TWP article on young players in NWSL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, this is an interesting article that did not mention club soccer at all, unless it was to note that a player played in an academy in Europe. That wasn’t the point of the article at all. So, why did OP feel the need to take a shot at ECNL in this post? I did the research for OP because I was interested in the pathway these young ladies took to get to the pros.

This is a list of the young ladies noted in the article, whether they played ECNL or not.

Ally Sentnor- South Shore Select (ECNL)
Claire Hutton - Albany Alleycats and World Class FC (ECNL)
Alyssa Thompson - Real So Cal (ECNL)
Savannah King - Real So Cal and Slammers FC (ECNL)
Olivia Moultrie - Total Futbol Academy and Beach FC (ECNL)
Manama Matsukubo-JFA Academy Fukushima (Japan)
Jaedyn Shaw- FC Dallas and Solar Soccer Club (ECNL)
Kennedy Fuller - Solar FC (ECNL)
Ally Lemos- Legends FC (ECNL)
Gisele Thompson-Real So Cal (ECNL)
Kimmi Ascanio- Florida United SC (Development Player League)
Alex Pfeiffer- St. Louis Scott Gallagher (ECNL)
Riley Jackson- Concorde Fire (ECNL)
Amanda Allen- Woodbridge Strikers (Canada)
Chloe Ricketts- Michigan Jaguars (GA)
Melanie Barcenas-San Diego Surf (ECNL)
Casey Phair-Players Development Academy (ECNL)
Molly Clegg- (New Zealand)
McKenna Whitman-Slammers FC (ECNL)
Lily Yohannes- (Netherlands)

Thanks for this post, great contribution!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, this is an interesting article that did not mention club soccer at all, unless it was to note that a player played in an academy in Europe. That wasn’t the point of the article at all. So, why did OP feel the need to take a shot at ECNL in this post? I did the research for OP because I was interested in the pathway these young ladies took to get to the pros.

This is a list of the young ladies noted in the article, whether they played ECNL or not.

Ally Sentnor- South Shore Select (GA)
Claire Hutton - Albany Alleycats and World Class FC (ECNL)
Alyssa Thompson - TFA (MLSN)
Savannah King - Real So Cal and Slammers FC (ECNL)
Olivia Moultrie - Total Futbol Academy and Beach FC (ECNL)
Manama Matsukubo-JFA Academy Fukushima (Japan)
Jaedyn Shaw- FC Dallas and Solar Soccer Club (ECNL)
Kennedy Fuller - Solar FC (ECNL)
Ally Lemos- Legends FC (ECNL)
Gisele Thompson- TFA (MLSN)
Kimmi Ascanio- Florida United SC (DPL)
Alex Pfeiffer- St. Louis Scott Gallagher (ECNL)
Riley Jackson- Concorde Fire (ECNL)
Amanda Allen- Woodbridge Strikers (Canada)
Chloe Ricketts- Michigan Jaguars (GA)
Melanie Barcenas-San Diego Surf (ECNL)
Casey Phair-PDA blue (ECNL)
Molly Clegg- (New Zealand)
McKenna Whitman-Slammers KOGE (ECNL)
Lily Yohannes- (Netherlands)

Made some corrections.

[Anonymous]

I love how the ECNL pom pom squad is trying to revise history.

Olivia Moultrie - Total Futbol Academy and Beach FC (ECNL)

When Olivia played at Beach they were DA (ie the main competitor to ECNL). She played at TFA because they're known for letting girls playing boys teams. TFA was also DA at the time. They're MLS Next now and still let girls play on boys teams if they're good enough. When she took NWSL to court for age discrimination while waiting and unofficially practicing with Portland Thorns she played for the Portlan Thorns Youth Academy team who were ECNL. The only reason Olivia played for an ECNL team was because they were associated with the Po NWSL team she was waiting to play on.

[Anonymous]

Did a quick search and found another one...

Ally Lemos- Legends FC (ECNL)

Allly is a 2002 / class of 2022 this means when she was playing for Legends it was DA (the main ECNL competitor). When DA blew up in 2021 Legends switched over to ECNL for the 2022.

She probably didn't play any Legends games after the switched over to ECNL because she'd already committed to UCLA.

[Anonymous]

And another...

Savannah King - Real So Cal and Slammers FC (ECNL)

Savannah played for LAFC SoCal Youth a DA club at the time. Then switched over to Slammers Koge when DA blew up.

[Anonymous]

I see several other names that are being attributed to ECNL when the likely didn't play ECNL or if the did it was very limited compared to DA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I see several other names that are being attributed to ECNL when the likely didn't play ECNL or if the did it was very limited compared to DA.

This is the problem with all the new up and coming girls ECNL parents. They think that it's ECNL or nothing else. They don't realize that there was a time when nobody wanted to play for ECNL teams.

Simply playing in a specific league as a youth isn't what got players to the highest levels of the sport. The top players go to wherever the highest level of competition is. This is why several played on high level boys teams.

[Anonymous]

ECNL is a league that organizes games and tournaments. They don't oversee any player development. It's strange to try to attribute a player's success to the league. That would be like listing which players wear Nike and suggesting that had something to do with their success.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ECNL is a league that organizes games and tournaments. They don't oversee any player development. It's strange to try to attribute a player's success to the league. That would be like listing which players wear Nike and suggesting that had something to do with their success.

Playing in a high level league does matter but don't kid yourself into thinking ECNL coaches are into developing players. The top clubs collect and recruit talent. I know of one that pays several scouts to watch other clubs u10 games for potential talent. They know finding the biggest fastest kid first will bring wins which in turn allows them to recruit easier as the players get older.