YNT-eligible college players -- 2017 thread

So, freshman GK starters:

Muse, '99, Indiana
Gelnovatch, '97, Louisville (redshirt)
Pulisic, '98, Duke (not technically redshirt, but spent a year with BVB U19)

 

In a bit of a USYNT-palooza yesterday Maryland beat UCLA 3-2 in Overtime. Goals for Maryland by USYNTers Elney and Matzelevich (plus one from future MLSer, German Gordon WIld.) Goals by UCLA from former USYNTers Iloski (the Brian kind) and Erik Holt. A bunch of USYNTers all over the field. Kevin Silva started in goal for UCLA with Terwege and company. Williamson had an assist for Maryland amongst the USYNTer.

One score that caught my eye yesterday was Clemson stomping South Carolina 4-1. That must have made @Kombucha happy

 

Andrew Verdi, '98, Michigan (redshirt)

 

Only one assist in his third game. He's trash!

 

Yes. Clemson is good this year. They look better than they team that went to the Elite 8 last year. They look on par with the team that lost to Stanford 2 years ago when Jordan Morris went off on them. South Carolina is usually a pretty good team, but I don't think they are going to be good this year hence the lopsided scoreline.

Clemson just doesn't do it with American players by and large. They only real American of note is Dieterich who is playing at the #6. The rest of their top players are all foreign. They were suppose to have Devin Vega, but he went pro and they replaced him with Brandon Wright who was B1G POY for Rutgers who transferred, but he is from Jamaica and a player named Smith from England. Both come in a take minutes away from Michael Ille (ATL) who was the only other player on the team with any USYNT call-ups. They have been playing a FR named Robbie Robinson a lot in the midfield and he looks good for a FR. Might be one to follow from a MLS prospective down the road.

 

Wake lost to Georgia State of all teams on Tuesday.

Previously had outscored opponents 13-1. 4 games in 15 days though is taxing. Servania only played about half the minutes.

One note is that Mark McKenzie who got over 500 minutes for Bethlehem Steel in USL is a bit player for Wake. He has only played in 3 of 4 games. Same with Justin McMasters, but he only played for the Steel a little in 2016. Played in all 4 games, but ~15 minutes.

 

He's good but he's very green.

 

They are probably pretty decent. Won a couple games against mediocre teams and lost 1-0 to Louisville, but Wake had been blasting everybody, so surprised to see them drop a game to GSU at home.

The back-end of these doubleheader weekend games are easy to overlook and it is soccer. You can outplay a team, which Wake appeared to do an drop a game against basically any team with a pulse.

UNC lost to UNCW . Clemson need 2OT to beat a 10 man Georgia Southern for well over half the game on Monday as well. Duke tied Presbyterian.

 

I've heard that he isn't and Top Drawer Soccer had him listed some time last season as a potential GA candidate

 

ACC Week 1

#2 Wake @ #8 Louisville - Wake won 3 to 1. Louisville was up 1-0 when Tim Kubal got sent off and then Wake scored 3 unanswered goals. Servania got a hockey assist. McKenzie played 5 minutes and McMasters didn't play. 6 assists for Servania now.

#7 Syracuse @ #11 UVA - 2 to 2. Not as familar with players on these two teams. Jeff Caldwell started in goal for UVA.

#3 Clemson @ NC State - NC State won 1 to 0. Manny Perez (FR), with the goal. His 3rd of the season. He has been talked about as a potential GA. David Loera had the assist.

#6 Notre Dame @ BC - Notre Dame won 3 to 1. Thomas McCabb played 90. All 3 goals scored by their All-American from England.

VT @ Duke - Duke won 3 to 1. Will Pulisic in goal. Not familar with either team. Colby Agu who was a former USYNT player doesn't really play for Duke.

#10 UNC @ Pitt - UNC won 2 to 1. Cam Lindley with the winner. Jelani Pieters (rSO) notched his 4th goal. Pieters has appeared to win the starting job at forward over more hyped players. Stats alongside Alan Winn a USYMNT player for years ago.

 

White has keep the scoring up with 4 goals so far, but Uche has only played 3 minutes all season. He probably got injuried, but with a minor sport like college soccer their are not many updates.

Clemson had a starter get stabbed downtown in a fight and missed ~1/3 the season last year. You can't find anything about it online, but that was the rumor around the team. You heard the rumor, the player missed the next game and then just didn't play for like 8 games and then was back without anything official from anywhere or anything unofficial for that matter.

 

This is why we can't have our top prospects go to college, not because of the short seasons or whatever other reason we don't like it, but because you get stabbed when you go downtown.

 

College soccer in South Carolina has had worse such moments. At least he didn't die in a car crash.

 

I continue to hear great things about Manny. He's pro after this year. Will boost the U-20 team

ICYMI - Freshman @mannyP113 has been named the @NCAASoccer Player of the Week! https://t.co/WaU2JaEZ1c. #STATEment pic.twitter.com/tq0l7INDqR

— NC State Men's Soccer (@PackMensSoccer) September 13, 2017

 

UNC beat W&M - 3 to 2. Lindley (Fire) with 2 assists and Pineda with 1. Montesdeoca (Dallas) scored a goal as well. Team is loaded with former US Youth talent. Lucas del Rosario got some minutes.

Wake beat App State - 3 to 0. No goals are assists for former US Youth. Servania only played about half the game and McMasters and McKenzie got a little bit of an extended run.

 

States w/ highest % of HS boys soccer players recruited by a DI school:
1. Maryland
2. Florida
3. Virginia
4. Connecticut
5. North Carolina pic.twitter.com/OfhK1cHZoB

— NCAA Research (@NCAAResearch) September 15, 2017

 

I guess CT is a better soccer developer than Texas! Even Vermont soccer players are nearly twice as likely to play DI soccer than a Texas soccer player.

But really, this map shows that the northeast and mid-Atlantic regions have a ton of small programs that recruit locally. A huge state like Texas has one big(-ish) program in SMU, then relatively insignificant programs in Houston Baptist, Incarnate Word, and UT-RGV.

CA has a lot of programs but is underrepresented too.

I'm not sure that this really matters as far as funneling worthy players to the pros. There are so, so many DI college players without pro potential. The guys falling through the cracks are probably more likely to be doing so because of academic, legal, or financial reasons than because there isn't an equivalent DI program to Central Connecticut State in New Mexico.

 

I also look at this and wonder if they mean high school players LITERALLY.
Or simply high school aged kids. If they're LITERALLY talking about guys who play high school ball, then they're already excluding all of the kids that play club soccer these days instead of high school soccer (DA clubs, etc.).

One can imagine that a lot of kids that play outside the TexaPlex in the state of Texas have a VERY tough time getting recruited. Coaches from other states are only going to take so many trips. So you've gotta hope that your club team is invited to a major tournament like the Dallas Cup, and then you get noticed.

Consider.....................Clint Dempsey for a moment. From the middle of 'effin nowhere.
I suspect that if he hadn't travelled to be part of the Dallas Texans, and thus got noticed at a tournament in Alabama by Furman coaches..................who knows if he'd even have gotten an NCAA scholarship.

Its hard to believe, but Clint Dempsey was an also-ran in that '01 recruiting class at Furman. The main attraction was Ricardo Clark. That's a drool-worthy recruiting class for a school like Furman. Jeesh.

Speaking of Furman, I saw that FCD product and former USYNTer Ben Hale has had a strong start to the season. They list him as a freshman here, but I think he's a redshirt freshman. He's a '98.

.@FurmanSoccer Goalkeeper @ben_hale1 Garners @UnitedCoaches National Player Of The Week Honors https://t.co/RsQDz5lAAQ #Furman pic.twitter.com/AEG7kx5iKR

— Furman Paladins (@FurmanPaladins) September 5, 2017

 

I'm curious to see if the new-ish program at UT-RGV can make hay scooping up whatever talent comes out of the valley. That being said, I'd expect that recruiting down there is tricky.


EDIT: and to be clear, I mean over the long term. Right now they have a ton of international kids...and two kids from Brownsville, one from Mission, and one from a bit upriver in Laredo.

 

Cam Lindley continues to be hot and now has 2 goals and 7 assists in 7 games for UNC. Down I-40, Brandon Servania also had a helper this weekend and he, too, has 2 goals and 7 assists in 7 games this year.

Today, Eryk Williamson had a goal and an assist against Penn State and now has 2 and 4 in 7 games.