The Liam's Hot Little Brother/Butler Thread [R]

Photo of the 2001 national championship team as regional champions
(Rory's on lower left)


ODP Regional Champions players from IL
(Rory's on lower right)

 

A closer examination of the team photo reveals:

Mike McGee, back row, 3d from left
Craig Capano, middle row, far right

 

Mike Magee. And yes.

Also Julian Dieterle (Chicago Fire Reserves & Indiana), middle row far left
Brian Plotkin (Indiana), top row fifth from right
Ryan Miller (Notre Dame), top row 4th from right?

Lots of other notables but you get the idea

 

By the way, folks, this Sockers FC group was arguably one of the greatest youth soccer teams ever.

I think all but one of this group is now or will be playing college ball.

Comparable teams include the FC Delco crew with Ben Olsen/Tim Sahaydak, and the Reyna/Berhalter team in the late 80s.

By the way, in addition to winning Region II regionals in their run up to the national championship, they also won the Snickers Fair Play award.

The reason?

They were so skilled, they didn't have to foul.

 

It should be noted, for reasons of fairness, that on this team Craig Capano was a ringer brought in from NEW YORK to play for the Sockers. He lived with Mike Magee, his buddy from Bradenton, who you could also argue was a ringer at that point because he had been at Bradenton and only played with the Sockers for the State, regional and Snickers Cups.

BTW, Karl, I really thought you were above posting on a thread about someone's hot little brother!

 

Me?? Sandon, you know I have so FEW scruples.

By the way, while you can say that about Capano, it should be noted that Magee is from Barrington, IL and played in Sockers system as a younger player and, as a result, it can be said he was "developed" by them.

 

Atlanta Fire

As for the top youth teams, it is always hard to discuss a team's position in history until it has finished playing. Saying that, a team to watch has to be the Atlanta Fire.

Last year's U-16 National Champions will look to defend their title with an awesome cast. They will not have US U-17 National Teamer Kyle Helton with them due to the WC, but they do have six Region III or National Team players on their roster: Tomek Charowski (US U-18 and heading to Duke in '04), Cameron Lewis (former US U-17s), Eric Vogl (former US U-17 heading to Furman in '03), Cline Beam (Region III 86s) and Chris Davis (Region III 85s). That doesn't include Mark Buchholz (who rumor has it has committed to play for Clemson) and goalkeeper Justin Papadakis (who spends the year with Benfica's youth program in Portugal and is apparently joining Helton and Charowski at Duke).

If this team can win another national title this year, you could be talking about them in the same breath as some of the earlier mentioned teams.

 

Papdakis is going to Duke? Interesting. Should we read anything into this that he has spent two seasons training with Benfica but hasn't gotten a contract offer? Or, does he just want the college experience? Also, when is Duke going to announce this?

 

early recruiting

I heard is was going to Duke, also. I think he is only a Jr. this year, so is the rest of the team. But I'm also hearing of other commitments. Heard the coaches kid has committed to Trevor Adair. What up with this? I thought you had to wait til you were a senior.

 

If he is a junior, it is too early for him to be recruited face-to-face yet. There is a date, I think it's July 1, where the coaches are allowed to talk to the recruits with many limitations. Often a player decides early where he wants to go, so he makes an "unofficial" oral committment, which takes the pressure off by letting all the other coaches know that he wants to be left alone. About halfway through his senior year, the player then signs a letter-of-intent (offer) from the school of his choice. Although the discussions taking place during recruiting are non-binding, a sort of honor code is observed, that is, a coach who makes promises usually keeps them at signing time, as his credibility is at stake. I'm sure there are countless horror stories about both players and coaches changing their minds late into the game.

 

I thought Papdakis was back from Benfica -- is he still there?

I think I read somewhere that he always intended to go to college, but I have no idea whether an offer from Benfica would change that (or if they want him to begin with).

I don't suppose they'd want someone in their academy unless there was a chance they might go pro, right?

 

Um, excuse me?

He was living in Chicago, albeit with the Magees, enough over a course of several years, I think that qualifies him as a local.

And he is from Red Bank, NJ, not NY.

I'm sure the fact that Mike Magee is his best friend and he was serious about finding the best enviroment to develop his talents had nothing to do with it.

 

I don't want to defend Sockers FC too much, as I have more than a few issues with the way they conduct themselves, but if you're gonna term Capano as a ringer, then you probably have to lump in about half the team, which were scavenged off of midlevel Chicagoland youth clubs. Almost no one on that team was developed from the very start at Sockers.

 

Of course, you have define what it means to be "scavenged" as opposed to developed "from the very start"

It is true that a lot of kids who wind up on elite teams -- Sockers, Delco, Nomad, Vardar, Gallagher -- have started on other teams. Delco really doesn't start until U14, but on other clubs, there are younger age teams. Some come over as "late as" U11, some at U12, others at U13, some way later than that. Some seek out the opportunity; others are sought out. Depends.

But as you know well, this is usually not "put together a buch of top kids and throw them out there." There's a lot of intense training, year round, with lots of games and lots of effort and energy expended.

At the older ages, you sometimes do have the appearance of an all-star team cobbled together. I think Brian McBride, an Illinois resident, wound up playing with Scott Gallagher's U19 team for Missouri state cup purposes when he was at SLU. Last year, Ricardo Clark suited up for the Chicago Magic; he's from Georgia.

It can be sorta goofy.

 

So how good is Butler's program, anyway?

I, or rather the team I'm on, just lost to an indoor team comprised of former and current Butler players last night and I want to feel better about it.

This guy is the only person I recognize right off from last night.

 

Remembering games against that team still leaves me twitching uncontrollably. Especially since it was my job to "stop" Claudio.

 

Well, they have produced at least one MLS player; Steven Armstrong, who plays for KC.

Butler is a small school and not a fully-funded program, but even being in a weak conference (Horizon League) they've been in the tournament a few times, most recently in 2001 and lost in the 2nd round to Indiana in 1998 in double overtime, when Butler was ranked 14th in the country. They've won the Horizon League 4 times, and had a bit of a down year last season losing to UW-Milwaukee in the semis (who became the eventual champion) but but the coach has invested a lot into looking to make Butler the best school for soccer of its size in the country. It's a really strong (and large) recruiting class and they have a strong schedule lined up for this year (including Creighton, Maryland, Indiana in the yearly rivalry match) So we'll see. it may not be till next season that the team starts to bear fruit but a team is being put together to make the tournament every year and make a run.

 

While I've got it up...

BUTLER ALL-TIME NCAA TOURNAMENT RESULTS

2001
First Round
Michigan State 2-1 Butler

1998
First Round
Butler 1-0 Cincinnati (2OT)

Second Round
Indiana 2-1 Butler (2OT)

1997
First Round
Indiana 2-1 Butler (3OT)

1995
First Round
Butler 1-0 Indiana

Second Round
Portland 4-1 Butler

 

Historically very decent progam. Number of injuries in 2002, but defeated #5 Rutgers early in the year and finished 2nd to Clemson at the 2002 IU tournament. Easily the toughest non-conference schedule in the league, with typically 5 or so Top 10 opponents yearly. Perennial league title contender. Very large recruiting class for 2003.

Four players drafted into MLS:
Mike Mariscalco- '03 (Dallas- currently on trial)
Stephen Armstrong- '00 (currently KC, from DCU)
Jeremy Aldrich- '99 (Miami - 2 seasons)
Casey Sweeney- '96 (Tampa Bay -1 season)