Elite Open Season with Two Shutout Wins MAY 12-- The Raleigh CASL Elite opened their 2003 with two convincing shutout victories over the weekend. On Friday night at SAS Stadium, in the first round of the CASL Elite Cup, the Elite defeated the CASL Adult All-Stars 2-0. Then, on Sunday, the team traveled to Charleston, WV, and beat the West Virginia Chaos 3-0 in their PDL season opener. http://www.caslnc.com/2003 PDL/RCE Index.htm More under News.... Next game Friday home - Chesapeake Dragons
Looks like only the WVa game was a US Open Cup qualifier. But the Elite should be able to beat the Dragons at home, then have two tough ones with Williamsburg on the road and Richmond at home. Of course, PDL USOC qualifying is such a roll of the dice because you're "competing against" teams that you aren't playing (in this case, the Northeast Division teams).
Believe it or not, we do have photos from last Friday. They're not online yet. We got about half their games last season. About half the squad is UNC-CH players. I can offhand think of several CASL Elite players from last season who are now working fulltime in MLS, and another - David Testo - who is with the Richmond Kickers and the US U23s. These PDL teams are definitely worth watching if you like spotting talent.
Andy - This year's team has (5) UNC-CH players - but most of this year's roster are currently playing for NC colleges. I believe the NCAA now limits the number of players from one Division 1 school to 5. Looking forward to seeing the photos.
Which is another thing about the NCAA that I hate. That's absolute crap. I'm still waiting for them to go after BYU's NCAA affiliated teams as retribution for the school buying an expansion PDL club.
I disagree with you on this one. A school could use the PDL (or any summer league) to place their entire team on one PDL squad. The school would get in additional games (as a team) - bypassing the rules of the NCAA. Whay would keep a college coach from making this team participation mandatory training during the summer? Also I don't think this type of restriction applies to soccer only. Iimproving individual players soccer skills during the summer (which should be the primary purpose of this league). I am sure that there are UNC players who are still playing this summer, but on different PDL teams around the country. It also might benefit the individual player to experience playing with different players.