Whether the "alliance" structure that Bridge is built upon is stable in the long-term or not...and whether Bridge "collapses" before next fall or not...
I don't think that there's any doubt that CUFC has established a strong #2 position in the state, and moreover has done so in multiple dimensions. The club is the second largest in terms of players, it was the second largest in terms of fielded select teams, it was the second largest in terms of teams that made it into the state challenge tournament, and it had the second largest number of finalists in the challenge cup.
The things that CUFC is typically criticized for on this board are real, specifically that their "B" and "C" team average performance was abysmal (note: I hope that stating this fact does not cause anyone else to express the wish that they could run over Chico with their truck!). That's a compelling argument if you have a child in Columbia not in the top 15-20 players in the area that wants to play -- CRSA and LCSC seem to be tremendously more focused on that next 30-40 players.
However, that criticism shouldn't be confused with the fact that CUFC is fielding more teams across more age brackets and genders than any club in the state (with one exception) and is by far the second-most "complete" club in terms of its offerings.
For several years now that I've compiled data I've warned that it's more important to look at finalists than to look at state champions because of the size of the data set. Look at the finalists charts -- while CUFC hasn't broken away clearly from the pack, they have established a strong uptrend (with help from their constituent clubs) from their nadar in most of the decade and have approximately matched what their constituent clubs accomplished in 1999. More importantly, they did that in a much more competitive environment.
Now, did the results of the challenge cup meet most CUFC parents' expectations? No, not from what I'm getting via e-mail and verbally. But I think this is more of a problem of leadership setting the expectation that the club would achieve parity with CESA, or even match the finals performance of Bridge in its freshman year. The gulf between the CESA and the other clubs in the state is vast; and yet that shouldn't and doesn't mean that CUFC shouldn't be recognized for what they accomplished.
Will CUFC experience a sophomore slump? I don't know. Will Bridge rebound and continue to increase the completeness of their program? I don't know. But taking a snapshot right now at the aggregate club level, CUFC leads the pack when you exclude CESA.
