Stop the FCV (DA) and McLean (ECNL) hate

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are two ECNL players on Sidwell's team and I am not sure you could tell them from the rest, which is one of the points. The game in the video is against a DC Charter School and not against one of the other league schools which have ECNL players peppered throughout.

No one is arguing that local HS soccer is on the same level of ECNL/DA or elite club soccer. The argument is that the freshman's performance stands out even among the ECNL players in the league and that performance is enough to get the attention of college coaches.

Has anyone heard of any ECNL player dominating on the same level as the freshman did in 2018. You can argue that she will not improve just playing HS and I will not disagree but the 2018 performance is enough to get the attention of scouts. If the ECNL training and plays is so great then you would have ECNL players dominating on the same level as the freshman

It will get the attention of the scouts until they watch the film and:
A. See that this “freshman” is the biggest kid on the field.
B. They see the level of competition she is facing and
C. See that she is actually playing striker, not attacking mid, and they are sending long balls for her to run onto. Scoring like a U10 from 25 yards out against a bad defender and keeper is not helping her cause.

She rarely took defenders on 1v1 and won any. She may be basketball fast but she is soccer slow.

Sorry, but any D1 coach is going to want to see how she plays with and against stronger competition than that before she gets any kind of offer.

If she's interested in soccer, they'll invite her to a camp where she won't be the only athlete. Her technical and tactical ability will have to do the talking.

If she really wanted to play college soccer she'd easily be able to at some level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The argument has always been that she could get recruited today despite not playing club. Just based on the fact that she earned All-Met honors as a freshman while scoring 40+ goals against teams that included ECNL players. I would bet that top coaches already know who she is and will touch base when appropriate.

Here is how you brought the subject:

Are we getting to caught up in DA/ECNL? I agree that either league offers a player to practice with against other elite players on a regular basis, great coaching and exposure to top schools and national team scouts. But are you going to tell me that colleges will not recruit a superstar player who only plays HS? That sounds absurd. What if the player is focused on football, lacrosse, basketball or track but plays for the HS team and stands out? Are you telling me that a coach at Stanfor, UMD or other stop program will not know about that player? I heard that there is a Freshman female player at a DC private school who won Gatorade Player of the Year. Are coaches never going to contact her?

I agree that the marginal player will benefit from participation in the DA/ECNL but coaches will always find the superstar.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/150/810101.page#15218703

This post was a stand alone post. It was not a reply directly to any specific post making any specific claim. The whole question "But are you going to tell me that colleges will not recruit a superstar player who only plays HS?" is asked rhetorically since it isn't really aimed at any particular comment or post.

It seems you simply planted a flag because you know of that one Unicorn who might be able to get recruited from nothing other than HS soccer.

While it may be possible for this girl to get recruited it is not a likely path for most kids looking to get recruited for D1 college soccer. And even in her case the juice simply might not be worth the squeeze. While she has demonstrated a dominance in HS soccer that dominance would be further supported by similar performance at the ECNL or DA level. While it is obvious that her multi-sport resume has helped her overall athleticism EVERYONE at UNC, Stanford, Duke are athletic as well. This young lady would be well behind the curve soccer wise of her peers at those institutions.

She would also be a huge flight risk as well with her likelihood of being a multi-sport recruit with basketball. If she has little to no club soccer experience she will be nothing more than a project curiosity. She would never be a blue chip recruit. Any soccer program would be recruiting her based solely on potential and athleticism but it is unlikely that she would be recruited ahead of more proven and more soccer dedicated players.

Agree. And By the time she finishes high school, her development will have fallen very far behind the top players that are being recruited to D1 schools

On the other hand, if she goes to college, focuses exclusively on soccer, and strong coaching, her skills could also explode.

But, let me guess --- soccer is different and if you haven't been coached by a club since U2, you can't be an elite player....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are two ECNL players on Sidwell's team and I am not sure you could tell them from the rest, which is one of the points. The game in the video is against a DC Charter School and not against one of the other league schools which have ECNL players peppered throughout.

No one is arguing that local HS soccer is on the same level of ECNL/DA or elite club soccer. The argument is that the freshman's performance stands out even among the ECNL players in the league and that performance is enough to get the attention of college coaches.

Has anyone heard of any ECNL player dominating on the same level as the freshman did in 2018. You can argue that she will not improve just playing HS and I will not disagree but the 2018 performance is enough to get the attention of scouts. If the ECNL training and plays is so great then you would have ECNL players dominating on the same level as the freshman

No. This view is not right. The style of play can be vastly different in HS soccer than ECNL and depending on position that player may not be seen as “dominating” play. If you have a very skilled or athletic forward and generally bad defenders, as seems to be the case here, yes it looks dominating. Put the same player against elite teams and defenders, and the result would be drastically different.

Best of luck to this player in her basketball career. This discussion does nothing to show that following a non DA/ECNL line is a winning path in 99.999 percent of cases.

I like the 99.999% statistic. Very scientific. Do you have supporting evidence? Please share.

The burden is on you to make the case against with your stats, since you brought up the topic. Your handpicked example likely will not play D1 soccer, so we are at 0% so far in favor of your case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are two ECNL players on Sidwell's team and I am not sure you could tell them from the rest, which is one of the points. The game in the video is against a DC Charter School and not against one of the other league schools which have ECNL players peppered throughout.

No one is arguing that local HS soccer is on the same level of ECNL/DA or elite club soccer. The argument is that the freshman's performance stands out even among the ECNL players in the league and that performance is enough to get the attention of college coaches.

Has anyone heard of any ECNL player dominating on the same level as the freshman did in 2018. You can argue that she will not improve just playing HS and I will not disagree but the 2018 performance is enough to get the attention of scouts. If the ECNL training and plays is so great then you would have ECNL players dominating on the same level as the freshman

It will get the attention of the scouts until they watch the film and:
A. See that this “freshman” is the biggest kid on the field.
B. They see the level of competition she is facing and
C. See that she is actually playing striker, not attacking mid, and they are sending long balls for her to run onto. Scoring like a U10 from 25 yards out against a bad defender and keeper is not helping her cause.

She rarely took defenders on 1v1 and won any. She may be basketball fast but she is soccer slow.

Sorry, but any D1 coach is going to want to see how she plays with and against stronger competition than that before she gets any kind of offer.

If she's interested in soccer, they'll invite her to a camp where she won't be the only athlete. Her technical and tactical ability will have to do the talking.

If she really wanted to play college soccer she'd easily be able to at some level.

And this is her likely after playing club soccer through elementary and middle school. If she only plays HS soccer the next three years she will not get better, her technical game will either drop off or at best stagnate and her decision making (which is currently quite good) will stagnate.

The very slow pace of play will not develop her for D1 especially if 3 months of HS soccer is her only exposure. Sorry but this is just not 1979 anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are two ECNL players on Sidwell's team and I am not sure you could tell them from the rest, which is one of the points. The game in the video is against a DC Charter School and not against one of the other league schools which have ECNL players peppered throughout.

No one is arguing that local HS soccer is on the same level of ECNL/DA or elite club soccer. The argument is that the freshman's performance stands out even among the ECNL players in the league and that performance is enough to get the attention of college coaches.

Has anyone heard of any ECNL player dominating on the same level as the freshman did in 2018. You can argue that she will not improve just playing HS and I will not disagree but the 2018 performance is enough to get the attention of scouts. If the ECNL training and plays is so great then you would have ECNL players dominating on the same level as the freshman

No. This view is not right. The style of play can be vastly different in HS soccer than ECNL and depending on position that player may not be seen as “dominating” play. If you have a very skilled or athletic forward and generally bad defenders, as seems to be the case here, yes it looks dominating. Put the same player against elite teams and defenders, and the result would be drastically different.

Best of luck to this player in her basketball career. This discussion does nothing to show that following a non DA/ECNL line is a winning path in 99.999 percent of cases.

I like the 99.999% statistic. Very scientific. Do you have supporting evidence? Please share.

The burden is on you to make the case against with your stats, since you brought up the topic. Your handpicked example likely will not play D1 soccer, so we are at 0% so far in favor of your case.

There are plenty of All-Met, all state, and player of the year types playing D3 or not playing at all. High school soccer is not a great metric for college player potential.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The argument has always been that she could get recruited today despite not playing club. Just based on the fact that she earned All-Met honors as a freshman while scoring 40+ goals against teams that included ECNL players. I would bet that top coaches already know who she is and will touch base when appropriate.

Here is how you brought the subject:

Are we getting to caught up in DA/ECNL? I agree that either league offers a player to practice with against other elite players on a regular basis, great coaching and exposure to top schools and national team scouts. But are you going to tell me that colleges will not recruit a superstar player who only plays HS? That sounds absurd. What if the player is focused on football, lacrosse, basketball or track but plays for the HS team and stands out? Are you telling me that a coach at Stanfor, UMD or other stop program will not know about that player? I heard that there is a Freshman female player at a DC private school who won Gatorade Player of the Year. Are coaches never going to contact her?

I agree that the marginal player will benefit from participation in the DA/ECNL but coaches will always find the superstar.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/150/810101.page#15218703

This post was a stand alone post. It was not a reply directly to any specific post making any specific claim. The whole question "But are you going to tell me that colleges will not recruit a superstar player who only plays HS?" is asked rhetorically since it isn't really aimed at any particular comment or post.

It seems you simply planted a flag because you know of that one Unicorn who might be able to get recruited from nothing other than HS soccer.

While it may be possible for this girl to get recruited it is not a likely path for most kids looking to get recruited for D1 college soccer. And even in her case the juice simply might not be worth the squeeze. While she has demonstrated a dominance in HS soccer that dominance would be further supported by similar performance at the ECNL or DA level. While it is obvious that her multi-sport resume has helped her overall athleticism EVERYONE at UNC, Stanford, Duke are athletic as well. This young lady would be well behind the curve soccer wise of her peers at those institutions.

She would also be a huge flight risk as well with her likelihood of being a multi-sport recruit with basketball. If she has little to no club soccer experience she will be nothing more than a project curiosity. She would never be a blue chip recruit. Any soccer program would be recruiting her based solely on potential and athleticism but it is unlikely that she would be recruited ahead of more proven and more soccer dedicated players.

Agree. And By the time she finishes high school, her development will have fallen very far behind the top players that are being recruited to D1 schools

On the other hand, if she goes to college, focuses exclusively on soccer, and strong coaching, her skills could also explode.

But, let me guess --- soccer is different and if you haven't been coached by a club since U2, you can't be an elite player....

Yeah, you don't decide to focus on your skills in College. That isn't how it works. You are conflating soccer with American football and Basketball.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are two ECNL players on Sidwell's team and I am not sure you could tell them from the rest, which is one of the points. The game in the video is against a DC Charter School and not against one of the other league schools which have ECNL players peppered throughout.

No one is arguing that local HS soccer is on the same level of ECNL/DA or elite club soccer. The argument is that the freshman's performance stands out even among the ECNL players in the league and that performance is enough to get the attention of college coaches.

Has anyone heard of any ECNL player dominating on the same level as the freshman did in 2018. You can argue that she will not improve just playing HS and I will not disagree but the 2018 performance is enough to get the attention of scouts. If the ECNL training and plays is so great then you would have ECNL players dominating on the same level as the freshman

There were stronger "soccer" players on her own team in the video. She is simply not a soccer player. She is an exceptional athlete playing soccer. Maybe, MAYBE, if she focused on soccer (which would mean playing travel outside of HS) for a high level team she would develop into a great soccer player. MAYBE. There is no division 1 coach that would watch that video and think that she is ready to play D1 soccer. You could take the track team put them out there and the fastest sprinters may be able to score 10+ goals a season against that level of competition.

[Anonymous]

What is sad is that I have seen ECNL games that did not look any better than the video. I once watched a Bethesda ECNL team play an FC Starts team with college coaches in the stand barely better than the teams playing. The Bethesda team could not get the ball into its offensive half. ECNL is over-rated. The training is great but the quality of players varies greatly. This is not a knock against Bethesda but outside of the oldest ECNL team, the rest of the program ranked in the bottom half of the NE division. I believe one of the teams did not win a single game.

Let's also remember that the above video is against a DC Charter School and that team fielded by Potomac, Maret, GDS and Georgetown Visitationare much more compeititive.

BTW, I doubt the freshan would send that video to college coaches. Given that she scored 40+ goals in 20 games, I imagine she had more than a few games where she scored multiple goals against stronger competition, which likely included ECNL-defenders and goalies, who she torched. Highlights from those games would attract the attention of DI coaches.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is sad is that I have seen ECNL games that did not look any better than the video. I once watched a Bethesda ECNL team play an FC Starts team with college coaches in the stand barely better than the teams playing. The Bethesda team could not get the ball into its offensive half. ECNL is over-rated. The training is great but the quality of players varies greatly. This is not a knock against Bethesda but outside of the oldest ECNL team, the rest of the program ranked in the bottom half of the NE division. I believe one of the teams did not win a single game.

Let's also remember that the above video is against a DC Charter School and that team fielded by Potomac, Maret, GDS and Georgetown Visitationare much more compeititive.

BTW, I doubt the freshan would send that video to college coaches. Given that she scored 40+ goals in 20 games, I imagine she had more than a few games where she scored multiple goals against stronger competition, which likely included ECNL-defenders and goalies, who she torched. Highlights from those games would attract the attention of DI coaches.

If all of her goals look like the 3 in that game she will get limited interest. Mid major D1's and D3's will like her but not top D1.

The problem is there is no variety in how she scores. For a 5'10" Freshman I'd expect to see lots of headers from set pieces but that team cannot sustain pressure in the final third to even get an occasional corner or cross off. And the opponent was bad to boot.

What happens when she goes to a UNC ID camp and all the top forwards on the East caost and West coast all raise their hands and get the forward positions in the small sided and full scrimmage and she is stuck playing outside back? It is unlikely that she has ever played any other position behind the forwards. As someone said earlier, she is a great athlete who plays soccer. There is little to see here as a serious soccer player.

She is likely having the time of her life and doing great in school soccer and that should be good enough. She will have many fond memories to enjoy and those can't be taken away or ever held against her.

[Anonymous]

The pop is right. How many goals did that forward score against Georgetown Visitation or GDS, two of the stinger ISL teams? I think Sidwell played each team twice. But I bet she scored in bunches against teams where the long ball worked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is sad is that I have seen ECNL games that did not look any better than the video. I once watched a Bethesda ECNL team play an FC Starts team with college coaches in the stand barely better than the teams playing. The Bethesda team could not get the ball into its offensive half. ECNL is over-rated. The training is great but the quality of players varies greatly. This is not a knock against Bethesda but outside of the oldest ECNL team, the rest of the program ranked in the bottom half of the NE division. I believe one of the teams did not win a single game.

Let's also remember that the above video is against a DC Charter School and that team fielded by Potomac, Maret, GDS and Georgetown Visitationare much more compeititive.

BTW, I doubt the freshan would send that video to college coaches. Given that she scored 40+ goals in 20 games, I imagine she had more than a few games where she scored multiple goals against stronger competition, which likely included ECNL-defenders and goalies, who she torched. Highlights from those games would attract the attention of DI coaches.

Please stop. D1 College coaches don’t care about high school highlights.

[Anonymous]

Typing on my phone clearly did not work! I meant pp and stronger ISL teams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is sad is that I have seen ECNL games that did not look any better than the video. I once watched a Bethesda ECNL team play an FC Starts team with college coaches in the stand barely better than the teams playing. The Bethesda team could not get the ball into its offensive half. ECNL is over-rated. The training is great but the quality of players varies greatly. This is not a knock against Bethesda but outside of the oldest ECNL team, the rest of the program ranked in the bottom half of the NE division. I believe one of the teams did not win a single game.

Let's also remember that the above video is against a DC Charter School and that team fielded by Potomac, Maret, GDS and Georgetown Visitationare much more compeititive.

BTW, I doubt the freshan would send that video to college coaches. Given that she scored 40+ goals in 20 games, I imagine she had more than a few games where she scored multiple goals against stronger competition, which likely included ECNL-defenders and goalies, who she torched. Highlights from those games would attract the attention of DI coaches.

Yeah, sure. So lets say she sent this one - which includes her scoring in the 13th minute against GDS in the championship game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vv4AugxpCgs

Still no way any but the most clueless college coach looks at that and thinks she is college soccer material. It might be good for her teammates though, especially #10 and #19. Coaches would probably want to know where they play their club ball though.

#10 was the best player on the field by a mile, regardless of her "production" stats (which to you I guess just means goals). If you can't see that, you're hopeless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is sad is that I have seen ECNL games that did not look any better than the video. I once watched a Bethesda ECNL team play an FC Starts team with college coaches in the stand barely better than the teams playing. The Bethesda team could not get the ball into its offensive half. ECNL is over-rated. The training is great but the quality of players varies greatly. This is not a knock against Bethesda but outside of the oldest ECNL team, the rest of the program ranked in the bottom half of the NE division. I believe one of the teams did not win a single game.

Let's also remember that the above video is against a DC Charter School and that team fielded by Potomac, Maret, GDS and Georgetown Visitationare much more compeititive.

BTW, I doubt the freshan would send that video to college coaches. Given that she scored 40+ goals in 20 games, I imagine she had more than a few games where she scored multiple goals against stronger competition, which likely included ECNL-defenders and goalies, who she torched. Highlights from those games would attract the attention of DI coaches.

Yeah, sure. So lets say she sent this one - which includes her scoring in the 13th minute against GDS in the championship game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vv4AugxpCgs

Still no way any but the most clueless college coach looks at that and thinks she is college soccer material. It might be good for her teammates though, especially #10 and #19. Coaches would probably want to know where they play their club ball though.

#10 was the best player on the field by a mile, regardless of her "production" stats (which to you I guess just means goals). If you can't see that, you're hopeless.

Out of curiosity, which #10 (red or green)?

#19 red stood out most to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is sad is that I have seen ECNL games that did not look any better than the video. I once watched a Bethesda ECNL team play an FC Starts team with college coaches in the stand barely better than the teams playing. The Bethesda team could not get the ball into its offensive half. ECNL is over-rated. The training is great but the quality of players varies greatly. This is not a knock against Bethesda but outside of the oldest ECNL team, the rest of the program ranked in the bottom half of the NE division. I believe one of the teams did not win a single game.

Let's also remember that the above video is against a DC Charter School and that team fielded by Potomac, Maret, GDS and Georgetown Visitationare much more compeititive.

BTW, I doubt the freshan would send that video to college coaches. Given that she scored 40+ goals in 20 games, I imagine she had more than a few games where she scored multiple goals against stronger competition, which likely included ECNL-defenders and goalies, who she torched. Highlights from those games would attract the attention of DI coaches.

Yeah, sure. So lets say she sent this one - which includes her scoring in the 13th minute against GDS in the championship game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vv4AugxpCgs

Still no way any but the most clueless college coach looks at that and thinks she is college soccer material. It might be good for her teammates though, especially #10 and #19. Coaches would probably want to know where they play their club ball though.

#10 was the best player on the field by a mile, regardless of her "production" stats (which to you I guess just means goals). If you can't see that, you're hopeless.

Out of curiosity, which #10 (red or green)?

#19 red stood out most to me.

This thread has really gotten off topic. Wasn’t it started by crybaby FCV and /or McLean parents to beg people to stop saying they suck?