I promise you the U14 teams in the NCSL D1 BAC united , Alexandria, and PAC ac. can all beat both BRYC and Mclean u14 ECNL teams consistently. Ive watched all 5 teams play multiple times over the past 2 years. I have also coached U-9 thru U17 boys soccer for over 15 years and hold a B License. Parents on message boards drink the Kool Aid and want to believe where their child plays is better than the next. Honestly some of the kids in the local Bolivian league are far better than any local or national league area players. The player pools are so big area wide it kinda evens the leagues out. The bigger clubs will never admit this but thats their selling points. |
Somebody asked a question about league strength and someone else answered. A third person entered the conversation stating that all leagues were similar. The third person is talking rubbish and I pointed it out. I'm not bragging on (or ashamed of) my kids, their clubs, their leagues or anything else because that's completely irrelevant to the question that was asked. FWIW I have several kids of widely differing abilities who, between them, have played in every one of those leagues for several different clubs. I don't have any particular affiliation with any league or club - just a desire to give a good answer to the OP. There is a pretty clear difference in the level of soccer played in the different leagues - and anybody who thinks that there are several boys NCSL division 1 teams who can compete withn ECNL teams is just talking nonsense - and the person who asked the question in the first place should know that. |
1. You're picking the two worst ECNL clubs in an age group where they both have bad teams even by their own standards. 2. Even then I'm not sure I agree with your assertion the clubs you name can beat them consistently. If you were talking about Alexandria Red I would agree - but Alexandria Red plays in CCL - it's Alexandria's second team playing in NCSL. McLean's third team plays in NCSL division 1 and the results against the teams you mention were as follows: Lost 2-1 to Alexandria White Lost 3-0 to PAC Lost 6-0 to BAC. Those are scarcely results that indicate that those teams would consitently beat even McLean's second team, let alone its first team. |
NPL has only one group. EDP and NCSL have many, not fair to compare NPL to a lower bracket of NCSL or EDP. NPL does not have a Spring season for HS aged teams. |
Where is mclean’s second team in this age group playing? Are you certain that White 07 is not the second team in this group? I don’t see any games for McLean Green at that age. |
|
All of these leagues are deeply flawed, but in regards to NPL, the issue is the clubs participating aren't great. The big clubs (locally PWSI, VSA, Vienna on some level) send or lose their best players to higher leagues at u12/13 and the bottom of the league (CYA, VIVA) are so bad that it's not worth playing them in most age groups. Add in the couple trips down 95, a "state cup" with the same teams you just played, and a league playing catch up to CCL in terms of what it offers. *Disclaimer* This is not an endorsement of CCL, but a simple fact that NPL is trying to replicate some of the same things CCL has done.
Like any other league though, you could land in a team that's great for your kid, so it shouldn't be the determining factor. |
I believe McLean's second team plays in CCL. |
And yes - McLean's pecking order is ECNL, green, white. |
CCL 2. |
Good summary. |
Looking at McLean pretty much tells you all you need to know. Team League Record (W-L-D) Position First ECNL 1-8-1 15th/16 Second CCL 2 5-2-0 3rd/11 Third NCSL 1 4-4-1 7th/10 A club whose first team can't buy a game in ECNL has a 2nd team which is competitive in CCL 2 and a 3rd team which is competitive in NCSL division 1. |
| Does anyone know what team she is referring to? Is NPL adding a new club in Virginia? |
My experience was that CCL 1 was a big step up from NCSL. Had a daughter on a team that won NCSL div 1 without losing a game (as far as I remember). Then club switched to CCL so the team played in CCL the following year and they lost most of their games. This was a few years back mind you - so it's possible things have changed. |
| At u9-u12 yes for sure. U13+ the gap is not large, if there is one. |
As for McLean White, I do know they have guest played some "Green" kids and maybe ECNL kids for their NCSL games this Fall. I'm not saying they did this for a result. I just know they did in at least two games that I saw. |