Impact NPL

[Guest]

They won’t play them because they are not in the same conference. The existing New England conference (8 teams) will remain as is. This new conference (northeast) will have 20 teams (I assume they will be divided geographically into north and south with 10 teams each).

My kid is a Stars Blue ECNL player, so I don’t have a dog in this fight, but some of the clubs/teams in this new conference will be stronger than the regional teams from East Meadow and FSA. SUSA will be able to put together a strong team, FC Copa and PSA have EDP NL teams that are strong and those teams will now be in this ECNLR division. Personally, I’d wait to see how the division is aligned—travel would be worse than the New England division if you had to play everyone (although you’d be on an every other year schedule for away games).

Fair enough, but since this is the Massachusetts board - what you're saying is that teams based in MA and NH will be MUCH worse than the ECRL2 teams from the other clubs you list (who sound like they are club's 1st or 2nd teams, and should be in ECRL1 to get level competition).

So for local ECRL2 teams, lots of travel to lose all your games. An exact replay of the Stars White scenario, for the same reasons - the club is also fielding higher level teams. But at a lower level of play oin training and matches, because of the players ECRL2 will have.

[Guest]

Stars ECNL and NEFC and Select GA all that matters if your kid wants D1
Stars ECRL (Blue and White) if your kid wants D2/D3

college coaches are busy. They like working with clubs like Stars and NEFC who are organized and reputable.


then everyone else is equal: DPL, impact, elite 64, and the new northeast ECRL 2. These teams will vary greatly based on birth year, and club. These teams will be some clubs first teams, (Surf RI and Bayside, some clubs second teams Select, Scoprpions 3rd teams and Stars 5th teams. These teams can have major match differences where you have games go 9-0 easily. The range is too wide and these mid level leagues need a better plan if they want teams to have good competition.

because these teams are all clustered into these ever changing leagues college coaches tire of it and end up not interested in looking at these players unless they hear a rumor about an undiscovered stud.

^^^^^ truth!^^^^ now we can stop arguing.

[Guest]

You're assuming the players at the sub-ECRL level are thinking about playing in college, so that resume matters. They mostly are not, or will soon figure that out. They are playing to stay in shape for HS, and because they like soccer and their team. There's no upside to moving down to a lower level of play ECRL2 team, only downside. There's no point in moving if they can't make RL (Stars White is #15 in MA at 2007, Stars Blue is #18 in MA at 2009) and want to pursue college soccer.

These 2007 and 2009 Stars NH ECRL2 teams are going to be kids from other Stars teams, and a few people that don't like their current club (teammates, coaching, playing time).

Many of the best NH players commute to MA to play on teams that are better than the teams in NH. Adding the ECRL D League teams to NH isn't going to change that, except maybe to make the NH teams worse (by diluting the talent).

Also, good luck getting forwards and GKs. Maybe Stars will lend them out from other teams.

The fundamental problem in club soccer in New England is that there are too many leagues. So that makes for too much travel to play a lot of non-competitive matches - across ALL the leagues. Adding another league is not going to result in anything positive for players.

This is meant to be illustrative, not argumentative.

You referred to players at the "sub-ECRL" level mostly not wanting to play college. I want to talk about "sub- ECRL". No ranking system is perfect, but for the sake of argument, let's look at the newer USA Sports Statistics app instead of GotSport, as I think it's at least closer to accurate. Let's also look at the 2007 age group as they're in the college recruiting process now or soon. The 2009s have a little more time to see how this works out.

The current FC Stars ECRL teams are ranked 14th and 15th in MA. Ranked better are 1 EDP team, 2 Impact NPL teams, and 5 DPL teams. Why would you refer to them as "sub-ECRL"? If the ranking system is correct, they're better than ECRL and even if it's not, it's unlikely all 8 teams are significantly worse. If you can allow that ECRL players can and do have college soccer aspirations, then surely players, especially the best ones, from these 8 teams can reasonably have college aspirations as well.

The DPL players do attend national showcases so they at least have that. The Impact players are at the mercy of their own coaches or clubs. One of them attended Jeff Cup, NPL finals, and Disney Showcase, the other did not. If I had a strong player on a team that wasn't bringing them to the top showcases possible, and ECRL moved into my backyard, and that player wanted to play in college (even at the lowly - according the TS - D2/D3 level) I'd be jumping ship to this new ECRL opportunity very fast. The product might not be better but the brand is.

[Guest]

Someone really should let the Select families know Impact is going away bc it’s sold hard as a great league. Select has done good players that should find new homes asap

[Guest]

You referred to players at the "sub-ECRL" level mostly not wanting to play college. I want to talk about "sub- ECRL". No ranking system is perfect, but for the sake of argument, let's look at the newer USA Sports Statistics app instead of GotSport, as I think it's at least closer to accurate. Let's also look at the 2007 age group as they're in the college recruiting process now or soon. The 2009s have a little more time to see how this works out.

The current FC Stars ECRL teams are ranked 14th and 15th in MA. Ranked better are 1 EDP team, 2 Impact NPL teams, and 5 DPL teams. Why would you refer to them as "sub-ECRL"? If the ranking system is correct, they're better than ECRL and even if it's not, it's unlikely all 8 teams are significantly worse. If you can allow that ECRL players can and do have college soccer aspirations, then surely players, especially the best ones, from these 8 teams can reasonably have college aspirations as well.

As the one who made that post - I'd agree with you. By sub-ECRL, I mean something different than that. I mean teams that are literally sub-ECRL in the rankings - teams that are ranked, and actually do play, at a level below the current ECRL1 teams. Round that to top 20 or so teams in MA. Posted at the bottom of this thread is a list of the 2007 teams as an example.

The point was - ECRL2 teams in MA and NH will absolutely be worse than the existing ECRL1 teams. They have to be, anyone who can will go to ECRL1. And at that sub-ECRL level of play - of Stars' 5th team, about 25th in the rankings - many of the arguments about the (mostly imaginary) advantages of ECRL2 for college recruiting just don't apply to most kids playing on those teams.

Maybe re-read the comment with that in mind:

You're assuming the players at the sub-ECRL level are thinking about playing in college, so that resume matters. They mostly are not, or will soon figure that out. They are playing to stay in shape for HS, and because they like soccer and their team. There's no upside to moving down to a lower level of play ECRL2 team, only downside. There's no point in moving if they can't make RL (Stars White is #15 in MA at 2007, Stars Blue is #18 in MA at 2009) and want to pursue college soccer.

These 2007 and 2009 Stars NH ECRL2 teams are going to be kids from other Stars teams, and a few people that don't like their current club (teammates, coaching, playing time).

Many of the best NH players commute to MA to play on teams that are better than the teams in NH. Adding the ECRL D League teams to NH isn't going to change that, except maybe to make the NH teams worse (by diluting the talent).

Also, good luck getting forwards and GKs. Maybe Stars will lend them out from other teams.

The fundamental problem in club soccer in New England is that there are too many leagues. So that makes for too much travel to play a lot of non-competitive matches - across ALL the leagues. Adding another league is not going to result in anything positive for players.

However, the last part of your comment I'd disagree with. As you said, those teams in the top 20 are good teams. There's no way I'd recommend a player step down from a top 5 or 10 or 15 team to a 25th ranked team. They will not learn how to play at a competitive level, or get meaningful exposure, on the MA/NH ECRL2 teams. (In other states, where clubs are fielding a 1st or 2nd team, that ECRL2 team could be much more appealing.)

The DPL players do attend national showcases so they at least have that. The Impact players are at the mercy of their own coaches or clubs. One of them attended Jeff Cup, NPL finals, and Disney Showcase, the other did not. If I had a strong player on a team that wasn't bringing them to the top showcases possible, and ECRL moved into my backyard, and that player wanted to play in college (even at the lowly - according the TS - D2/D3 level) I'd be jumping ship to this new ECRL opportunity very fast. The product might not be better but the brand is.

Using 2007 as an example -

Teams that will be better than the new ECRL2 teams in MA/NH:

1. FC STARS BLUE ECNL
SCORPIONS SOCCER SC ECNL NATIONAL
NEFC GA
AZTEC IMPACT
5. SOUTH SHORE SELECT GA
NEW ENGLAND SURF STATE NAVY
JUVENTUS ACADEMY BOSTON DPL
NEFC NORTH SHORE DPL
FC STARS WHITE ECNL
10. SCORPIONS SOCCER SC ECNL REGIONAL
AZTEC NORTH IMPACT
FC STARS ECNL BLUE REGIONAL
SEACOAST UNITED MASS SOUTH ELITE DPL
WESTERN UNITED PIONEERS FC ELITE
15. FC STARS WHITE RL
NEFC DPL
SPIRIT OF LIVERPOOL USA IMPACT NPL
BOSTON BOLTS WEST IMPACT NPL
NEFC METRO WEST DPL
20. SOUTH SHORE SELECT IMPACT SKY BLUE

Teams that will be about the same as the ECRL2 teams:

AZTEC NORTH BLACK
COMMONWEALTH FC GREEN
NEW ENGLAND SURF STATE SKY
FC STARS LANCASTER IMPACT NPL - Stars' current 5th team
25. NEFC NORTH SHORE RED
SFC NEW ENGLAND
SOUTH SHORE SELECT IMPACT NAVY
JUVENTUS ACADEMY BOSTON EDS S
WESTFORD KNIGHTS SC
30. FC STARS WORCESTER BLUE

[Guest]

Agree with everything above but I do have a hard time putting much stock in rankings. For example we have a kid on 2010 blue ECNL regional. Team is good and got stronger all year. Started off the season losing in a tournament to an impact team that we would likely beat now. Our team beat 2010 white regional and tied them once, but you don’t even see our team on the rankings but you see Stars white 2010 regional who is not as good of a team… we are ranked higher in ECNL regional standings than regional white but in Got soccer rankings our team is non existent . I don’t know how these rankings work but they seem off. Maybe they are more accurate when they get older? One parent said it’s cuz white the year before when pre ECNL was stronger at the time but since lost some players while blue has steadily gained talent. Are rankings are based on the year before? Maybe your 2007 list is more accurate.

[Guest]

As the one who made that post - I'd agree with you. By sub-ECRL, I mean something different than that. I mean teams that are literally sub-ECRL in the rankings - teams that are ranked, and actually do play, at a level below the current ECRL1 teams. Round that to top 20 or so teams in MA. Posted at the bottom of this thread is a list of the 2007 teams as an example.

The point was - ECRL2 teams in MA and NH will absolutely be worse than the existing ECRL1 teams. They have to be, anyone who can will go to ECRL1. And at that sub-ECRL level of play - of Stars' 5th team, about 25th in the rankings - many of the arguments about the (mostly imaginary) advantages of ECRL2 for college recruiting just don't apply to most kids playing on those teams.

Maybe re-read the comment with that in mind:



However, the last part of your comment I'd disagree with. As you said, those teams in the top 20 are good teams. There's no way I'd recommend a player step down from a top 5 or 10 or 15 team to a 25th ranked team. They will not learn how to play at a competitive level, or get meaningful exposure, on the MA/NH ECRL2 teams. (In other states, where clubs are fielding a 1st or 2nd team, that ECRL2 team could be much more appealing.)



Using 2007 as an example -

Teams that will be better than the new ECRL2 teams in MA/NH:

1. FC STARS BLUE ECNL
SCORPIONS SOCCER SC ECNL NATIONAL
NEFC GA
AZTEC IMPACT
5. SOUTH SHORE SELECT GA
NEW ENGLAND SURF STATE NAVY
JUVENTUS ACADEMY BOSTON DPL
NEFC NORTH SHORE DPL
FC STARS WHITE ECNL
10. SCORPIONS SOCCER SC ECNL REGIONAL
AZTEC NORTH IMPACT
FC STARS ECNL BLUE REGIONAL
SEACOAST UNITED MASS SOUTH ELITE DPL
WESTERN UNITED PIONEERS FC ELITE
15. FC STARS WHITE RL
NEFC DPL
SPIRIT OF LIVERPOOL USA IMPACT NPL
BOSTON BOLTS WEST IMPACT NPL
NEFC METRO WEST DPL
20. SOUTH SHORE SELECT IMPACT SKY BLUE

Teams that will be about the same as the ECRL2 teams:

AZTEC NORTH BLACK
COMMONWEALTH FC GREEN
NEW ENGLAND SURF STATE SKY
FC STARS LANCASTER IMPACT NPL - Stars' current 5th team
25. NEFC NORTH SHORE RED
SFC NEW ENGLAND
SOUTH SHORE SELECT IMPACT NAVY
JUVENTUS ACADEMY BOSTON EDS S
WESTFORD KNIGHTS SC
30. FC STARS WORCESTER BLUE

Yes, I agree with all you’re saying. I think the unknown factor will be who they can recruit for these NH based teams. They aren’t taking the current Stars Impact team in that case. For the 07s, imagine they could get the top 5 or so players from Aztec North, Seacoast DPL, and the existing Stars NH team. A powerhouse, no, but competitive with better brand recognition? Maybe. Will parents and players be willing to take the risk? Maybe not, especially heading into junior year.

[Guest]

Agree with everything above but I do have a hard time putting much stock in rankings. For example we have a kid on 2010 blue ECNL regional. Team is good and got stronger all year. Started off the season losing in a tournament to an impact team that we would likely beat now. Our team beat 2010 white regional and tied them once, but you don’t even see our team on the rankings but you see Stars white 2010 regional who is not as good of a team… we are ranked higher in ECNL regional standings than regional white but in Got soccer rankings our team is non existent . I don’t know how these rankings work but they seem off. Maybe they are more accurate when they get older? One parent said it’s cuz white the year before when pre ECNL was stronger at the time but since lost some players while blue has steadily gained talent. Are rankings are based on the year before? Maybe your 2007 list is more accurate.

Pay $10 and get the new app mentioned here. Better than GotSport. Your Blue RL team is ranked 17 and White RL is 26.

[Guest]

Pay $10 and get the new app mentioned here. Better than GotSport. Your Blue RL team is ranked 17 and White RL is 26.

Shoot I missed that link. Thanks I’ll look back and find it. Nice to have more accurate rankings, not that 17 is much to brag about I know I know, but was merely wondering the validity of Got Soccer. Thanks for the tip.

[Guest]

Yes, I agree with all you’re saying. I think the unknown factor will be who they can recruit for these NH based teams. They aren’t taking the current Stars Impact team in that case. For the 07s, imagine they could get the top 5 or so players from Aztec North, Seacoast DPL, and the existing Stars NH team. A powerhouse, no, but competitive with better brand recognition? Maybe. Will parents and players be willing to take the risk? Maybe not, especially heading into junior year.

I don't see why kids or families leave a better team with their friends for a long commute, more travel, a lower level of play, on a team that will struggle to win any games. The MA/NH teams will be among the worst in this ECRL2 league.

It's exactly the problem Stars White has - the players the ECRL2 MA/NH teams need are going to their clubs' higher level teams. This year, Stars White has lost all 4 of their games. They scored 1 goal. GD -13. Lower level teams don't get the offense and GK they need to compete. Last year was just as bad.
https://tgs.totalglobalsports.com/pu...?t=21552&oid=9

Also, Stars' RL teams are 6th and 7th in their league:
https://public.totalglobalsports.com...eam/52/35319/9

[Guest]

I don't see why kids or families leave a better team with their friends for a long commute, more travel, a lower level of play, on a team that will struggle to win any games. The MA/NH teams will be among the worst in this ECRL2 league.

It's exactly the problem Stars White has - the players the ECRL2 MA/NH teams need are going to their clubs' higher level teams. This year, Stars White has lost all 4 of their games. They scored 1 goal. GD -13. Lower level teams don't get the offense and GK they need to compete. Last year was just as bad.
https://tgs.totalglobalsports.com/pu...?t=21552&oid=9

Also, Stars' RL teams are 6th and 7th in their league:
https://public.totalglobalsports.com...eam/52/35319/9

Good points. There aren’t many teams geographically in the top 15 or so that make sense to leave and go to NH anyway. I was mostly thinking about Aztec that practices out of Tyngsboro. I assume they have a few girls capable of playing in college and may be lured by the promise of better exposure but when you put it like you did (with all the drawbacks) it doesn’t make sense. I wonder how Stars decided on 2007 and 2009 as NH teams.

[Guest]

Stars RL teams usually move up in the rankings as they get older and as national players shift down. Some shift down to GA but some to regional. Stars regional coaches put a lot of hard work and commitment into developing those regional teams. So in the end if you are choosing between DPL, Impact or regional (1) teams, Stars regional teams best option for coaching and exposure. This won’t help Select or Liverpool impact players, too far away. But those impact teams at the top of their brackets are good. Hoping the club owners come up with something for those players who aren’t quite good enough for their GA team.

There are several very good players on Select Impact blue teams in all ages that could easily move over to a DPL or ECNL regional team. Select impact players that don’t make their in house GA might want to look at Scorpions ECNL regional or even national (since it’s closer) or look for a DPL team. Feeling bad for those Select players who will be either playing on NECSL again or playing in a watered down Impact league. Do they even know? My guess is no. I don’t think many Select impact parents come here.

[Guest]

Stars RL teams usually move up in the rankings as they get older and as national players shift down. Some shift down to GA but some to regional. Stars regional coaches put a lot of hard work and commitment into developing those regional teams. So in the end if you are choosing between DPL, Impact or regional (1) teams, Stars regional teams best option for coaching and exposure. This won’t help Select or Liverpool impact players, too far away. But those impact teams at the top of their brackets are good. Hoping the club owners come up with something for those players who aren’t quite good enough for their GA team.

There are several very good players on Select Impact blue teams in all ages that could easily move over to a DPL or ECNL regional team. Select impact players that don’t make their in house GA might want to look at Scorpions ECNL regional or even national (since it’s closer) or look for a DPL team. Feeling bad for those Select players who will be either playing on NECSL again or playing in a watered down Impact league. Do they even know? My guess is no. I don’t think many Select impact parents come here.

Don’t you think Aztec players are in a worse predicament? Select players aren’t good enough for their clubs top team while Aztec players are, and are at the top of several Impact age groups. Where do they go? Select players could always work to make their top team.

No kid in either but Aztec appears to be in a more dire position

[Guest]

Not everyone thinks Aztec is all that especially not in the younger ages. Regardless they are located in a better part of the state to move to other clubs than Select players stuck on the cape etc. They can only go Bolts South or Scorpions. Then there’s Liverpool.. back into DPL?

[Guest]

Not everyone thinks Aztec is all that especially not in the younger ages. Regardless they are located in a better part of the state to move to other clubs than Select players stuck on the cape etc. They can only go Bolts South or Scorpions. Then there’s Liverpool.. back into DPL?

. Select has a pathway to GA. Aztec doesn’t. And no one cares about the younger ages. They’re B team middle school kids. The Aztec teams are HS A teamers. I know you don’t get it now but you will in 2-3 years. Select has a weak Academy program so their B team is irrelevant. If the players were that good, they’d be on it. Those kids could play Scorps regional maybe or DPL. That’s their skill level.