Loudoun Struggles in ECNL

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I think you meant to post all this garbage about FCV on the FCV threads. Oh wait, nobody is interested in talking about FCV so you would be talking to yourself.

Oh wait. Title of thread is not Loudoun is great. It is Loudoun struggles.

The DA and FCV is a big part of why Loudoun is struggling in ECNL. You can’t one year tout FCV and then the next year say we are an ECNL now forget about FCV. Can you? Will that really work?

Yes you can. The reason is simple. At Loudoun for the 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06 girls there was no DA/ECNL at Loudoun when they turned U13. So those that wanted to play at that level had to leave the club. Due to location most went to FCV but some McLean and elsewhere.

This past Spring (March) it was announced that Loudoun was awarded ECNL. This is the 800 pound Gorilla for your club. For the 06s it was too late because DA IDs were done. Some of the best 06s left. Now Loudoun 06 still beat FCV 06 which shows the tide shifting.

For the 07s and younger ages it’s a new ballgame. They have a path all the way to D1 through Loudoun with ECNL. They can stay at their club with their friends and be the strongest area ECNL team for 07. Loudoun won’t always be the best after that but will attract and retain a very strong group of players. Why? Facilities are better, coaches are better. But more than anything, the club culture is on another level from the poor communication, drama and antics of FCV.

It will happen just watch.

Loudoun 06 beating FCV 06 one time proves nothing. Every single one of FCVs DA teams is good. Loudoun’s 06 ECNL team is alright (not as good as VDA or even Arlington DA) and certainly not as good as FCV.

It is true that FCV draws the best players from multiple teams. Most of the best players do not come from Loudoun. On that much we can agree.

It just proves Loudoun better head to head. Loudoun 07s bearing FCV 3 times in row does the same.

Does not look like the FCV 06s and 07s drew the best players. Checkmate.

Come on. Get a grip. If the 10th best team beats the best team one time that does not make them the best team.

FCV 06 is the best 06 team in Virginia. Arlington and VDA are 2 and 3.

Look at DA and ECNL records: Loudoun 4-4, VDA 10-1, FCV 6-0-1, Arlington 6-2-2.

Maybe Loudoun could make a claim for 4th?

I think we can all agree that ECNL is stronger than DA in VA for the 06s. VDA and Loudoun are the top teams. Loudoun beating FCV shows that a 4-4 ECNL team tops a 6-0-1 DA team. ECNL is better.

Chances are that trend continues for the 07s but time will tell. At this point the top 07 teams are ECNL clubs McLean and Loudoun.

I wouldn’t agree on that so fast, 06 VDA struggled at CASL a few weekends ago and ended up tying Spirit MD, which is arguably not stronger than either Arlington or FCV. And the conventional wisdom is that they are the best of the 06 ECNL bunch. The sensible take is that these are young kids just learning to properly play 11v11 and their performances will vary. No conclusions on who is “better” or “worse” until u15. All aforementioned clubs have good coaching and there is no need to tear one another down. Each club has well known strengths and weaknesses and parents/players should make the best decision amongst the bunch for their situations and continually re-assess. All of the options are good, depending on where your focus lies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think you meant to post all this garbage about FCV on the FCV threads. Oh wait, nobody is interested in talking about FCV so you would be talking to yourself.

Oh wait. Title of thread is not Loudoun is great. It is Loudoun struggles.

The DA and FCV is a big part of why Loudoun is struggling in ECNL. You can’t one year tout FCV and then the next year say we are an ECNL now forget about FCV. Can you? Will that really work?

Yes you can. The reason is simple. At Loudoun for the 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06 girls there was no DA/ECNL at Loudoun when they turned U13. So those that wanted to play at that level had to leave the club. Due to location most went to FCV but some McLean and elsewhere.

This past Spring (March) it was announced that Loudoun was awarded ECNL. This is the 800 pound Gorilla for your club. For the 06s it was too late because DA IDs were done. Some of the best 06s left. Now Loudoun 06 still beat FCV 06 which shows the tide shifting.

For the 07s and younger ages it’s a new ballgame. They have a path all the way to D1 through Loudoun with ECNL. They can stay at their club with their friends and be the strongest area ECNL team for 07. Loudoun won’t always be the best after that but will attract and retain a very strong group of players. Why? Facilities are better, coaches are better. But more than anything, the club culture is on another level from the poor communication, drama and antics of FCV.

It will happen just watch.

Loudoun 06 beating FCV 06 one time proves nothing. Every single one of FCVs DA teams is good. Loudoun’s 06 ECNL team is alright (not as good as VDA or even Arlington DA) and certainly not as good as FCV.

It is true that FCV draws the best players from multiple teams. Most of the best players do not come from Loudoun. On that much we can agree.

It just proves Loudoun better head to head. Loudoun 07s bearing FCV 3 times in row does the same.

Does not look like the FCV 06s and 07s drew the best players. Checkmate.

Come on. Get a grip. If the 10th best team beats the best team one time that does not make them the best team.

FCV 06 is the best 06 team in Virginia. Arlington and VDA are 2 and 3.

Look at DA and ECNL records: Loudoun 4-4, VDA 10-1, FCV 6-0-1, Arlington 6-2-2.

Maybe Loudoun could make a claim for 4th?

I think we can all agree that ECNL is stronger than DA in VA for the 06s. VDA and Loudoun are the top teams. Loudoun beating FCV shows that a 4-4 ECNL team tops a 6-0-1 DA team. ECNL is better.

Chances are that trend continues for the 07s but time will tell. At this point the top 07 teams are ECNL clubs McLean and Loudoun.

I would agree that in this age group the top ECNL teams can be competitive with DA teams. Middle of the road ECNL teams like Loudoun 06 can occasionally beat better teams like FCV VDA NCFC Penn Fusion PA Classic but including the WAGS tournament and ECNL play Loudoun is 1 and 4 against these teams while FCV is 2 1 and 1 .

[Anonymous]

It's fair for the DA teams to be defensive and point out the relative strength of the older girls. They want everyone to look at the whole club record.

At the same time when you look at the younger teams it does seem like to power is shifting to ECNL. At the younger ages, middle of the road ECNL teams like Loudoun are showing they can beat teams that are undefeated in DA like FCV.

[Anonymous]

Other than FCV trying to poach Loudoun's entire 07 team, who are the out-of-club recruiting targets of the high volume 07 Loudoun and FCV parent poster(s) for next year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's fair for the DA teams to be defensive and point out the relative strength of the older girls. They want everyone to look at the whole club record.

At the same time when you look at the younger teams it does seem like to power is shifting to ECNL. At the younger ages, middle of the road ECNL teams like Loudoun are showing they can beat teams that are undefeated in DA like FCV.

Again, not so fast. As pointed out above, the “best” 06 ECNL team only could manage a tie head to head against a “mediocre” DA team. No conclusions can be drawn, unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's fair for the DA teams to be defensive and point out the relative strength of the older girls. They want everyone to look at the whole club record.

At the same time when you look at the younger teams it does seem like to power is shifting to ECNL. At the younger ages, middle of the road ECNL teams like Loudoun are showing they can beat teams that are undefeated in DA like FCV.

So far I see no evidence that the power is shifting to ECNL (or Loudoun ECNL specifically). Yes they were able to field teams for all age groups but so far they have not been able to achieve a winning ECNL record at any age. I guess it would be hard for them to get any worse?

[Anonymous]

The power shift to ECNL does seem to be underway, at least in this area. It kinda makes sense given the long history of ECNL. The top players have always gone to ECNL. Some of the clubs have changed but the story is the same. The powerhouse announcing their move back to ECNL from DA is another indicator.

Will be interesting to watch over the next several years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The power shift to ECNL does seem to be underway, at least in this area. It kinda makes sense given the long history of ECNL. The top players have always gone to ECNL. Some of the clubs have changed but the story is the same. The powerhouse announcing their move back to ECNL from DA is another indicator.

Will be interesting to watch over the next several years.

Which "powerhouse" has moved from DA to ECNL? Just curious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The power shift to ECNL does seem to be underway, at least in this area. It kinda makes sense given the long history of ECNL. The top players have always gone to ECNL. Some of the clubs have changed but the story is the same. The powerhouse announcing their move back to ECNL from DA is another indicator.

Will be interesting to watch over the next several years.

Which "powerhouse" has moved from DA to ECNL? Just curious.

I would guess the prior poster means PDA's move back to ECNL from DA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The power shift to ECNL does seem to be underway, at least in this area. It kinda makes sense given the long history of ECNL. The top players have always gone to ECNL. Some of the clubs have changed but the story is the same. The powerhouse announcing their move back to ECNL from DA is another indicator.

Will be interesting to watch over the next several years.

Which "powerhouse" has moved from DA to ECNL? Just curious.

I would guess the prior poster means PDA's move back to ECNL from DA.

PDA's blue teams are so far undefeated in ECNL, with 37 GF and 1 GA at the U13 level and 33 GF and 2 GA at U14. I'd say that's pretty dominant. It also says something about the quality of competition in the NE . . .

[Anonymous]

Yes by powerhouse I was referring to PDA. It impacts local clubs like Bethesda in their division.

On a National level there are many others. Less impact here until playoffs but still raises overall quality of ECNL. Clubs like Tophat, Solar, Michigan Hawks, So Cal Blues, LAFC Slammers.

[Anonymous]

So Loudoun 07s have many options for next year:

FCV and WS. BRYC and VDA. And maybe even Loudoun.

McLean and ASA may be a bit far given other options.

Good luck everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So Loudoun 07s have many options for next year:

FCV and WS. BRYC and VDA. And maybe even Loudoun.

McLean and ASA may be a bit far given other options.

Good luck everyone.

?? What was this in response to? And have you read any of the prior 30 pages? The 07 Loudoun parents seem pretty intent on staying at Loudoun. As a non-Loudoun parent, I cannot blame them given the quality on that team and the fact that they have the ECNL platform. Only reason to move is if one liked DA better than ECNL, and that's an entirely separate discussion. I recall there being a prior thread about it somewhere on this blog . . .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So Loudoun 07s have many options for next year:

FCV and WS. BRYC and VDA. And maybe even Loudoun.

McLean and ASA may be a bit far given other options.

Good luck everyone.

?? What was this in response to? And have you read any of the prior 30 pages? The 07 Loudoun parents seem pretty intent on staying at Loudoun. As a non-Loudoun parent, I cannot blame them given the quality on that team and the fact that they have the ECNL platform. Only reason to move is if one liked DA better than ECNL, and that's an entirely separate discussion. I recall there being a prior thread about it somewhere on this blog . . .

Trying to bring the focus back to the local soccer scene. Loudoun has 2 decent 07 teams. Loudoun ECNL is currently one of the worst local DA/ECNL clubs. Loudoun players/parents of Loudoun players should consider all options. (I know there is at least one poster here who will tell you over and over that every player from Loudoun 07 is going to stay with Loudoun next year but I don't think that is best option for everyone nor do I believe that is what is going to happen.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So Loudoun 07s have many options for next year:

FCV and WS. BRYC and VDA. And maybe even Loudoun.

McLean and ASA may be a bit far given other options.

Good luck everyone.

?? What was this in response to? And have you read any of the prior 30 pages? The 07 Loudoun parents seem pretty intent on staying at Loudoun. As a non-Loudoun parent, I cannot blame them given the quality on that team and the fact that they have the ECNL platform. Only reason to move is if one liked DA better than ECNL, and that's an entirely separate discussion. I recall there being a prior thread about it somewhere on this blog . . .

There is very little need for any Loudoun 07 to bolt at U13. They have quality players, will be in a quality league and nothing really matters until they are 14 and 15 years old anyway. Essentially they have time and nothing is kicking them out of the door. If one or two players on Loudoun get a Training Center invite then they might get some pressure to move to a DA. But other than that why would they move? We've seen this play out with older ECNL teams at McLean. Those kids pretty much all stayed. They had a good team, coaches they liked, roles on the team and the College exposure that they needed. Why change for the unknown?

I just don't see what FCV can really offer a 07 player on Loudoun that they already do not have currently and going forward.