GIRLS DAII

C.A.M. said:
So this is the breakdown for the age groups for the boys and girls for 2017. Age pure seems to be the direction they are going at least through U15 (2003).
http://www.ussoccerda.com/20170110-...duces-u15-single-age-group-for-2017-18-season
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It seems to make sense for a couple of reasons.

- You get more girls involved vs dual band. More teams...more playing time.
- Singe age band is currently an advantage for ECNL as a whole. Make DA single band...and suddenly one of the advantages of ECNL goes away.
 
Dos Equis said:
After watching around 6 different Blues teams accross multiple age groups, it appears the Blues have developed a consistent style, perhaps a trickle down from the Bakers' success, and it is very direct. But the Bakers combine that style with gifted athletes who generally have a very good to elite level first touch, can finish extremely well, and have the drive and intensity (or are driven with intensity) to win almost every 50/50 ball.

With some exceptions, it does resemble the style of a lot of college soccer, including of few successful local colleges. Nearly every college coach claims they play possession soccer, but reality is far different.
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Not just nearly every college coach, but club teams too..."promote they play possession".
 
C.A.M. said:
From what I have seen at tourneys they have the horses to play ultra aggressive on ball high press all game and find girls running into areas with through balls or over the top. A lot of one touch into space with quick build ups to finishers or shooting from outside the box causing saves that the finishers can clean up.

Other Blues teams try to emulate, but don't come close to doing it as well. Whenever we played Blues last season they played possession against us because that was our game. Other games it looked like kick ball.
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IDK if ALL the Baker players have a good first touch. I know one on their 01 players does. Don't be fooled by any player flicking a ball forward as having a great first touch. IMO, it doesn't compare to taking a 1st touch into space away from an incoming defender and playing in a more controlled fashion.
 
NoGoal said:
Outside, you maybe familiar with DeAnza in my DDs 98/99 age group. Nobody can argue that they play the closest style of play as Barca, because Andres Deza (old coach) is Spanish. Believe this or not. There was a knock on the DeAnza players and it was can they adapt to the college game? Now the 1st wave of graduated players just finished their freshmen college season. I believe only Tierna Davidson from Stanford made a huge impact in the college game and she is a holding mid. Their former forwards did NOT light up the goal sheet as freshmens.

So for the younger parents, be careful what you wish in playing possession soccer, because the college game is another beast on it's own.
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Samantha Tran is one our favorite players from that group. I had a chance to watch the Stanford vs Washington game on Pac 12 Network and was so disappointed in how Stanford defenders passed the midfielders up to just launch the ball forward. Samantha was basically useless because she never had a chance to be involved. Same for the other wings. Very sad.
 
NoGoal said:
IDK if ALL the Baker players have a good first touch. I know one on their 01 players does. Don't be fooled by any player flicking a ball forward as having a great first touch. IMO, it doesn't compare to taking a 1st touch into space away from an incoming defender and playing in a more controlled fashion.
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Agreed
 
C.A.M. said:
No sir. It is 03 only. 04s have their own. They were suppose to be be a combo but the clubs told US Soccer that was going to be a disservice for the 04s since the squads would be 03 heavy. US Soccer listened and split them up.

Now the 01s/02s are combined. The 02s are at the same disservice the 04s would have been with only 3-4 per squad from what I am seeing. That means a lot of 02s either find new clubs to play DA, stay and play DA2 or go ECNL.

My thing is they should simply make it all age pure if they can. The 02 year is stacked with a lot of fabulous players that deserve to play at the highest level.
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That sucks for the uncommitted 02's, because they will be rising HS Sophomores and this year is their #1 college recruiting year.
 
C.A.M. said:
Samantha Tran is one our favorite players from that group. I had a chance to watch the Stanford vs Washington game on Pac 12 Network and was so disappointed in how Stanford defenders passed the midfielders up to just launch the ball forward. Samantha was basically useless because she never had a chance to be involved. Same for the other wings. Very sad.
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And Stanford is one of the better possession teams in college soccer, besides UCLA and UVA. I would have thought Tran being a former YNT player would slide right into the college game in Stanford's style of play. Now Tran will be in a battle just for minutes with incoming forwards Macario, Haley, and Khulmann.

Maybe there is some merit by the college D1 head coach wondering if their youth development would transfer into success in the college game. Tran's former partner in crime CAL's Kayla Fong also had similar results her freshmen year.
 
C.A.M. said:
They have been doing that for at least the last 6 years. They don't really press off it anymore so it's really just the first turnover of the game.
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Played the '06's in the Finals of Legends and Man city over the past 2 weeks. They were pressing off the direct style play and successful at doing it.
 
Did Rennie so his signature attempt to score directly from kickoff by bringing his CB up.
That was his signature move 2013-2014.
 
NoGoal said:
And Stanford is one of the better possession teams in college soccer, besides UCLA and UVA. I would have thought Tran being a former YNT player would slide right into the college game in Stanford's style of play. Now Tran will be in a battle just for minutes with incoming forwards Macario, Haley, and Khulmann.

Maybe there is some merit by the college D1 head coach wondering if their youth development would transfer into success in the college game. Tran's former partner in crime CAL's Kayla Fong also had similar results her freshmen year.
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They didn't play possession though. Even the announcers were perplexed. All game the defenders just checked the ball forward. Tran should have slotted in because Stanford and UCLA do play possession soccer. Note the defenders were high ranking freshmen coming in also and may be they need to grow i to the possession game since it usually starts from the back.
 
C.A.M. said:
They didn't play possession though. Even the announcers were perplexed. All game the defenders just checked the ball forward. Tran should have slotted in because Stanford and UCLA do play possession soccer. Note the defenders were high ranking freshmen coming in also and may be they need to grow i to the possession game since it usually starts from the back.
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Stanford had a problem at right back all year. They have a player coming in this year that will solve thst problem for them.
 
NoGoal said:
IDK if ALL the Baker players have a good first touch. I know one on their 01 players does. Don't be fooled by any player flicking a ball forward as having a great first touch. IMO, it doesn't compare to taking a 1st touch into space away from an incoming defender and playing in a more controlled fashion.
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Was primarily referring to the o2s. Having seen them play a half dozen times, I am pretty confident they have an excellent first touch as a group, are in control of where the ball is going -- even if it is into a space they know they have the speed to get to first, and the technique to control and produce a result. And they finish better than any girls'/women's team I have seen -- ever. That is 8 years of watching college soccer, 12 years of watching club soccer, and around 14 years watching the WPSL and the various women's professional leagues who have come and gone.

I am not a homer, nor a fan of the coaching style, nor an advocate for the style of play. But I can appreciate what that team is good at, and acknoweldge no team has matched or even approached the athleticism and skill, in three years, that are required to play posession and beat them.
 
Dos Equis said:
Was primarily referring to the o2s. Having seen them play a half dozen times, I am pretty confident they have an excellent first touch as a group, are in control of where the ball is going -- even if it is into a space they know they have the speed to get to first, and the technique to control and produce a result. And they finish better than any girls'/women's team I have seen -- ever. That is 8 years of watching college soccer, 12 years of watching club soccer, and around 14 years watching the WPSL and the various women's professional leagues who have come and gone.

I am not a homer, nor a fan of the coaching style, nor an advocate for the style of play. But I can appreciate what that team is good at, and acknoweldge no team has matched or even approached the athleticism and skill, in three years, that are required to play posession and beat them.
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Man the only chance is park the bus hard, but even that is nearly impossible because they can finish from 30 yards out top corner and you simply can't counter on them consistently without being punished for it over and over.

They grew up a lot from that lost they took against that Michigan team in National Cup two years ago. They just tried to punk that team and didn't play the ball. Michigan took the punishment and kept trucking then got the one goal they needed. Now the Bakers play the ball and play the ball well defensively. They control the flow of the game. I mean you are talking about a team that was down a goal or two at half and put up more than 8 in the second half against top notch teams.
 
MakeAPlay said:
Stanford had a problem at right back all year. They have a player coming in this year that will solve thst problem for them.
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Explains a lot because Samantha plays the right side on that team. Amazing how important good synchronicity is for teams to truly flourish to their maximum.
 
C.A.M. said:
Explains a lot because Samantha plays the right side on that team. Amazing how important good synchronicity is for teams to truly flourish to their maximum.
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Having watched most of Stanford's games last year I will say that they simply had better attacking options than Tran. Her game to me seems predicated on speed and to be quite honest with you being fast at the club level doesn't mean that a player is fast when compared to top D1 competition. When my players team played them they had 3 attacking players that made their team go and they were Sullivan, Xiao and Dibiasi. Davidson was seriously outplayed by her matchup and Tran didn't play much as she wasn't able to hold onto the ball against more athletic defenders.

If a player can't make plays with a team that has arguably the biggest stockpile of talent in D1 when would they make plays? I saw DeAnza play and although they play nice soccer they are nowhere near as talented as the Cardinal.
 
Dos Equis said:
Was primarily referring to the o2s. Having seen them play a half dozen times, I am pretty confident they have an excellent first touch as a group, are in control of where the ball is going -- even if it is into a space they know they have the speed to get to first, and the technique to control and produce a result. And they finish better than any girls'/women's team I have seen -- ever. That is 8 years of watching college soccer, 12 years of watching club soccer, and around 14 years watching the WPSL and the various women's professional leagues who have come and gone.

I am not a homer, nor a fan of the coaching style, nor an advocate for the style of play. But I can appreciate what that team is good at, and acknoweldge no team has matched or even approached the athleticism and skill, in three years, that are required to play posession and beat them.
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That is a big statement. Teams tend to look clinical when they are playing less talented teams. When they come up against players that are more athletic then they are is when the Baker style breaks down.

I got to see their Breakaway team up close on several occasions (my daughters teammate had a sister on the team) and my player trained with the Bakers's and I think that they are good skills trainers. I only remember 2 of them having decent college careers at good D1's.
 
MakeAPlay said:
Having watched most of Stanford's games last year I will say that they simply had better attacking options than Tran. Her game to me seems predicated on speed and to be quite honest with you being fast at the club level doesn't mean that a player is fast when compared to top D1 competition. When my players team played them they had 3 attacking players that made their team go and they were Sullivan, Xiao and Dibiasi. Davidson was seriously outplayed by her matchup and Tran didn't play much as she wasn't able to hold onto the ball against more athletic defenders.

If a player can't make plays with a team that has arguably the biggest stockpile of talent in D1 when would they make plays? I saw DeAnza play and although they play nice soccer they are nowhere near as talented as the Cardinal.
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Being a UCLA family we are planning in going to the UCLA vs Stanford game. I am interested if Tran will make the adjustment. It did seem as if her teammates didn't trust her and her confidence was low. The first touch was lacking, which isn't like her.

I really appreciate the insight on what you are seeing at D1. Frankly because of my daughters body type, skill set and mind set I have always encouraged her to watch the mens pro game. May be that is why she hasn't fit the ECNL/ODP subset they look for to say a player shines. She plays to her strengths and her opponents weaknesses in a whatever way it helps the team. I have noticed that allows her to play one or two years up and always be able to adjust into whatever style a team plays and whatever speed. Basically we have always built to the future.

We will make sure to refine some points to ensure she is has weapons available to keep her relevant at the D1 level also.
 
MakeAPlay said:
That is a big statement. Teams tend to look clinical when they are playing less talented teams. When they come up against players that are more athletic then they are is when the Baker style breaks down.

I got to see their Breakaway team up close on several occasions (my daughters teammate had a sister on the team) and my player trained with the Bakers's and I think that they are good skills trainers. I only remember 2 of them having decent college careers at good D1's.
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It is a big statement, and I used to say the same things about the team in terms of vulnerability, but since the age group change, they are undefeated in the best league in the country, and have played all comers without once breaking down. Before that, they were undefeated as well for what -- almost 2 years? 100+ games?

I am not saying they are the best players at any level, nor will they all stand out when top talent is aggregated (like it is at a D1 college). But as a team in their peer group, they are clinical in their approach, and I have come to believe that is what sets them apart the most, combined with a higher than average level of skills as a team (resulting in fewer mistakes). There are 3-5 girls on most top teams who have similar skills and drive, and can compete with them. But not 11, in my experience.

I am not advocating for the Bakers, as between their sideline behavior and the style of play, there is no fit for my daugher -- she likes the ball at her feet and the criticism constructive. But I acknowledge the talents of that group of girls, as they deserve it.

And thanks for the Breakaway reminder. That bring back some memories of those pre-ECNL, pre-DA days, when not all was as perfect as we recall.
 
Dos Equis said:
Was primarily referring to the o2s. Having seen them play a half dozen times, I am pretty confident they have an excellent first touch as a group, are in control of where the ball is going -- even if it is into a space they know they have the speed to get to first, and the technique to control and produce a result. And they finish better than any girls'/women's team I have seen -- ever. That is 8 years of watching college soccer, 12 years of watching club soccer, and around 14 years watching the WPSL and the various women's professional leagues who have come and gone.

I am not a homer, nor a fan of the coaching style, nor an advocate for the style of play. But I can appreciate what that team is good at, and acknoweldge no team has matched or even approached the athleticism and skill, in three years, that are required to play posession and beat them.
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Let's just say I watched one of the Bakers 02 players in HS game and I was NOT impressed. She has average skill and touch, only thing she had was height at 5'8". Instead, I was impressed by a 01 Arsenal ECNL player from the same HS school team. Later I found the player who impressed me is being recruited by Utah and Northeastern.
 
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