younothat
PREMIER
"According to its website, 1,224 of 1,346 ECNL seniors graduating in 2016 will go on to play soccer in college. And 969 (79 percent) of them, are signed to NCAA Division I programs. In addition, ECNL players account for more than 80 percent of the total U.S. Soccer Youth national team player pool.
It’s difficult to understand why U.S. Soccer would create a developmental program for girls when the ECNL already serves that purpose; several top club coaches in the Washington Metropolitan area said an alliance might be more beneficial, as this setup is sure to dilute rosters. Plus, a decade in, and the USMNT is still waiting for the academy to spring the next superstar. The USWNT has seen wave after wave of them. And 18-year-old Mallory Pugh, who reportedly remained loyal to her high school squad despite her busy schedule and national team call-ups, seems to be leading the next one—last summer she became the youngest player in U.S. history to score in the Olympics, according to U.S. Soccer’s website"
"As with the boys’ academy, there is sure to be a learning curve with the girl’s program over the next few years. But for now, young girls stand at a crossroads in their respective soccer careers, and it’s hard to know which is the best path to take.
“If you take away camaraderie, the aspect of playing for your team, from the girls side…I think if you gave the top players in the country the choice of playing at a high level for ECNL and the ability to play high school, or the ability to play at an equivalent level at the academy, you’ll lose kids because they want to play for high school,” Wiese said. “I think high school soccer is much closer to the [team-oriented] college soccer environment.”
That last sentence is one of the reasons my junior DD is not interested in DA at the moment.