CASL Girl's Showcase

The schedules for the tournament are up. Some Massachusetts teams will be heading south. In U16, both the Stars Rovers and Aztecs will be playing, but the pairings seem odd. The Aztecs are in the third group playing teams from Texas and Florida. The Rovers are in the last group playing teams from Maryland and Southern California. The U17 MPS Renegades are also attending. It appears as though the tournament has three distinct parts. The regular showcase for U15 to U19 but no U18s. The Red Bull event for teams at U15, U16 and u17. The Stars have teams in this event. And the USYSA National league for U15, U16 and U17. The Scorpions are in the U16 National League. So there are a total of six Massachusetts teams attending. How much prep have these teams been able to fit in and do they have anything special planned for the next two weeks. Lots of the state's better HS players are with these six teams so they probably are just getting to full strength.

Re: CASL Girl's Showcase

Sorry, my math was wrong. There are seven teams playing:

U15 Stars
U16 Aztecs
U16 Scorpions
U16 Stars Rovers
U16 Stars Unites
U17 Renegades
U17 Stars

Re: CASL Girl's Showcase

Aztec U16s have only 10 players listed on their website. Website error? Guest players?

http://www.neaztec.com/ClubTeams/GirlsP ... fault.aspx

Re: CASL Girl's Showcase

Aztecs in the 3rd bracket, Stars Rovers in the bottom bracket? What gives?

Re: CASL Girl's Showcase

This probably has to do with Rovers being a "second" team in the club while Aztecs is a "first" team in theirs. I was surprised to see they got in at all given top tournaments often don't accept second teams even if they are as good as other clubs' first teams.

Re: CASL Girl's Showcase

Stars A team is playing in the Red Bull League.

Re: CASL Girl's Showcase

Aztec U16s have only 10 players listed on their website. Website error? Guest players?

http://www.neaztec.com/ClubTeams/GirlsP ... fault.aspx

Anyone have the scoop on this?

Re: CASL Girl's Showcase

Aztec U16s have only 10 players listed on their website. Website error? Guest players?

http://www.neaztec.com/ClubTeams/GirlsP ... fault.aspx

Anyone have the scoop on this?

Last year GK is playing for the Rovers now. That's one reason.

Re: CASL Girl's Showcase

CASL is a Gotsoccer tournament and uses their ranking sytem in evaluating applications and setting brackets. The crack about "second" team is from someone who is either trying to stir up trouble or is clueless about this level of club soccer. The Rovers resume showing success in the Premier League, previous tournaments and State Cup speaks for itself. By Gotsoccer the Rovers are ranked 97 and considering that most of the higher ranked accepted teams are in the USYSA National or Red Bull, that is a pretty good ranking. Aztecs are unranked by Gotsoccer. Aztecs play the more demanding schedule with games against Albion out of Texas (437) and Clearwater (135) from FLA. Rovers have Bethesda (269) and Colorado Edge(923). However, it looks like all the Premier and United groups were set up to be fairly even. Each team is placed in a group of three playing their bracket games on Saturday. Most of the groups have a team ranked higher like Rovers or Clearwater then a middle team like Bethesda and Albion and then a lower ranked team like Colorado and Aztecs. All these groups also play at secondary sites so a coach will need to make a special trip out to see them play. This tournament is a good opportunity for the Aztecs. If they can play well and progress out of their bracket it will help their aplications to other top showcases like Vegas, Jefferson or PDA.

Re: CASL Girl's Showcase

Aztec U16s have only 10 players listed on their website. Website error? Guest players?

http://www.neaztec.com/ClubTeams/GirlsP ... fault.aspx

Anyone have the scoop on this?

Last year GK is playing for the Rovers now. That's one reason.

Wha happened to the rest of the squad? Are the Aztecs really shorthanded or is the website wrong? With the much heralded merger earlier this year, I would think they would have loads of talent to choose from.

Re: CASL Girl's Showcase

web site does not include the entire roster. Not sure why, but I know of at least three excellent players who don't appear on the list but have been and are definitely on the team. I also think they have an excellent player coming down from the U17 - who played up last year. They will be a better team this year. If the Scorps, Stars and Rovers all skip MAPLE they will walk away with D1 and will be competitive with anybody at state cup.

Re: CASL Girl's Showcase

Didn't one of the Scorps Regional ODP players (JL) move to the Aztecs?

Re: CASL Girl's Showcase

CASL is a Gotsoccer tournament and uses their ranking sytem in evaluating applications and setting brackets. The crack about "second" team is from someone who is either trying to stir up trouble or is clueless about this level of club soccer. The Rovers resume showing success in the Premier League, previous tournaments and State Cup speaks for itself. By Gotsoccer the Rovers are ranked 97 and considering that most of the higher ranked accepted teams are in the USYSA National or Red Bull, that is a pretty good ranking. Aztecs are unranked by Gotsoccer. Aztecs play the more demanding schedule with games against Albion out of Texas (437) and Clearwater (135) from FLA. Rovers have Bethesda (269) and Colorado Edge(923). However, it looks like all the Premier and United groups were set up to be fairly even. Each team is placed in a group of three playing their bracket games on Saturday. Most of the groups have a team ranked higher like Rovers or Clearwater then a middle team like Bethesda and Albion and then a lower ranked team like Colorado and Aztecs. All these groups also play at secondary sites so a coach will need to make a special trip out to see them play. This tournament is a good opportunity for the Aztecs. If they can play well and progress out of their bracket it will help their aplications to other top showcases like Vegas, Jefferson or PDA.

You missed my point completely. Perhaps I should have been clearer but in any event please read the whole statement with the bolding below

This probably has to do with Rovers being a "second" team in the club while Aztecs is a "first" team in theirs. I was surprised to see they got in at all given top tournaments often don't accept second teams even if they are as good as other clubs' first teams.

Rovers is a team that is as good as many clubs first teams (and better than many) and I think they should actually be in a higher division than they are. I am still surprised they were accepted given CASL's penchant for rejecting second teams (not their own). That said I'm glad Rovers are there, they deserve it, Maybe they can get moved up.

Re: CASL Girl's Showcase

Gotsoccer ranking is very erratic. The Mathman rankings tends to be much more accurate.

Re: CASL Girl's Showcase

I don't think the showcase divisions in Premier and United are split the way most tournaments would be - top to bottom. They are split equally with each group having a top, middle and bottom team. This isn't unusual for big showcases. Its used for advertising/promotion because it guarantees some interest by the college coaches in all groups. That isn't the case for the Elite groups which are obviously set up with the better teams. So if you aren't in the Elite Division, you shouldn't read much into your placement. The reason that most second teams aren't accepted is because they aren't very good. That shows in their performance in League play, past tournament performances and state cup. The Rovers are an exception and are clearly one of the better teams in Region 1. They are not going to be punished for finishing behind the Scorpions and Stars United. Two teams that are by all accounts in the top twenty (probably top 10) in the country. I would suspect that the Aztecs were one of the last teams accepted and they benefited by the success of the other three teams and the elevated status that has been brought to Mass Soccer by the Scorps and Stars. I also think the Aztecs match up well against their opposition at CASL and have an excellent chance to progress out of their group.