Zombie is correct.
The answer to your questions are:
1. Eclipse and Hawks directors believe the easiest path to Natties is to discourage competition, and the path to profitability is having two teams per age group. Hard to argue that is a bad strategy. It is short-sighted, however, as it makes the GAL league look almost on par with ECNL (just in the Midwest). but....
2. High school soccer seasons are kind of a patchwork in the Midwest. Michigan is in the spring, while Indiana and Ohio are fall. This will be the answer to the question asked in two years... Why did GAL fail in the Midwest? That along with Lavers eventually figuring out he no longer needs to fear his board members, and inviting a few more quality Midwest teams into ECNL.