S/O: Top college soccer w/o ECNL?

[Anonymous]

Looking at the female rosters of good D1 soccer schools, Ivy League schools, and top SLACs or D3s, it does look like every single player is ECNL. What I don’t understand is why. Can’t you be a stellar player in EDP who might not be able to travel so much as ECNL? Is it that recruiting is just too hard from non ECNL, or is the training impossible to equal in another league?
Insights welcome.

[Anonymous]

ECNL isn’t that much travel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Looking at the female rosters of good D1 soccer schools, Ivy League schools, and top SLACs or D3s, it does look like every single player is ECNL. What I don’t understand is why. Can’t you be a stellar player in EDP who might not be able to travel so much as ECNL? Is it that recruiting is just too hard from non ECNL, or is the training impossible to equal in another league?
Insights welcome.

Recruiting budgets for sports like soccer are extremely limited. ECNL and GA both provide soccer showcases/festivals for a coach to see many potential players themselves. EDP is individually organized by team in terms of scheduling, so the opportunities aren't as useful/cost effective for nearly all schools recruiting. It doesn't means an EDP player can't compete, but it does mean that there's less visibility and players will need to be reaching out to coaches on their own and running their own recruitment.

[Anonymous]

if you want a top college program for the girls side- you have to play ECNL. ECNL makes it easy for the colleges to see a large group of talented players. Also the ECNL teams help the girls. Recruiters aren't going to high schools anymore or going to watch one or two good players in another league. Girls can do things on their own to get recognized by D3 schools but if you want a spot on a top school roster- ECNL is the only way.

[Anonymous]

ECNL is first and foremost a college recruiting platform. Showcases, league games and playoffs are set up as college recruiting events. It makes recruiting easier for college scouts because all the players are at the same event. GA does the same. 90% of college players will be from these platforms. The rest are international players and a small number of regional league players who are the exceptions.

[Anonymous]

EDP lists their college commits https://www.edpsoccer.com/general-8-2
I’m sure it’s not comprehensive but gives a good idea of the college levels. A few power and mid major D1’s but not a lot.

[Anonymous]

OP didn’t do much research…there are a select few that are P5 and D1 that are not ECNL or GA. GA has many P5 and Ivy League players but not near the number of ECNL.

BTW OP, girls soccer scholarships are rarely a full ride unless your DD is USYNT pool player. 50% to 15% is the majority size of scholarships. Many players who have 4.0+ GPA usually can get an academic scholarship to cover more. College coaches help with the academic scholarships too (which to apply for/school politics).

EDP combined with ODP and a stellar high school career can get you into small D1 schools. ECNL first then GA for bigger schools. Just remember education first. Your DD future employer will not care if she played for UVA or UMBC, but will care about her college education.

Good luck in your journey!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:if you want a top college program for the girls side- you have to play ECNL. ECNL makes it easy for the colleges to see a large group of talented players. Also the ECNL teams help the girls. Recruiters aren't going to high schools anymore or going to watch one or two good players in another league. Girls can do things on their own to get recognized by D3 schools but if you want a spot on a top school roster- ECNL is the only way.

Correction....ECNL or GA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP didn’t do much research…there are a select few that are P5 and D1 that are not ECNL or GA. GA has many P5 and Ivy League players but not near the number of ECNL.

BTW OP, girls soccer scholarships are rarely a full ride unless your DD is USYNT pool player. 50% to 15% is the majority size of scholarships. Many players who have 4.0+ GPA usually can get an academic scholarship to cover more. College coaches help with the academic scholarships too (which to apply for/school politics).

EDP combined with ODP and a stellar high school career can get you into small D1 schools. ECNL first then GA for bigger schools. Just remember education first. Your DD future employer will not care if she played for UVA or UMBC, but will care about her college education.

Good luck in your journey!

It's cute if you really believe that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP didn’t do much research…there are a select few that are P5 and D1 that are not ECNL or GA. GA has many P5 and Ivy League players but not near the number of ECNL.

BTW OP, girls soccer scholarships are rarely a full ride unless your DD is USYNT pool player. 50% to 15% is the majority size of scholarships. Many players who have 4.0+ GPA usually can get an academic scholarship to cover more. College coaches help with the academic scholarships too (which to apply for/school politics).

EDP combined with ODP and a stellar high school career can get you into small D1 schools. ECNL first then GA for bigger schools. Just remember education first. Your DD future employer will not care if she played for UVA or UMBC, but will care about her college education.

Good luck in your journey!

Not accurate unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

I know a couple people who were recruited from non-ECNL teams. Usually they were spotted by a D1/D3 coach at a camp or a showcase, were big standouts on their team, and had a well-known high school coach backing them up.... and basically just got lucky.

I also know there are lots of ECNL players who play on non-D1 or even good D3 club teams, so they were either not recruited or dropped off the team after gaining admissions.

[Anonymous]

What about for boys?

[Anonymous]

You see boys get recruited from EDP all the time. We probably know about a dozen kids who got recruited over the past two years and probably half played on EDP teams and half on MLSNext/ECNL.

[Anonymous]

Boys can get recruited out of NPL, MLS Next, EDP, etc. But of course for competitive D1/D3 schools, many if not most are coming from international programs.