Tough sledding for SE at ECNL Playoffs

I can only speak for girls...  High school soccer for alot of the girls that play is slower and builds bad habits.  The bad habits of taking too long on the ball or mixing high school tactics with club tactics. This is amplified if your club tactics are very different than High School tactics... Now compare with the girls that play club in the spring that have played together for 6 or 7 straight months without the high school break.

IMO it is a factor...

Considering a lot of these teams continue to train through High School season, and officially started training together in April, I don't think it is as much a factor as some think. I know a lot of these teams have been together 3-4 days a week for the past couple months, including many friendlies during the timeframe.

I honestly think tryouts and the high costs of travel (especially for girls) play just as much a part. I noticed multiple teams only going with 14-15 players. Of those 3-4 missing players, how many were higher level players that would have made a difference?

I'll also say this. Personally I think high level soccer, at least in Atlanta, is watered down. With all the GAL & ECNL teams (MLS Next included for boys), the talent is scattered.

"Sounds like?" I was actually at nationals with my kid's team... where were you?

I'll say that our team flat out lost the last game, but our first 2 games were lost due to God-awful refs. The quality of the refs were frankly terrible as they totally affected the momentum of the game and how they played after getting bad call after bad call.

In our 1st game, the opponents goalie caught two air balls inside the net, and neither the ref, not the AR called it.

In the 2nd game, the ref would call fouls on us, and overlook their midfielder who was mowing people down left and right... Only a warning late in the 2nd half. We also got fouled twice in the box as a player was headed in for a shot... No call. Our goalie got carded for not playing fast enough, even tho the ref had just blown the whistle for her to play... She def didn't get the full 6 seconds to put the ball into play. We had 2 other players get yellow cards, one was for retaliation after getting fouled by the "loose dog" midfielder.

Speak for yourself when you say, "underperformed." Our teams went out there with a lot of heart, blood, sweat & tears, but it's just not fair when you're going up against another top quality team AND the ref!

Read the full thread, the discussion was about how HS soccer played a role in teams being bounced from the tourney. My comment was solely in respect to saying that HS soccer played, at most, a very minimal role. Sorry that the ref didn't do so hot in your matches. 

True statement! It’s a showcase and should be treated as such. Most clubs at the older age groups aren’t even starting committed players allowing others college exposure to coaches. Unless you realllly think you have a shot at hardware, I think this is the right approach.

Secondly, teams huddling up in April for light workouts and occasional scrimmages, which typically isn’t attended by all rostered players is light years from competing in meaningful late spring games like other areas of the country. To say the high school break isn’t a factor is lacking perspective on the importance of on field chemistry. When Platinum won the championship last year, that team had meaningful games late into the spring.

Lastly, I’ve expressed this fact in previous posts. When you go to showcases especially in NJ/NY, Texas and Calif in particular, the game is played differently. If you are not prepared, you will get shoulder checked off the ball repeatedly. Obviously there are exceptions but those local area refs are use to calling a more physical game. I won’t dispute a dirty “reckless” player mowing ppl over but as a whole, they call games the way they call games. It’s up to coaches and players to make the adjustments.

While these posts seem to be discussing girl's teMs, I did not see this "spring" fall back on playing by kid's u17 team that were National ECNL finalist. The team members played high school, had club practices, scrimmages, etc. I posit that it comes down to coaching and player dedication and talent affecting team chemistry. Please remember, one team will always win and one team will always lose. The won that wins typically is better due to coaching, talent and team attitude.

The post was for both boy and girl teams.  Results for SE teams seems to be down this year compared to last year.  

They definitely impressed, especially considering their new coach for Fall cut 6 players. Don’t tell nasa Nationals is just another showcase, they play to win it not just show off for scouts.

Would have loved to have seen the NASA 07s play CF Plat in the knockout game even though my son would have missed it because of injury. Went 2-0-1 but didn’t take care of business against an inferior San Antonio team that NASA throttled in the Knockout Game. Plenty of “if only” moments but the fact of the matter is that they didn’t take care of their business well enough to earn a spot in that game. Congratulations to NASA and good luck in California!

Thanks for the well wishes. I am sure NASA would have had a harder time with CF Platinum. The San Antonio game was fairly easy, similar to a mid table SE ECNL team.

Actually platinum is considered the IT team, just ask them, and look how they did. Moral to the story is the better talent exist in places other than the SE conference.

no girls team did well in postseason. ufa did okay-but lost in round of 16. it’s not a specific club it’s the way ga treats soccer- our state is big on American football and it’s showing- speed, bulk and ‘fitness’ become priorities over 1st touch & technique- afu 07s lost 1-6 against internationals. wild score line sums up everything for all teams- isc has flair- free play up top and discipline at the back. we dont teach that here. 2 touch play is hard against a high press- it’s predictable- u have to take a player on and beat them- btw don’t mean beat them by speed- i mean skill- combined w the 2 touch play & discipline in the back wins championships. livestreams were interesting….

Atlanta United 07's were MLS Next National Champs so we got some great talent in the area. Some of these ECNL clubs may not have a MLS nearby team that could pull their best players.

I know some folks on here don't like Apple TV MLS package but they showed games from the MLS Next Cup and a few of AU's 07's. I was surprised how many players on the AU 07 team are so lean. I'm not saying all of the players are and maybe they had some younger players helping out but it didn't matter. I caught as much as I could from the ECNL broadcasts but ran into so many issues like broadcast delayed or video archiving. I saw some of the NASA x San Antonio 07 match and some of those NASA players are built very strong and you can tell they are hitting the weight room. I don't have a kid on ECNL or MLS Next but I was cheering for all of the ATL teams in these competitions.