2019 Boys Soccer Verbal Commitments

[Unregistered]

yeah for the serious students, soccer should be second priority to getting an education. D3 and Ivy (to a lesser extent) help facilitate that. If it's all about soccer (which is what the highly competitive D1s soccer schools are about) then education takes 2nd place.

While I largely agree, D1 athletes get tremendous academic support that D3 athletes do not. The off season is easier to manage with D3 because there actually is an off season. But in season the schedule is just as intense as for D1 without the support. And obviously there are some D1 schools with fantastic academics.

[Unregistered]

While I largely agree, D1 athletes get tremendous academic support that D3 athletes do not. The off season is easier to manage with D3 because there actually is an off season. But in season the schedule is just as intense as for D1 without the support. And obviously there are some D1 schools with fantastic academics.

It would be helpful to know whether you D3ers pursued D1 schools and didn’t get any traction so moved to D3. The only experience we have, and it is anecdotal, is with a kid who was cut from the top team at our club and then decided D3 was what he wanted. He is getting a lot of minutes, he may even be starting for his college team, but he was D1 all the way until he realized it wasn’t going to work.

[Unregistered]

It would be helpful to know whether you D3ers pursued D1 schools and didn’t get any traction so moved to D3. The only experience we have, and it is anecdotal, is with a kid who was cut from the top team at our club and then decided D3 was what he wanted. He is getting a lot of minutes, he may even be starting for his college team, but he was D1 all the way until he realized it wasn’t going to work.

My son looked at D3 and D1, mostly due to many of the top D3 schools are in Massachusetts and they can get to more games and easier to visit. Plus D3 can talk to the players ahead of the end of the junior year. For Top D3 you gotta have very good grades (more A's than B's and no C's) and excellent SAT score (ie closer to 1400 or better). Working thru the process earlier with D3 was a good experience and preparation for visiting D1 and Ivies later. After all of that the kids get a better sense of the schools and the soccer programs and what is good fit for them.

Every kid has a ordered list of soccer schools (for example my son's list was)
First Top Soccer D1
then Ivy League
then good academic but less good soccer D1 (A10, Patriot league)
then top D3
then other D3 (maybe D2)

[Unregistered]

My son looked at D3 and D1, mostly due to many of the top D3 schools are in Massachusetts and they can get to more games and easier to visit. Plus D3 can talk to the players ahead of the end of the junior year. For Top D3 you gotta have very good grades (more A's than B's and no C's) and excellent SAT score (ie closer to 1400 or better). Working thru the process earlier with D3 was a good experience and preparation for visiting D1 and Ivies later. After all of that the kids get a better sense of the schools and the soccer programs and what is good fit for them.

Every kid has a ordered list of soccer schools (for example my son's list was)
First Top Soccer D1
then Ivy League
then good academic but less good soccer D1 (A10, Patriot league)
then top D3
then other D3 (maybe D2)

Curios, why wasn't D2 higher up on the list? Isn't that what comes after D1?
And why was it important for top D3 vs. any D3. At that point, isn't the quality of the school, fit, and financial aid more Important than W-L record?

[Unregistered]

My son looked at D3 and D1, mostly due to many of the top D3 schools are in Massachusetts and they can get to more games and easier to visit. Plus D3 can talk to the players ahead of the end of the junior year. For Top D3 you gotta have very good grades (more A's than B's and no C's) and excellent SAT score (ie closer to 1400 or better). Working thru the process earlier with D3 was a good experience and preparation for visiting D1 and Ivies later. After all of that the kids get a better sense of the schools and the soccer programs and what is good fit for them.

Every kid has a ordered list of soccer schools (for example my son's list was)
First Top Soccer D1
then Ivy League
then good academic but less good soccer D1 (A10, Patriot league)
then top D3
then other D3 (maybe D2)

I can add to this. D3 coaches are very good at saying to players they want to let them know if D1 doesn’t work out.

[Unregistered]

My son looked at D3 and D1, mostly due to many of the top D3 schools are in Massachusetts and they can get to more games and easier to visit. Plus D3 can talk to the players ahead of the end of the junior year. For Top D3 you gotta have very good grades (more A's than B's and no C's) and excellent SAT score (ie closer to 1400 or better). Working thru the process earlier with D3 was a good experience and preparation for visiting D1 and Ivies later. After all of that the kids get a better sense of the schools and the soccer programs and what is good fit for them.

Every kid has a ordered list of soccer schools (for example my son's list was)
First Top Soccer D1
then Ivy League
then good academic but less good soccer D1 (A10, Patriot league)
then top D3
then other D3 (maybe D2)

My son is a sophomore so we have been doing some ID camps and talking about colleges every now and then (he loves to play so the ID camps are fun for him but we don't talk too much about it because it's too early to overwhelm him). He basically has the same list as above (he follows college football and soccer so he is very familiar with all the big schools) but I try to be realistic...I am honestly curious (not a troll lunatic). Does your son play academy and what is his GPA? I am not trying to start the Academy vs Non-Academy discussion. My thought is with the large number of internationals and academy players filling the rosters at Top D1 it seems very difficult to play high D1. Also, with the Ivies - Even if you are you a great player you still need roughly a 4.0 GPA, right? I might be trying to set the bar too low but, besides my sophomore, I have two non-athletes...one in college and one applying at colleges so I have some GPA and college app experience). My sophomore wanted to play for his high school (high D1) for the experience and to be with his friends, so high club level was the only other option. There's no turning back now so I am trying to be realistic with which ID camps he attends (can't do them all and the group camps with multiple asst coaches don't seem as good as the private camps).

I apologize if this derails the thread with crazies (or maybe I am one of the crazies).

[Unregistered]

Curios, why wasn't D2 higher up on the list? Isn't that what comes after D1?
And why was it important for top D3 vs. any D3. At that point, isn't the quality of the school, fit, and financial aid more Important than W-L record?

There are not many D2 schools in the area (Assumption, Southern New Hampshire, Bentley not sure of the others) If those are schools you are interested in that is great. Some kids user SNHU for a year and then transfer.

The win and loss record is a good indicator if the school cares about soccer. If they lose alot then is it the coach, the players or inability to recruit for the league.

Kids that are really into soccer are not as focused on the quality of the education and it takes some talking and also the reality of the situation for them to change their minds. By that time if they haven't courted many schools they may be out of luck and have to work down the D2/D3 list.

The top D3 schools are Tufts, Amherst and then the rest. Amherst really likes sports but it is a small school and feels very small. Also for Tufts, Amherst, Williams the grades and test scores as a tough as the Ivies (in some ways harder since they don't have as many admissions slots (they have a little pull for their "top" recruit). They are very happy to have a top level player but most of the top level players wanted to go an Ivy but didn't get in or make the team (at least when my son visited Tufts and Amherst that is what the better players there said).

As far as money many D3 end up giving "merit" scholarship (instead of a sports scholarship) for similar money (ie $13k).

The other big item to consider or at least ask is "what time of day does the team practice?"
Ivies are after classes are over, a few D1 schools practice after 5pm but many practice during the day (which makes picking classes very hard). Also if the academic support center hours are during practice time that doesn't help either. How many games require taking a plane and missing school days?

When we asked about academic support center at Tufts, the answer was "if you get into Tufts, you don't need academic support"

[Unregistered]

Curios, why wasn't D2 higher up on the list? Isn't that what comes after D1?
And why was it important for top D3 vs. any D3. At that point, isn't the quality of the school, fit, and financial aid more Important than W-L record?

For many families the D2 academics aren't up to snuff. Since almost none will ever go pro the quality of the school and a future career should take priority. There's some good D2 schools but not many. Some D2 programs carry huge numbers of internationals, even more than D1s, because the academic requirements aren't as strong.

[Unregistered]

There are not many D2 schools in the area (Assumption, Southern New Hampshire, Bentley not sure of the others) If those are schools you are interested in that is great. Some kids user SNHU for a year and then transfer.

The win and loss record is a good indicator if the school cares about soccer. If they lose alot then is it the coach, the players or inability to recruit for the league.

Kids that are really into soccer are not as focused on the quality of the education and it takes some talking and also the reality of the situation for them to change their minds. By that time if they haven't courted many schools they may be out of luck and have to work down the D2/D3 list.

The top D3 schools are Tufts, Amherst and then the rest. Amherst really likes sports but it is a small school and feels very small. Also for Tufts, Amherst, Williams the grades and test scores as a tough as the Ivies (in some ways harder since they don't have as many admissions slots (they have a little pull for their "top" recruit). They are very happy to have a top level player but most of the top level players wanted to go an Ivy but didn't get in or make the team (at least when my son visited Tufts and Amherst that is what the better players there said).

As far as money many D3 end up giving "merit" scholarship (instead of a sports scholarship) for similar money (ie $13k).

The other big item to consider or at least ask is "what time of day does the team practice?"
Ivies are after classes are over, a few D1 schools practice after 5pm but many practice during the day (which makes picking classes very hard). Also if the academic support center hours are during practice time that doesn't help either. How many games require taking a plane and missing school days?

When we asked about academic support center at Tufts, the answer was "if you get into Tufts, you don't need academic support"

You need the grades to get into D3s. The coach may have a little sway with admissions but not much. You can't be too far out of academic norms. As for merit money., yes they give merit money, but you have to be above average for their admittance pool to get substantive $. However academic money sticks all four years unless you can't keep your GPA up.

You are correct there is no academic support at D3s other than whatever the school offers any student. D1s give tremendous support. Most coaches don't want players who may struggle academically, no matter the program level. Keeping up your grades and getting good test scores opens more doors

[Unregistered]

My son is a sophomore so we have been doing some ID camps and talking about colleges every now and then (he loves to play so the ID camps are fun for him but we don't talk too much about it because it's too early to overwhelm him). He basically has the same list as above (he follows college football and soccer so he is very familiar with all the big schools) but I try to be realistic...I am honestly curious (not a troll lunatic). Does your son play academy and what is his GPA? I am not trying to start the Academy vs Non-Academy discussion. My thought is with the large number of internationals and academy players filling the rosters at Top D1 it seems very difficult to play high D1. Also, with the Ivies - Even if you are you a great player you still need roughly a 4.0 GPA, right? I might be trying to set the bar too low but, besides my sophomore, I have two non-athletes...one in college and one applying at colleges so I have some GPA and college app experience). My sophomore wanted to play for his high school (high D1) for the experience and to be with his friends, so high club level was the only other option. There's no turning back now so I am trying to be realistic with which ID camps he attends (can't do them all and the group camps with multiple asst coaches don't seem as good as the private camps).

I apologize if this derails the thread with crazies (or maybe I am one of the crazies).

My son played Academy. Top D1 is for those who are very good and have these traits
1. Top scorer
2. Tall, big, fast (college game more like high school with substitution rules, lots of fresh legs to press the defense).
3. National team starter
4. Is given lots of exposure by their Academy club
5. Have some connection with the D1 college coach

Unless you are #1,2,3 in the above list you need 4.0 out of 5.0 GPA and over 1400 SAT for Ivies. Maybe if you have a 3.5 GPA and perfect SAT scores that might work. If you can get in without using one of their admissions slots they will take you (depending on if the school is rebuilding their program (like Princeton just did with many top Academy freshman this year) they will have about 4 slots). For the Ivy academic index the GPA is weighted twice and then the SAT score comes in.

Top D1 is not likely with all of the International players. The top Academy players are starting to go Ivies (and they also have International players). So try camps for schools in the top 100 academic and also reasonable good D1 soccer and D3 soccer. The NESAC schools are all good and look at Patriot League (Holy Cross, BU), A10 (Umass, Fordham, URI), America East,...

[Unregistered]

D1

Owen Schwartz, ?, Worcester Academy, Brown
Nick Awada, Bolts, Westford, Bryant
John Muckstadt, GPS, Dover Sherborn, Colgate
Eli Gould, Black Rock, NMH, Colgate
Nick Steed, Black Rock, Berkshire, Colgate
Jack Ostrosky, Bolts, Rutland, Holy Cross
Andrew White, Revs, Boxborough, Lehigh
Camden Blackburn, Revs, Ludlow, UMass*
Christian Pulselli, Bolts, Pembroke, Michigan
Jacques Baldwin, GPS, Brookline, Northeastern
Colby Hegarty, Bolts, Nipmuc, Northeastern
Deng Deng Kur, ?, Berkshire, Northwestern
Tyler Freitas, Revs, N Attleboro, UVM
Jeremy Verley, ?, Milton, UVA
Jacob Shaffelburg, Black Rock, Berkshire, UVA
Nicholas Berghold, Black Rock, Berkshire, UVA


D3

Declan Sung, Bolts, Newton, Amherst
Michael Webber, NEFC, Rivers, Bowdoin
Jack Marvel, Liverpool FC, Tabor, Conn College
Justin D’Alessandro, FCStars, Middlesex, Hamilton
Minka Soumah, South Bronx, NMH, Kenyon
David McCrory, Black Rock, Berkshire, Kenyon
Jonah Johnson, Exeter, Milton, Swarthmore
Bryce Visnick, NEFC, Beverley, Tufts

[Unregistered]

There are not many D2 schools in the area (Assumption, Southern New Hampshire, Bentley not sure of the others) If those are schools you are interested in that is great. Some kids user SNHU for a year and then transfer.

The win and loss record is a good indicator if the school cares about soccer. If they lose alot then is it the coach, the players or inability to recruit for the league.

Kids that are really into soccer are not as focused on the quality of the education and it takes some talking and also the reality of the situation for them to change their minds. By that time if they haven't courted many schools they may be out of luck and have to work down the D2/D3 list.

The top D3 schools are Tufts, Amherst and then the rest. Amherst really likes sports but it is a small school and feels very small. Also for Tufts, Amherst, Williams the grades and test scores as a tough as the Ivies (in some ways harder since they don't have as many admissions slots (they have a little pull for their "top" recruit). They are very happy to have a top level player but most of the top level players wanted to go an Ivy but didn't get in or make the team (at least when my son visited Tufts and Amherst that is what the better players there said).

As far as money many D3 end up giving "merit" scholarship (instead of a sports scholarship) for similar money (ie $13k).

The other big item to consider or at least ask is "what time of day does the team practice?"
Ivies are after classes are over, a few D1 schools practice after 5pm but many practice during the day (which makes picking classes very hard). Also if the academic support center hours are during practice time that doesn't help either. How many games require taking a plane and missing school days?

When we asked about academic support center at Tufts, the answer was "if you get into Tufts, you don't need academic support"

Some quality local D2 soccer below! Yikes !
https://lemoynedolphins.com/news/201...ocBentley.aspx

[Unregistered]

My son played Academy. Top D1 is for those who are very good and have these traits
1. Top scorer
2. Tall, big, fast (college game more like high school with substitution rules, lots of fresh legs to press the defense).
3. National team starter
4. Is given lots of exposure by their Academy club
5. Have some connection with the D1 college coach

Unless you are #1,2,3 in the above list you need 4.0 out of 5.0 GPA and over 1400 SAT for Ivies. Maybe if you have a 3.5 GPA and perfect SAT scores that might work. If you can get in without using one of their admissions slots they will take you (depending on if the school is rebuilding their program (like Princeton just did with many top Academy freshman this year) they will have about 4 slots). For the Ivy academic index the GPA is weighted twice and then the SAT score comes in.

Top D1 is not likely with all of the International players. The top Academy players are starting to go Ivies (and they also have International players). So try camps for schools in the top 100 academic and also reasonable good D1 soccer and D3 soccer. The NESAC schools are all good and look at Patriot League (Holy Cross, BU), A10 (Umass, Fordham, URI), America East,...

Great info...this is where I was at mentally but wasn't ready to fully acknowledge. Thanks for taking the time to respond.

[Unregistered]

My son played Academy. Top D1 is for those who are very good and have these traits
1. Top scorer
2. Tall, big, fast (college game more like high school with substitution rules, lots of fresh legs to press the defense).
3. National team starter
4. Is given lots of exposure by their Academy club
5. Have some connection with the D1 college coach

Can we get a consensus on "Top D1?"

What does top refer to, just the soccer, just the academics, or a blend of both?

Off the top of my head I'd have:

Wake Forest
UNC
Duke
UVA
Stanford
Georgetown

I based my list off of admissions selectivity and soccer ranking.

[Unregistered]

Can we get a consensus on "Top D1?"

What does top refer to, just the soccer, just the academics, or a blend of both?

Off the top of my head I'd have:

Wake Forest
UNC
Duke
UVA
Stanford
Georgetown

I based my list off of admissions selectivity and soccer ranking.

I think when most talk about "top D1" it's focused on soccer, the quality of the talent and consistent performance at the top year after year. Look at the top programs right now. Not all are top academic programs. There's other great schools that aren't "top" soccer programs either.

Wake
Indiana
Louisville
UNC
Kentucky
Notre Dame
Virginia
St mary's
Stanford
VA Tech
Duke
Maryland
UCF
Akron
Georgetown
Charlotte
denver
UNH
Syracuse
URI