Sir!

@futbalfan... very good points and insight. I agree that we'll likely continue to see an increase in foreign players on women's college rosters. We might need some kind of border adjustment tax or that deficit will continue to grow.

Arguably girls have greater opportunities in college soccer; and boys (unsurprisingly) better opportunities to play professionally. I wonder how much this reflected in advocacy/marketing for the DAs on the boys and girls side. For an admittedly limited comparison that highlights the differences:

D1 College Soccer:

There are about 320 D1 women's soccer programs, each with up to 14 full scholarships per team = up to 4,480 full (equivalent) sholarships, depending of course on funding.

There are something like 205 men's D1 programs, each with up to 9.9 full scholarships per team = 2,030 full (equivalent) scholarships, again recognizing that all are not funded.

So... there are more than twice the number of D1 scholarships available for women and (at least at this point) fewer foreign players competing for those spots. Advantage to the ladies.

Professional - Domestic, Top League:

NWSL has 10 teams. Salary minimum =$7,200, salary ceiling =$39,700 and team salary cap =$278,000 (doesn't include allocated national team players).

MLS has 22 teams. Salary minimum =$65,000 ($53,000 for reserve team) and team salary cap =$3.8 million.

So... Minimum salary for an MLS reserve player is higher than the salary ceiling for an NWSL starter and the salary cap for a single team in the MLS is higher than the entire league's salary cap for NWSL. Advantage the gents.

Colton Dolezal (Highlands) to play at Thomas More.

Ryan Wolf (Scott) to play at University of Indianapolis.

So is Campbell's boys varsity going to be Highlands boys varsity?

Coach Ewald and Coach Winkler cited similar reasons for stepping down... to spend more time with their family and young children. I would be surprised if Coach Ewald applied for the HHS job.

Highlands Boys Varsity

Campbell County Boys Varsity

... any others?

Coach Ewald did a nice job over 3 years compiling a 33-25-6 record and winning Region 10 in 2016. Position posted at Campbell County on February 9th.

My personal thoughts on DA vs HS+Club:

1) If a player is good enough to play college soccer and plays for a quality HS team and a high level Club team it won't hurt them to not play DA... but they may have to work a bit harder to recruit themselves and there may be fewer opportunities to play in front of college coaches. On the flip side, the best player on a very good team gets more chances to show (be noticed) and sees more of the ball in games. Seeing more of the ball also creates more opportunities to get stronger, but also creates more chances to get hurt.

2) If my HS team was a strong team in the Region and played a challenging schedule, my coach good enough to keep developing me as a player, and I enjoyed my team mates then I'd probably play HS. Take out one of these and I might play DA. Take out two of these and I'm definitely playing DA... assuming I'm good enough to make the DA team.

3) If I'm not "ate up" with soccer, then I'm not playing DA for a chance at a D1 scholarship. If it feels like work to play youth sports, it doesn't get any easier playing high level college soccer. Better to enjoy the HS experience playing for "school" than to miss the chance and end up burned out and playing maybe one year in college.

Put me down in the "not surprised at all column" the NT rosters are being filled by players going out of the DAs' date=' especially on the girls side where it is very, very rare for them to play in Europe as teenagers. My point in asking if the DAs will be successful (success being defined by producing players that win meaningful WC games) was not what programs will the players filling the NT team rosters come from but will these rosters in the next cycle actually win WC pool play games that enable them to advance and win games in the elimination rounds? At this point this should be the goal and expectation of every US soccer fan, anything less is a disappointment.[/quote']

 

I think you'll find that many, if not most, of the teenage Americans (men) currently playing abroad (like Pulisic) are DA products (excluding those who were raised and played their early youth footbal abroad, but can claim American citizenship... like Julian Green). On the women's side not a single DA player has made a NT pool or played D1 soccer yet, but that's because the DA is just starting on the girls side.

 

I expect the US to continue to be strong on the Women's side, even with other countries getting stronger as more girls start playing (we had a head-start on many countries on the women's side, believe it or not). I expect the US to keep improving on the men's side, not so much as a result of the DA, but because the DA funnel is being fed players with better technique and knowledge of the game from the broader base of the youth soccer structure that has been steadily growing in numbers and improving is quality of training/coaching. You're absolutely correct that the expectation should be regularly getting out of group play. The USMNT has qualified for 7 straight WCs - it's a shame we're worried about qualifying this cycle but Bruce has got it (I hope).

Are the DAs the answer to player development in the US? Not sure, but it does appear to be a common path to NT roster.

On February 9, 2017 Tab Ramos announced the U20 MNT roster for the U20 WC qualifiers. 17 of the 20 players spent time with a DA; 11 of the 20 are currently signed with MLS.

U20 WNT lost in semifinals of U20 WC in December to Japan. It'll be interesting to see in a few years the percentage of WNT players coming through the DA system.

To put numbers in perspective regarding the overall impact on girls HS soccer in greater Cincinnati...

Some of the top 40 or so high school players in the Region will be missing from a pool of 175 or more HS Varsity teams(see numbers below). Based on demographics I'd expect 8 or so players from NKY - fewer if more players travel to DA from Louisville, Lexington or beyond. On 175 teams there are 1,925 "starting 11" players (if my math is right), so you will lose, on average, about one out of every 50 starters who would have otherwise been playing HS soccer if not for DA. Teams with traditionally a lot of depth/talent could lose 2 or 3, but most teams won't lose a single player to DA.

No doubt we'll miss out on seing some of the very best players that we might have otherwise gotten to see. But given the overall upward trend in quality of play on the girls side, I wouldn't expect the soccer to be too greatly diminished. Regionally, it likely levels the playing field a bit. Statewide I agree it may hurt NKY relative to areas distant from a DA option. It'll be interesting if/when a group of players from a single NKY team who could have played DA decides to forego DA to play HS.

Notes on (rough) numbers. Grls HS teams in OH Southwest = 135. Girls HS teams in KY Regions 8/9/10 = 39. Based on listing of teams in Maher OH/KY top 700 girls HS teams.

Total population of Hamilton/Warren/Butler counties around 1.4 million. Total population of Campbell/Boone/Kenton counties around 380,000. Ohio side has a distinct population advantage.

Congrats to all the players and Coach Robertson as well. It has been fun watching these players develop over the years. Hope to get to see at least some play again.

Great run for CCH and what a career for the seniors!

Should be a great final. Go NKY!

^ maybe a dues paying issue too.

On post-season to date, I'd put Michael Vogt up there as one of best couple of defenders. My favorite part of his game is the incredibly good touch he gets on the ball whether playing it on the ground or directly out of the air. To quote one of my football friends, "it's like he's got hands on his dang feet."

Slight divergent of the topic, but pointing out the North Hardin boys play for Javanon (Black, I assume) -- where do the top kids for Daviess Co. play? SKY? Can't be, right?

They could play across river in Evansville. What's there... SWISA/Sporting IN, maybe it's IN Fire Jr now?

Who are the top players for North Hardin? What style do they play? Direct, possession team, etc?

Seniors Micah Linscott (Midfielder 19 goals / 38 assists) and Simeon Packer (Forward with 22 /11) are the players you hear named most - both Javanon '99 I believe. Blair and Rasheed also play at Javanon ('01). Picture of goal by Packer from last year when North Hardin beat JH in post-season (I believe)...

I may be wrong but I thought every teams' ranking is subject to be effected until the very last game is played on Nov 5th, even the teams not still playing. Meaning if your team is knocked out but you played a team at some point during the season that is still in the state tournament and that team's ranking (one of your opponents) improves doesn't that effect your ranking, it could cause your team to go up in the rankings?

 

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Good question for SoccerMath. I thought changes to scaled rating depended on each team's scaled Rating at the time they played, the score in the game, and whether it was home, away or on a neutral field. So if a team didn't play its Rating wouldn't change (based on Elo system... similar to chess ratings when you play rated games). Rank, on the other hand, is just the ordinal ranking of teams' Ratings, so an inactive team's Rank can change if an active team has a change in its Rating that moves them either above or below an inactive team.

I think Rankings should stop at the end of the regular season. Makes it more fun to then test the legitimacy of their rankings as teams advance and are eliminated.

I don't disagree. There is a certain amount of inherent "self-correction" when it cintinues as the only teams able to improve their ranking in post-season are the ones still playing. Continuation into post season also contributes to the "stretch" effect that Maher had to try to accommodate for at the beginning of this year.

If #1 beats #5 and #3 beats #14 in the semi-finals, then after the championship game the updated Maher rankings will likely reflect that the top two teams played in the finals with the winner sitting at #1.

Here's the list that matters:

South Laurel

Paul Laurence Dunbar

Louisville Collegiate

Covington Catholic

South Warren

Daviess County

North Hardin

Perry County Central

Perhaps I missed it but Cole Stava from CCH does not garner even an honorable mention or am I looking past it?

Agreed. I'd likely find a spot for him in my starting XI. Tear it up in Lexington Stava!

That's gotta hurt. Still, Campbell County had a nice team this year led by a group of seniors with a ton of heart and character. Heads up Camels. You've set a high mark for the boys coming after you.

Outstanding! Way to go Colonels. Great way to get the state-bound train rolling... next stop Lexington!

Dean has actually been at Bluegrass the past couple years, I believe he is back at LFC for this coming season.

 

As we all know, where you play in Club, versus where they need you in HS is a whole different story.

No doubt. And sitting in on this CovCath team is probably not wise, even if you somehow manage to get a lead. I actually think this game could have a half-dozen goals in it.... should be interesting!