How do leagues stack up?

[RandomSoccerFan]

Have noy had a chane to download the app yet....for this CA breakdown (assuming its across all ages), is there no SOCAL NPL? It cant be #9 behind CSL can it? lol

Links for the app (Apple/Android) are at the top of this page. It's free to see team/club rankings, it's $10/year (with a 30-day free trial) to see all the game history for every team, the actual ratings #, and to be able to make edits/corrections to your team's history.

There is nothing in the app that directly compares entire leagues. Mark is doing this analysis by running his own queries on the back-end database that supports the app. From the app you can get some of the info (by searching for teams with GA in the name, or NPL in the name, or DPL), but there is no direct way to compile or gather statistics at scale. And going by team name only works if the teams are named predictably - and you have to throw out any teams that come up that happen to have "GA" in their name, but aren't GA teams, for example.

Not sure why he has Norcal NPL and not SoCal NPL in his categories for the league analysis he did. It's quite possible that NPL includes all of CA and he just mislabeled it Norcal NPL.

 

[aong cangkol]

New visual reference that reflects the current SR California League Analysis data. If the average was within 2 GD of the Top League, I placed them in the same Tier. I figure within 2 GD is same level of play. Any more than that, and they move down to the next Tier (Tiers are in 2 GD increments). Get your excuses ready.
View attachment 15791

On the younger age U12 and under, there are Pre-ECNL flight 1 and Pre-ECNL Flight 2. Maybe they are trying to compete with SOCAL league for the lower flights. The idea is to feed them into ECRL.
Does EA try to recruit clubs from ECNLboys? EA2 is definitely designed to compete with ECRL and SOCAL.
ECNLGirls and MLSNext are the top level, beyond that is questionable. I don't think competition in ECRL, Elite64, DPL is better than SOCAL flight 1. Top teams are most likely better but looking at the scores, they seem to struggle to get more than 5 high level teams.

 

[ToonArmy]

My money is on GA & E64 rising slightly and ECRL falling off mostly based on kids not wanting to play on a "B" team when "A" teams in strong leagues are recruiting them. Nothing says a club believes in your kid like putting them on the top team.

Yep agree. Not only B team vs A team but look at the colleges attending GA exclusive showcases compared to ECRL exclusive showcases its a no brainer.

 

[Code]

Have noy had a chane to download the app yet....for this CA breakdown (assuming its across all ages), is there no SOCAL NPL? It cant be #9 behind CSL can it? lol

I can't be sure, but I believe that because the data from SOCAL NPL is from the same web source as the Flight 1 through 4 teams, it just becomes one source; SOCAL. The NORCAL NPL has a separate source bracket for their NPL schedules and results, and each region, so it is an independent source. If you look at the individual age group rankings, the SOCAL NPL and NORCAL NPL teams seem to be equally distributed throughout the #25 and #125 range, along with the other Leagues. I think it would be reasonable to consider the NORCAL and SOCAL NPL teams at the same level.

 

[RandomSoccerFan]

I'm just guessing at what Mark's doing to pull this together, but I hope that he is not just pointing exclusively to the primary data source of the league to rank the strength of the teams in the league, and only applying those game results to the teams in question. Instead, I'm hoping he's looking the strength/ratings of the teams in the particular league, inclusive of all the recorded matches that are assigned to that team. In some cases - there is no difference (like MLS Next, where teams pretty much exclusively play MLS Next). But for almost every other league, teams have game data from their primary league(s) plus all of the tournaments they play throughout the year. That game data, and those ratings, should be what's going in to the team ratings, and therefore these calculated league strength ratings.

 

[RedDevil24]

Links for the app (Apple/Android) are at the top of this page. It's free to see team/club rankings, it's $10/year (with a 30-day free trial) to see all the game history for every team, the actual ratings #, and to be able to make edits/corrections to your team's history.

There is nothing in the app that directly compares entire leagues. Mark is doing this analysis by running his own queries on the back-end database that supports the app. From the app you can get some of the info (by searching for teams with GA in the name, or NPL in the name, or DPL), but there is no direct way to compile or gather statistics at scale. And going by team name only works if the teams are named predictably - and you have to throw out any teams that come up that happen to have "GA" in their name, but aren't GA teams, for example.

Not sure why he has Norcal NPL and not SoCal NPL in his categories for the league analysis he did. It's quite possible that NPL includes all of CA and he just mislabeled it Norcal NPL.

Gotcha Thank you. I figured it might be something like you mentioned at the end there

 

[futboldad1]

For girls, the indisputable top option is ECNL based on average player/team quality and quality/number of top college commits

GA is a good option for kids who don't make an ECNL team or have a good relationship with their current coach/club. Then there is ECRL which is continuing to get stronger and will likely provide additional good college exposure over the next year or two. It's helpful to have three good options!

For boys, it's MLS Next followed by ECNL.

 

[Carlsbad7]

For girls, the indisputable top option is ECNL based on average player/team quality and quality/number of top college commits

GA is a good option for kids who don't make an ECNL team or have a good relationship with their current coach/club. Then there is ECRL which is continuing to get stronger and will likely provide additional good college exposure over the next year or two. It's helpful to have three good options!

For boys, it's MLS Next followed by ECNL.

Keep in mind that the ECNL is very strong in Socal.

In other geos GA is strong.

 

[tjinaz]

Keep in mind that the ECNL is very strong in Socal.

In other geos GA is strong.

The issue with GA here in the SW is all the good teams went ECNL and GA has been struggling to bring in teams of equal quality. That is why you see the 9-0 13-0 league game scores. Imagine the parent that drives 5hrs and spends $600 to watch their kids team lose by that margin... then do it week after week. I wouldn't want to pay that money just to be embarrassed so if my DD has talent i would go to any ECNL team and potentially ECRL and try to get moved up rather than GA. GA will make or break based on their lower teams not their higher. They will be competitive against ECNL when most of their teams are competitive not just the top two or three.

 

[X5000]

Here is why we pay money to play for the GA. It is incredible what the league has accomplished since the collapse of the DA in the spring of 2020, in the middle of a pandemic. The Commissioner, Lesle Gallimore, is an amazing role model for girls. With more and more scandals emerging in the women’s game and with youth teams, Lesle Gallimore is the right person to lead a girls league and create better conditions and broader pathways for our daughters. Attaching a link to an interview with Lesle. I am very glad she is in charge.
Lesle Gallimore Interview 2020

The second reason we pay money to play for the GA is for the extensive exposure players get to USYNT and college scouts. Players get top quality exposure through their talent ID pathway, and top teams get top quality exposure through Champions League matchups. Here is the list of college scouts at the December Champions League event.
GA Scout List - Dec 2022

If you are a parent of a talented player on the B team of any of the top ECNL teams in SoCal, why not come to GA and immediately get the same exposure the ECNL teams are getting? Or you could spend 2-3 seasons hoping for a spot on the top team. Same goes for parents of talented players on teams in the the bottom half of the ECNL table or bench players in the top teams. My daughter plays in the GA in SoCal, and made it to the recent US Soccer U14 West Region Mini-Camp in Chula Vista. I don’t think she would have been scouted playing ECRL and I don’t think there were any ECRL players at the camp.

The GA is working very hard for its players and I have to believe parents will start to figure that out. I understand for development that players should try to play at the highest level of competition they can, and my view is that in SoCal that is the top half of the ECNL tables. But if that is not an option for a talented player or if they’re not getting play time in the ECNL because of politics and favoritism, the GA could be the answer. It has 100% delivered for my daughter so far.

The GA has been operational for maybe two full seasons in SoCal? It’s true that it’s teams may never rival the top ECNL teams in SoCal, but that doesn’t mean it won’t work just as hard for its players and give them just as good exposure if they want to play college, nationally, professionally, or follow Lesle Gallimore’s vision of them staying in the women’s game by being a coach, an agent, a commissioner, etc. I don’t think we should write off the GA just yet.

 

[Socal-Soccer-Dad]

just want a solid coach with solid players

don't we all... don't we all...

 

[Socal-Soccer-Dad]

If you scroll through the Soccer Rankings for California Teams, there are a lot of EA, ECNL, and MLS Next Teams all intermingled throughout the top 30 teams. So if you are a believer in the app rankings, then yes, except for maybe the top 10% of MLS Next teams, it looks like EA is neck and neck here in SoCal. Hopefully we can get SR to do a California specific analysis for the leagues. Then we can all stop speculating.

I would think the best of the EA teams from the clubs without MLS Next and only EA are pretty on par with middle of the road MLS Next teams.
However any team with an MLS Next team and an EA team, their MLS Next Team would, in most cases - I know there will be exceptions, be clearly better than EA teams.

 

[VanMan]

My money is on GA & E64 rising slightly and ECRL falling off mostly based on kids not wanting to play on a "B" team when "A" teams in strong leagues are recruiting them. Nothing says a club believes in your kid like putting them on the top team.

Depends on what the relative situations are between the A team at one club vs the B team at another. If the A team is getting its ass handed to it constantly, for whatever reason, the B team at another club starts to look a lot better.

 

[Carlsbad7]

Depends on what the relative situations are between the A team at one club vs the B team at another. If the A team is getting its ass handed to it constantly, for whatever reason, the B team at another club starts to look a lot better.

This what I see as well.

Being in a super league only matters if your team is competitive in that league. If your team is getting blown out week after week why are you there? This holds true for ECNL GA NPL ABC XYZ. Once you get to older age groups the focus changes from winning tournaments to looking good at showcases for college / pro scouts. Simply put if your team is not winning they're also not getting looked at by scouts.

 

[Soccer Dad & Ref]

This what I see as well.

Being in a super league only matters if your team is competitive in that league. If your team is getting blown out week after week why are you there? This holds true for ECNL GA NPL ABC XYZ. Once you get to older age groups the focus changes from winning tournaments to looking good at showcases for college / pro scouts. Simply put if your team is not winning they're also not getting looked at by scouts.

My daughter just got cut from the XYZ team, do you know if ABC is looking?

 

[RandomSoccerFan]

Simply put if your team is not winning they're also not getting looked at by scouts.

Perhaps - but those same scouts are watching the same games, and there are two teams on the field. It's quite possible a standout player gets more visibility on a subpar top-league team than on a very good team not in that league. It's a given that that same standout player would get more visibility on a better team in the top league - but that's not the hypothetical option that's being considered here.

 

[Jamisfoes]

I would think the best of the EA teams from the clubs without MLS Next and only EA are pretty on par with middle of the road MLS Next teams.
However any team with an MLS Next team and an EA team, their MLS Next Team would, in most cases - I know there will be exceptions, be clearly better than EA teams.

Do you think strong EA teams are an Orange county thing? I can see kids from rich families not wanting to make the drive to LA to play on strong MLS next teams. College scholarship and professional opportunities mean nothing to these kids. So they tend to stay and play EA. As long as they beat MLS next teams in tournaments, they are happy.

 

[Happened again]

I suppose "a" comparison is always going to be a thing for parents, we all have our reasons for it....There is room for a few national leagues on the girls side. College coaches don't care and multiple leagues gives them the ability to see/recruit players they normally wouldn't have access to. If you know one, ask the their opinion. I would bet that sometimes they don't even know what league the kid plays in...they are recruiting so many players that the leagues become alphabet soup.

What parents should be doing is critiquing the recruiting process and holding their clubs accountable to provide the guidance promised once you fork over the $$$. Clubs thrive on exclusivity and parents fall for it every time.

 

[tjinaz]

Another aspect of this is what the kids and parents want. Even on top ECNL teams not every player is going to get or wants a Power 5 offer. See many players going ECRL and even DPL because they want the tier 1 activity on their college applications but don't want the time commitment or pressure playing top ECNL team. Many players pick Div 2, 3 or NAIA simply because they want to play. Plenty of good kids get Div 1 offers and may never see the field as they recruit 10 new players every year. Some kids want to play and go to school and enjoy it without overwhelming pressure.

 

[tjinaz]

Perhaps - but those same scouts are watching the same games, and there are two teams on the field. It's quite possible a standout player gets more visibility on a subpar top-league team than on a very good team not in that league. It's a given that that same standout player would get more visibility on a better team in the top league - but that's not the hypothetical option that's being considered here.

Also your kid can play for a great team but not get much playing time. Not going to get noticed if you are not on the field.

 

[Speed]

For your high school, is there one club team that a bunch of the players are from? That might be the best place to go. Of the HS teams I am familiar with, they all tend to have one non-acronym team that they get a cluster of players from. They have 2-3 stars from acronym teams, but the bulk of the players have to come from somewhere and the coaches like them to get reps together if possible.

Thank you, there was a team but the majority of the players graduated last year. Coach tried to rebuild this year but couldn't and decided at that age every year will be a re-build due to graduation so he has gone on to youngers.