ECNL Playoffs

[Anonymous]

This is such a ridiculous thread. Talking about national rankings of teams that never play each other among thousands of teams. ranked #23? How much difference do you really think there is between 23 and 43 or 143? This is not a professional team ranking with just a few dozen teams so all teams are picking from a huge talent pool. Or even college with a couple hundred teams. And here’s the real stinker. Players are these teams because they live near those teams! The player pool is fixed to the ones who live there. You all sound so silly speaking about a #8 vs #23 with such precision as of these numbers mean anything. It would be like trying to rank the best high schools in the nation (yes, I know some attempt to just do that for competitive idiots like you). Any of the top 1000 high schools (out of tens of thousands) would be great educations and it’s meaningless if a kid attends the #23 ranked high school in the nation vs the #8 but the kids at #8 are better because they happen to live nearby to attend that school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is such a ridiculous thread. Talking about national rankings of teams that never play each other among thousands of teams. ranked #23? How much difference do you really think there is between 23 and 43 or 143? This is not a professional team ranking with just a few dozen teams so all teams are picking from a huge talent pool. Or even college with a couple hundred teams. And here’s the real stinker. Players are these teams because they live near those teams! The player pool is fixed to the ones who live there. You all sound so silly speaking about a #8 vs #23 with such precision as of these numbers mean anything. It would be like trying to rank the best high schools in the nation (yes, I know some attempt to just do that for competitive idiots like you). Any of the top 1000 high schools (out of tens of thousands) would be great educations and it’s meaningless if a kid attends the #23 ranked high school in the nation vs the #8 but the kids at #8 are better because they happen to live nearby to attend that school

The difference between #23 and #43 is huge. The difference between #23 and #143 gigantic.

Scale it down to the state level. The top #1 #2 teams in the state are head and shoulders above the 7th ranked team. The gap only widens.

Nationally, the top ten teams are in a level of their own, not unlike say the Top Ten in College programs.

No established 40th ranked team would ever beat a top ten team. They are just not that close competitively.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is such a ridiculous thread. Talking about national rankings of teams that never play each other among thousands of teams. ranked #23? How much difference do you really think there is between 23 and 43 or 143? This is not a professional team ranking with just a few dozen teams so all teams are picking from a huge talent pool. Or even college with a couple hundred teams. And here’s the real stinker. Players are these teams because they live near those teams! The player pool is fixed to the ones who live there. You all sound so silly speaking about a #8 vs #23 with such precision as of these numbers mean anything. It would be like trying to rank the best high schools in the nation (yes, I know some attempt to just do that for competitive idiots like you). Any of the top 1000 high schools (out of tens of thousands) would be great educations and it’s meaningless if a kid attends the #23 ranked high school in the nation vs the #8 but the kids at #8 are better because they happen to live nearby to attend that school

Sorry but not really. Some of those top 10 are special and some are not. Watch them and you will see.

The difference between #23 and #43 is huge. The difference between #23 and #143 gigantic.

Scale it down to the state level. The top #1 #2 teams in the state are head and shoulders above the 7th ranked team. The gap only widens.

Nationally, the top ten teams are in a level of their own, not unlike say the Top Ten in College programs.

No established 40th ranked team would ever beat a top ten team. They are just not that close competitively.

[Anonymous]

Sorry but not really. Some of those top 10 are special and some are not. Watch them and you will see.

[Anonymous]

I watched two supposed top five teams play this past week and was not impressed. There were big and athletic but soccer wise they were no better than the good teams around here. They simply had better athletes. So, if we collapsed our 8 girls ECNL/GA programs (McLean, Bethesda, MD United, VDA, BRYC, Loudoun, Arlington, FCV) down to three, we’d compete just like McLean used to in the pre-DA ECNL only days. Dilution is why we don’t fare better at the national level. Having said that, not sure it really matters. With more teams, more kids are exposed to better competition, etc. than the now rec-level other pay to play local leagues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The elephant in the room is simply dilution. There are to many options for players to play in these leagues. All these teams are above average but none are truly exceptional when you get out of this area. It will take a few of these punches straight to the face on a true national level for this fact to sink in with parents on this board.

ON the plus side there are more kids getting opportunities to be showcased that would never have had the opportunity before but it also means that there will no longer be any super teams that come out of NOVA.

100%. There is too much dilution and delusion in this area....

True. Richmond was in the Showcase and couldn't do anything even though they play local clubs close. Ultimately more kids playing is great and it'll never undergo contraction.

Richmond U16G are in the final four nationally. They just won the July round to get there. Check your facts bud.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The elephant in the room is simply dilution. There are to many options for players to play in these leagues. All these teams are above average but none are truly exceptional when you get out of this area. It will take a few of these punches straight to the face on a true national level for this fact to sink in with parents on this board.

ON the plus side there are more kids getting opportunities to be showcased that would never have had the opportunity before but it also means that there will no longer be any super teams that come out of NOVA.

100%. There is too much dilution and delusion in this area....

True. Richmond was in the Showcase and couldn't do anything even though they play local clubs close. Ultimately more kids playing is great and it'll never undergo contraction.

Richmond U16G are in the final four nationally. They just won the July round to get there. Check your facts bud.

I think they were talking about a different age group. I don’t consider Richmond to be part of the DC/Baltimore area anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Both Bethesda and VDA 2006s placed 3rd in their groups. Both struggled a lot and ended up where they should based on their play.

Bethesda 06 was very competitive. All 4 teams in their group were good and well coached. Champions league paying off for BSC as several players showed well on the weekend and have begun the recruiting process as 9th graders. Your comment of "struggled" and "where they should be" doesn't make sense. The team continues to get better and is staying together playing at the highest level...I can only assume you expected them to win the ECNL? What is your team?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both Bethesda and VDA 2006s placed 3rd in their groups. Both struggled a lot and ended up where they should based on their play.

Bethesda 06 was very competitive. All 4 teams in their group were good and well coached. Champions league paying off for BSC as several players showed well on the weekend and have begun the recruiting process as 9th graders. Your comment of "struggled" and "where they should be" doesn't make sense. The team continues to get better and is staying together playing at the highest level...I can only assume you expected them to win the ECNL? What is your team?

06s failed to advance out of the group they were expected to win. Do you think KL expected anything less than being in Richmond next week? It was a huge disappointment for the players and families. The only won 1 game.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I watched two supposed top five teams play this past week and was not impressed. There were big and athletic but soccer wise they were no better than the good teams around here. They simply had better athletes. So, if we collapsed our 8 girls ECNL/GA programs (McLean, Bethesda, MD United, VDA, BRYC, Loudoun, Arlington, FCV) down to three, we’d compete just like McLean used to in the pre-DA ECNL only days. Dilution is why we don’t fare better at the national level. Having said that, not sure it really matters. With more teams, more kids are exposed to better competition, etc. than the now rec-level other pay to play local leagues.

Imagine if we had only 1 team… covering Richmond to Baltimore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I watched two supposed top five teams play this past week and was not impressed. There were big and athletic but soccer wise they were no better than the good teams around here. They simply had better athletes. So, if we collapsed our 8 girls ECNL/GA programs (McLean, Bethesda, MD United, VDA, BRYC, Loudoun, Arlington, FCV) down to three, we’d compete just like McLean used to in the pre-DA ECNL only days. Dilution is why we don’t fare better at the national level. Having said that, not sure it really matters. With more teams, more kids are exposed to better competition, etc. than the now rec-level other pay to play local leagues.

Imagine if we had only 1 team… covering Richmond to Baltimore.

1 team for a population area of about 15 Million people? No “elite” club has a population base with those sort of numbers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both Bethesda and VDA 2006s placed 3rd in their groups. Both struggled a lot and ended up where they should based on their play.

Bethesda 06 was very competitive. All 4 teams in their group were good and well coached. Champions league paying off for BSC as several players showed well on the weekend and have begun the recruiting process as 9th graders. Your comment of "struggled" and "where they should be" doesn't make sense. The team continues to get better and is staying together playing at the highest level...I can only assume you expected them to win the ECNL? What is your team?

06s failed to advance out of the group they were expected to win. Do you think KL expected anything less than being in Richmond next week? It was a huge disappointment for the players and families. The only won 1 game.

GSA was the "best" team in the group in my view and did not advance. Challenge who won the group was good and well coached. GSA lost to Challenge which Bethesda tied. GSA beat Bethesda 4-0 earlier in the year so hats off to them. Currently a much bigger and better team. I'm sure KL was expecting to win the group. I would hope so. Are you a parent on the team and hugely disappointed? As a parent of a player I can honestly tell you it was not a huge disappointment. Sure the girls wanted to win the group, but it was a great year for U15. Hoping to have great success the next few years as well. Long way to go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both Bethesda and VDA 2006s placed 3rd in their groups. Both struggled a lot and ended up where they should based on their play.

Bethesda 06 was very competitive. All 4 teams in their group were good and well coached. Champions league paying off for BSC as several players showed well on the weekend and have begun the recruiting process as 9th graders. Your comment of "struggled" and "where they should be" doesn't make sense. The team continues to get better and is staying together playing at the highest level...I can only assume you expected them to win the ECNL? What is your team?

06s failed to advance out of the group they were expected to win. Do you think KL expected anything less than being in Richmond next week? It was a huge disappointment for the players and families. The only won 1 game.

GSA was the "best" team in the group in my view and did not advance. Challenge who won the group was good and well coached. GSA lost to Challenge which Bethesda tied. GSA beat Bethesda 4-0 earlier in the year so hats off to them. Currently a much bigger and better team. I'm sure KL was expecting to win the group. I would hope so. Are you a parent on the team and hugely disappointed? As a parent of a player I can honestly tell you it was not a huge disappointment. Sure the girls wanted to win the group, but it was a great year for U15. Hoping to have great success the next few years as well. Long way to go.

It’s not a Bethesda parent but rather a Bethesda hater that wants nothing more to see them lose. These type of posters are very common on this thread and have some type of agenda against the Bethesda coaches. It’s sad TBH.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both Bethesda and VDA 2006s placed 3rd in their groups. Both struggled a lot and ended up where they should based on their play.

Bethesda 06 was very competitive. All 4 teams in their group were good and well coached. Champions league paying off for BSC as several players showed well on the weekend and have begun the recruiting process as 9th graders. Your comment of "struggled" and "where they should be" doesn't make sense. The team continues to get better and is staying together playing at the highest level...I can only assume you expected them to win the ECNL? What is your team?

06s failed to advance out of the group they were expected to win. Do you think KL expected anything less than being in Richmond next week? It was a huge disappointment for the players and families. The only won 1 game.

GSA was the "best" team in the group in my view and did not advance. Challenge who won the group was good and well coached. GSA lost to Challenge which Bethesda tied. GSA beat Bethesda 4-0 earlier in the year so hats off to them. Currently a much bigger and better team. I'm sure KL was expecting to win the group. I would hope so. Are you a parent on the team and hugely disappointed? As a parent of a player I can honestly tell you it was not a huge disappointment. Sure the girls wanted to win the group, but it was a great year for U15. Hoping to have great success the next few years as well. Long way to go.

It’s not a Bethesda parent but rather a Bethesda hater that wants nothing more to see them lose. These type of posters are very common on this thread and have some type of agenda against the Bethesda coaches. It’s sad TBH.

Yes, I don't get the trashing of this team. It's a very good group. These girls worked for 13 months through covid and really had a great year. And every kid on the roster contributed. If they stick together and develop...could be a great team.

[Anonymous]

Both VDA 06 and BSC 06 choked, period.