eclispe. One of the best 05 players my daughter has played with left TC for Eclipse and is now at FCU. That is one hell of commute.
That makes sense when you look at how both teams have been doing so far. I dont think these clubs will ever stop top players from jumping but overall I just think less will leave.
"Stronger" than Oak Brook? No. Stonger than this year? Yes. OB will continue to field the strongest teams. For a couple of reasons: 1) ECNL will solidify itself as best and most-attractive league. This forum has discussed in detail about the issue with the USYS league losing quality teams, etc. No need to repeat. But what has not been discussed is issues with DA and why it too will diminish. FCUDA is in a world of hurt. (As discussed here also), it lost a lot of girls to Eclipse that want to play HS in spring. It is located in an area where most of the top girls will want to play HS, so unless DA changes the no-HS rule it will continue to have challenges fielding competitve teams. But DA midwest has other issues. It replaced horrible MN team with another horrible MN team. Its Clevelend team (which is second-tier) still is not fielding a U19 team. Cincy DA, Midwest United and Nationals are solid teams but (especially CDA) have had issues keeping top HS player from jumping to ECNL teams. MI Jaguars is second-tier club. So, Sockers is really facing a pretty choppy league. Every year, you will face 2-3 stalwarts and 3-4 strugglers. So, a 6 hour one way drive play one game vs a cupcake cannot be all that attractive. 2) With regard to OB vs NB, OB should continue to win that battle: Better location to fertile Naperville/Aurora areas and only real option for South Suburbs/NW Indiana. Cache? Deserved or not, parents still buy into the list of GNT players, college commits, national championships, etc. The pitch is "Your kid will be playing with the top kids in state in front of 100 college coaches at ECNL showcases." OB has alway had kids making long commutes and, even with NB, is still getting kids from North Suburbs to make longer trip to OB. The OB 2003s have committed kids from Barrington and Libertyville who opted not to switch to closer NB. The 2001s picked up kids that left FCUDA - from Lake Forest and from New Trier (btw, the Gatorade player of the year).
I disagree with the DA diminishing. A few data points to consider. The U17 WNT is currently in Sweden for a tournament. 17 of the girls play for a club in the DA. 2 for a club in the ECNL. Also at this age the So Cal Blues won the ECNL National Championship a few months ago at U16. They recently scrimmaged the So Cal Blues DA team who came in 7th in their division. The DA team won - and this is within the same club. And even against a weak ECNL, Eclipse can’t compete for the top spot in their division except for U17. And Eclipse lost 6 girls this season to Sockers. I don’t believe any went the other direction.
The younger age groups will be more determinate of OB vs. NB Team strength. 03 and oldest are not going to leave OB and the older teams will be stronger there. As they age out it will be more telling how the 05 and younger perform. Also Orangecard it reads as if you are saying OB over NB because of ECNL but eclipse NB is also ECNL. And if jaguars are 2nd tier with 1 age group winning a USYS national championship and another make no the USYS national championship semifinals before they moved to GDA what tier do you put the ECNL bottom dwellers FC Wisconsin, Varder, galleger IL,? Are these third tier teams alongside whatever Minnesota team joins GDA? And I am not saying GDA is stronger than ECNL . I am saying both leagues have the exact same issue top to bottom.
Yes, argualbly some of the top GA tems have a lot of GNT talent: Solar, Tophat and legends. Talk to me about the bottom 40 teams. Sheesh. C'mon Thank make no sense. Its either untrue or there is some other reasoning behind this. There is no way, the scond team is anywhere close the the first team. But hey, Army almost beat Michigan Not sure specifics, but OB dropping the second ECNL badge may have forced girls, concerned about playing time, to jump to Sockers. Disgruntled kids leaving Eclipse aint exactly a recent phenomenon. Hey, maybe do a little homework..OB's current U18s won a very competitle U17 division last year. That group coupled with two WNT 19s might be able "to complete"
Yes, wining that 2018 water-down championship and second-tier status are not mutuallly exclusive. Good point. But I will raise your FC Wisconsin / Varder with Shattuck, Salvo, and Cleveland Force. DA's worse are worse.
Not a good start for Eclipse North. Most of their teams got stuffed by Michigan Hawks. 2 games were 7-0 and another 4-0.