One way to evaluate the initial success of a newly merged club is to understand whether the new club lost, stayed the same, or gained players in terms of its academy and select tryouts. A few years ago, when CESA was created out of GFC and SGU, I did this in response to someone who said that CESA had lost players and was fielding signficantly fewer teams. Doing the analysis, it turns out that they had about the same number of teams but that the teams had more players so it looked like they slighty gained in their number of academy and select players.
Which leads us to the question, how did CUFC do in their tryouts in terms of losing or gaining players? The table below shows what seems to be the teams that CSC and NECSA fielded before the merger and the new CUFC teams arising from tryouts.
It appears that CUFC is fielding about the same number of teams that CSC and NECSA did last year. That is success in and of itself. However, if we dig down one level deeper and look at how many players with issued invitations to join these teams, here's what we find.
The median team is 18 players [the average is close at 17.3]. These are
huge teams. So it appears to me that CUFC gained players over CSC and NECSA last season. So at a high level it appears that CUFC was very successful in drawing players to the club's tryouts. In my opinion [and it's opinion only], that speaks to how hungry the Columbia area was for a club offering what is hoped to be better services.
________________________________
Disclaimer: I have no doubt that I made mistakes in compiling all of this. Corrections are welcome.
Chico,
very interesting data, thanks. Where did the data come from?
Flying Soccer: All of the data is from the CUFC web site at
http://www.columbiaunitedfc.com
To paraphrase Donald Sutherland as he reviewed the troops in THE DIRTY DOZEN," They're pretty, but can they fight"?.
Chico..I thouht you were supposed to be a CESA pr man? Good job and interesting analysis.
Bdad...They dozen could and CUFC will. This is going to be a great club season.
He is but he also can present other sides of the argument. I can't believe I am going to say this but cudos to Chico for the above information and thought he put into it. I hope that CUFC will give CESA a run for their money and take many state championships away from them.
key word...."issued invitations" that does not mean that they will have acceptance across the board.
Anecdotal information tells me that all clubs in the area had large turnouts.
In my mind they stayed the same as was before. They have gained some good players specifically the U18 Pinasco's team will be stacked. The rest mostly the same.
I am already hearing about parents whose precious child did not make the elite team complaining and creating dual elite teams (???) next big hurdle for the club is the east-west training sessions. It is not fun going to Northeast Columbia at 6 PM on weekdays, think if you are in Chapin or further out.
We shall see how it pans out...
quote:
Originally posted by BDad11:
To paraphrase Donald Sutherland as he reviewed the troops in THE DIRTY DOZEN," They're pretty, but can they fight"?.
Are you sure you don't mean Lee Marvin with that line?
Sutherland was one of the plebes who got killed along the way.
who are some of the u18 players that will help them to be "stacked". I heard kropp but thats it.
>>[futbol(soccer)] key word...."issued invitations" that does not mean that they will have acceptance across the board.<<
It seemed to me that they had this incorporated into their plans; after all, carrying a median of 18 players on a roster across an entire club would be extremely tough to manage in terms of playing time.
>>It is not fun going to Northeast Columbia at 6 PM on weekdays, think if you are in Chapin or further out.<<
One of the things you see in Greenville for the last decade [predating CESA] was a more competitive attitude about team selection from players [and the parents who support them.] At an early age, players tended to play at the closest fields. However, as the players got older, there was a self-selection of the better players to the better teams, regardless of field location.
While you see some of that in Columbia, it's still not at the point you saw in Greenville 5+ years ago. Maybe CUFC will jump-start that attitude for more ambitious Columbia players.
>>We shall see how it pans out... <<
Absolutely! There are a lot of factors that go into longer-term success, but the most important are execution, execution, and execution. The quantity and quality of training and the like are incredibly important. It should be an interesting 2006-2007 season...
First lets not forget that CSC team went fairly far into the playoffs. They lost some to graduation. Secondly there are some players from the U18 state Champs that are age appropriate, third they picked up additional talent from outside the area Kropp being one of them. So I would say that at worst they are at the same talent level as last year.
Chico, Thanks for the information.
One item of note that may help in the comparison. For example the kids who are on the U14 team played the previous year as U13 under the respective clubs. Thus, to drill down further into the number matching up the middle age groups and eliminating the upper and lower end groups may give you greater accuracy as to the decrease or increase in participation.
Again, thanks for the analysis!
BTW - In my opinion CUFC has done a pretty poor job of getting information out. There has been relatively little informaiton coming out besides an acceptance letter. In the interim before teams really start I would expect more information on the website. But what do I know I just pay my bill!
USMNT2014: You're right, I ignore the aging out of U18's and the aging-in of the younger groups and only look at the overall number of teams (28 versus 27). I think you could do a much deeper analysis on an age-group by age-group level. The reason I don't is that I start feeling like the data isn't good enough to support more granular observations. For example, I'm comparing rosters to tryout invitations.
Hopefully, the clubs have much more comprehensive information than this that they use for their own quality analysis -- they know who played last year, who has accepted invitations, which kids came in, which kids left, and the like.
With regard to your second post -- I can tell you that it's frustrating to be accused of bias in terms of what's discussed on this message board when clubs don't announce much that can be discussed.
quote:
Originally posted by CornerFlag:
quote:
Originally posted by BDad11:
To paraphrase Donald Sutherland as he reviewed the troops in THE DIRTY DOZEN," They're pretty, but can they fight"?.
Are you sure you don't mean Lee Marvin with that line?
Sutherland was one of the plebes who got killed along the way.
Sutherland was posing as a visiting General reviewing the troops. Sutherland got killed along with everybody but Marvin and Charles Bronson at the end of the mission....Great war movie with top flight cast..One of the best "guy" movies of all time.
Super movie! You can pretty much catch it once a week on TBS, Turner South, etc., under their "a movie for guys who like movies" moniker!
One of my favorite parts is when Donald Sutherland (aka Vernon Pinkley) is posing as the General and the corps' band director keeps trying to initiate the "welcoming song", but the Colonel (Robert Ryan, aka Col. Everett Dasher Breed) keeps telling him, "not yet". Sutherland really hams it up in front of Lee Marvin.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061578/
Re: CUFC U18 team.
I'm sure there are players who are on the team who know the roster, and they are on this board all the time. Why no posts? If not them, where is BenP? Does this mean there is something about soccer in SC he doesn't have the inside scoop on? Is their coach trying to be low profile or is he simply too focused on who Perkeman is going to start for Argentina?
I hear they have most of the best from Dutch Fork, Irmo and Lexington squads. If Kropp is added to that mix then I agree they are more than loaded for bear (or CESA)
I'd be interested in knowing what out of state matches they have scheduled if any.
My apologies on the movie. Absolutely an awesome movie but It's been a little while since I've seen it. I'll have to look for it and watch it again.
Sutherland was posing as a visiting General reviewing the troops. Sutherland got killed along with everybody but Marvin and Charles Bronson at the end of the mission....Great war movie with top flight cast..One of the best "guy" movies of all time.
actually 3 survived – Marvin, Bronson and the prison officer guard (can’t remember his name)
If you did not know Jim Brown was a football player, you did after the grenades were dropped...
quote:
Originally posted by TW Sharpe:
Sutherland was posing as a visiting General reviewing the troops. Sutherland got killed along with everybody but Marvin and Charles Bronson at the end of the mission....Great war movie with top flight cast..One of the best "guy" movies of all time.
actually 3 survived – Marvin, Bronson and the prison officer guard (can’t remember his name)
Right...The blonde headed Sgt also survived..I also liked the scene where after the men had done agood job in capturing Col Breed, Lee Marvin had the "ladies" trucked in as companionship. Some OK, some way less than OK...
Also, who can forget Telly Savalas's name in that movie....Maggott..
In response to the question about the CUFC 18's, they lost 5 players to graduation last year, but return the rest of the team minus two players. Those 11 are divided between DF-7, Irmo-1, Lexington-2, Heathwood Hall-1. They picked up 6 new players including Kropp, Davis (GK from SV), Eamon (SV, played for Bride last year), Younge (sp? from BL), and the last two kids names escape me, but one is from Cardinal Newman and the other is from Socastee, Mark maybe? Danny Cates would be the 18th, but he chose to play for Mark Berson on the Lexington 17's. I'm not sure if they will fill that spot or play with 17.
Goalkeeping should be strong with both McCabe and Jenkins. The addition of Kropp is huge and that together with strong returning players like Jess Mackie, Carey Hite, Jonathan Zurcher, and Ryan Martin should make this team very competitive.
It's interesting how Sutherland's role as Vernon L. Pinkley in the Dirty Dozen keeps coming up in the different topics on this message board. Personally I preferred his role as Sgt. Oddball in Kelly's Heroes with his great anachronistic 60ish lines.
quote:
Originally posted by Chico:
>>[futbol(soccer)] key word...."issued invitations" that does not mean that they will have acceptance across the board.<<
It seemed to me that they had this incorporated into their plans; after all, carrying a median of 18 players on a roster across an entire club would be extremely tough to manage in terms of playing time.
It's my understanding that over 90% have accepted their positions.
>>[Coach P] It's my understanding that over 90% have accepted their positions.<<
So if the median team invitations is 18, and you have a 90% acceptance rate, then you're median team roster would be approximately 16. Makes a lot of sense...and seems much more manageable in terms of playing time than 18.
quote:
Originally posted by Coach P:
It's interesting how Sutherland's role as Vernon L. Pinkley in the Dirty Dozen keeps coming up in the different topics on this message board. Personally I preferred his role as Sgt. Oddball in Kelly's Heroes with his great anachronistic 60ish lines.
"Always with the negative waves Moriarity (Captain Steubing from the Love Boat), always with the negative waves."
Classic line.
Classic exchange:
Oddball: "Hi man."
Big Joe: "What are you doin?"
Oddball: "I'm drinking wine and eating cheese and catching some rays, you know."
Big Joe: "What's happening?"
Oddball: "Well the tank's broken and they're trying to fix it, man"
Big Joe: "Then why the hell aren't you up there helping them?"
Oddball: "Oh man. I only ride 'em. I don't know what make's 'em work."
quote:
Originally posted by who_me?:
Re: CUFC U18 team.
I'm sure there are players who are on the team who know the roster, and they are on this board all the time. Why no posts? If not them, where is BenP? Does this mean there is something about soccer in SC he doesn't have the inside scoop on? Is their coach trying to be low profile or is he simply too focused on who Perkeman is going to start for Argentina?
I hear they have most of the best from Dutch Fork, Irmo and Lexington squads. If Kropp is added to that mix then I agree they are more than loaded for bear (or CESA)
I'd be interested in knowing what out of state matches they have scheduled if any.
Excuse me if I'm Wrong, but isn't Pinasco sp? from Italy? Thats what i understood, but i have been wrong before
One thing that stands out on the U-18 team is the Lack of Dreher players Many played at CSC and NECSA in the past, are there any Dreher players on th U-17 team, or is the future of Dreher that poor that no one plays club anymore?
Argentina, teaches Spanish at Hammond.
Did any of the Dreher boys try out for his team? Where did they end up? I'd have to go back and look some more at last years stuff and Chico's analysis but I think there were more than 18 quality players between NECSA and CSC. Does anyone know anything about success of the U17 and U18 Cesa midlands effort? Wouldn't it be fun for the area if the local CESA team was just as strong as the CUFC is reported to be?
>>[Flying Soccer] I hope that CUFC will give CESA a run for their money and take many state championships away from them.<<
As far as I can tell, in the age brackets U13 and above, CUFC issued 501 invitations and CESA issued 520 -- within a few percentage points of an equal number. The two clubs at the select level appear to be approximately equivalent; thus, by the numbers, you'd expect CUFC to take the same number of challenge championships as CESA.
Should be a huge year for CUFC!
>>[who_me?] Does anyone know anything about success of the U17 and U18 Cesa midlands effort? Wouldn't it be fun for the area if the local CESA team was just as strong as the CUFC is reported to be?<<
I've heard nothing about CESA-Columbia having any older teams. Now, that doesn't mean they don't -- I've got no insight into CESA-Columbia's tryouts or invitations -- but I highly doubt that any older team would be as competitive as CUFC.
I think Lexington's U17B team is going to be very tough.
Chico,
Does the number of invitations really translate into championships? I would think that overall tryouts numbers would be a more accurate corelation. We probably don't have availability to the tryout numbers thus, the use of the invitation numbers?
>>[USMNT2014] Does the number of invitations really translate into championships?<<
Probably, but it would be a correlation only because CESA has issued so many invitations in the last few years [because they've had more teams than anyone else] and has won so many state championships. In other words, I think it's a weak correlation at best.
>>I would think that overall tryouts numbers would be a more accurate corelation.<<
If you assume a homogeneous distribution of talent, then either might show a correlation. Of course, there really isn't a homogeneous distribution of talent -- and perhaps even more importantly what the club does in terms of training and coaching makes a huge difference.
>>We probably don't have availability to the tryout numbers thus, the use of the invitation numbers?<<
You're right; the data is incredibly limited and we're using whatever data is available. Whether the data is valid as a predictor or not is a tremendous question. That's why I qualified using the term "by the numbers."
Last year someone talked about the odds of CESA repeating a "sweep" -- I noted that the probability was very small given the teams in the playoffs at that time. Sure enough, CESA lost two boys playoffs to Bridge and NECSA won the U18B bracket. The creation of CUFC and the number of teams and players they are sponsoring means to me that the issue is no longer how many state championships are "taken" from CESA; instead, the expectation has to be that CUFC will win as many as CESA in the 2006-2007 season. Anything else it seems to me would have to be a classified as a disappointment from a CUFC point of view.
Richard Jaeckel .... Sgt. Clyde Bowren... was the other survivor of the DIRTY DOZEN raid.
The merger should bring more parity to CESA's dominance on the girls side.
quote:
Originally posted by Chico:
...the expectation has to be that CUFC will win as many as CESA in the 2006-2007 season. Anything else it seems to me would have to be a classified as a disappointment from a CUFC point of view.
Don't you think this is a pretty lofty expectation for the first year? I would be happy to see something nearing parity between CESA, CUFC, and Bridge over the next three years.
many of dreher's players tried out for the u 17 lexington team...as they have followed berson from club to club...one of drehers players also, made the u 18 challenge team for cufc
Why does Berson jump from club to club? First, NECSA, then CRSA, then CSC, now Lexington??
I love statistics and I love pretending they give us the ability to predict the future. Chico is right, we are taking a limited data set and trying to extrapolate all kinds of meaning. All kindsof things should happen, but at the end of the day there is going to be a kid who steps up and changes a key game, a superstar who fall flat, and a coach who inspires a team to be more then they ever thought they could be. Thats why they play the games and thats why I love it so much!
CESA/CUFC is exactly what this state needs to push coaches and players to the next level.
>>[Coach P] Don't you think this is a pretty lofty expectation for the first year? I would be happy to see something nearing parity between CESA, CUFC, and Bridge over the next three years.<<
I only know two ways to answer this: by referencing history and by referencing size in terms of teams and players.
First, history. In its first year, CESA swept the U15-U18 age brackets. In its first year, Bridge won two of the four boys age groups.
Second, relative size. CUFC is much bigger than Bridge (as far as I can tell, even with the classic programs of its alliance clubs); in select, it appears to be approximately equivalent to CESA. Thus, I would think that like CESA and Bridge, CUFC would be expected by its players and parents to start hot out of the gate.
Look at the comments on this thread and I think you'll see a fair representation of many CUFC folks regarding the expectations of CUFC in its first season.
>>[Blind Ol Ref] The merger should bring more parity to CESA's dominance on the girls side.<<
Coach P...this is the type of expectation to which I was referring. And it makes sense from a CUFC point of view; CUFC is as large as CESA and CESA started out well so why wouldn't CUFC achieve parity with CESA quickly?
2004striker: Berson was at CESA?
In any case, one reason could be he's in demand. I know that folks I talk to in Lexington were pretty happy to get him.
Chico,
I made correction. I meant CRSA. I just don't understand why he moves each year to a different club?
>>[who_me?] [...] we are taking a limited data set and trying to extrapolate all kinds of meaning. All kindsof things should happen [...]<<
I really do agree with you. Just for the record, I want to make it clear that I think that there's typically a wide gap between expectations and actual results -- reality has a bad habit of getting in the way. What I've been attempting to illustrate is a CUFC point of view.
No one expected CESA to sweep in the fall of 2005; quit bluntly, I expected them to win slightly more than half of those games [given that SGU and GFC had won only approximately half of the state challenge cup games over time]. Now...if CESA had lost more than half, I would personally have been disappointed. All I'm trying to do is illustrate why some CUFC folks are expecting to do well out of the gate -- there are some compelling reasons for them to believe it to be true.
2004striker: Sorry...I thought I had missed something! I honestly don't know the answer. But in any case I do think that the Lexington U17B, which arguably had a very good team last year but was not all that lucky, has the makings of a very, very strong team.
I never thought Lex. had a chance to field a competitive club team with the CUFC merger and the sinister desires of CESA to field the best teams.
Anyone have definite rosters for CUSC and Lex. U17 boys?
I think CESA will still dominate.
Take a team that won the state challege cup.
Instead of giving those kids a bye they had to tryout again. From what I saw at CESA, many of those kids did not make the new team. CESA is going to a new level
dad,
If you are speaking of U17 boys, from what area did the new guys come from?
Chico, I believe you a placing very lofty expectations on the new CUFC. In comparing CUFC to the 1st year CESA organization you are forgetting that CESA's competetion remained realtively weak. The 1st year CESA club should have been way ahead of the competition due to the total popluation from which their teams were selected. Whereas, CUFC has just increased their population to that of their competitors (we believe). There should be more parity in the league this year if anything but to think that anthing less than winning all age groups (ala CESA) is a failure, just doesn't seem right.
scdad - I am more in agreement that CESA may still win it's share of state cups but do not believe that your supporting reason makes sense. I beleive CESA will continue to win state cups do to their quality service not their player pool. I thought the success of teams has alot to do with the building of that team. CESA appears to have that figured out. Do you really improve a team through subtraction? It may very well be that they will not win the state cup because it is a totally new team. It takes alot of players knowing their roles to win championships. By stating that "many" of the encumbant players did not make the new team makes it sounds as if a mojority of the team did not return. Is that true? Where did the new (supposedly better skilled) kids come from? If this model works I would expect CESA to dominate for years to come because the skill level at the other clubs must be dropping in order for CESA to improve the quality of players. The players must have come from other clubs. The only other possiblity is that the newbies are coming from recreation or are realtively unknown players. I highly douby that, so do they come from another club? Again, I am not sure this is taking CESA to this new level or not. Only time will tell!
>>[USMNT2014] Chico, I believe you a placing very lofty expectations on the new CUFC.<<
I've never once stated my opinion concerning what will occur; what I've done is reflected what the numbers and history depict and then noted what it seems is expected by many CUFC fans.
>>In comparing CUFC to the 1st year CESA organization you are forgetting that CESA's competetion remained realtively weak.<<
Two things: (1) you are ignoring the fact that I didn't say that CUFC was expected by many to "sweep" anything -- what I said precisely is reproduced below:
Chico: The creation of CUFC and the number of teams and players they are sponsoring means to me that the issue is no longer how many state championships are "taken" from CESA; instead, the expectation has to be that CUFC will win as many as CESA in the 2006-2007 season. Anything else it seems to me would have to be a classified as a disappointment from a CUFC point of view.
To put it succinctly, this is the "parity" that others have spoken about on this thread.
The second thing you're ignoring is the fact that Bridge, a relatively small club/alliance, had such success in its first year taking two of four boys championships.
>>The 1st year CESA club should have been way ahead of the competition due to the total popluation from which their teams were selected. Whereas, CUFC has just increased their population to that of their competitors (we believe).<<
Here's a fascinating question: what do you believe CUFC sees its "population from which their teams are selected" and what do you think CESA sees as its "population"? My guess is you're going to say "Columbia" and "Greenville", respectively. I don't think this is correct.
>>There should be more parity in the league this year if anything but to think that anthing less than winning all age groups (ala CESA) is a failure, just doesn't seem right.<<
I'm confused; where did I say this?
>>[USMNT2014] scdad - I am more in agreement that CESA may still win it's share of state cups but do not believe that your supporting reason makes sense. I beleive CESA will continue to win state cups do to their quality service not their player pool. I thought the success of teams has alot to do with the building of that team. CESA appears to have that figured out. Do you really improve a team through subtraction? It may very well be that they will not win the state cup because it is a totally new team. It takes alot of players knowing their roles to win championships. By stating that "many" of the encumbant players did not make the new team makes it sounds as if a mojority of the team did not return. Is that true? Where did the new (supposedly better skilled) kids come from? If this model works I would expect CESA to dominate for years to come because the skill level at the other clubs must be dropping in order for CESA to improve the quality of players. The players must have come from other clubs. The only other possiblity is that the newbies are coming from recreation or are realtively unknown players. I highly douby that, so do they come from another club? Again, I am not sure this is taking CESA to this new level or not. Only time will tell!<<
I continue to be amazed at the lack of understanding of what CESA really does at tryouts. One of the reasons that CESA attracts players from all over the state of South Carolina and adjacent states is that there is no concept of the team the year before "continuing" to the next year. If a team selected through the tryout process misses RIIIPL participation because it doesn't keep enough players from the original team, that is considered a sacrifice that has to be made due to the value system of the club. The best players are attempted to be selected...period.
In terms of where these kids come from, I know of players from Spartanburg, Charleston, Columbia, Charlotte, Rock Hill, Asheville, Augusta, etc. that are playing for CESA this year that weren't playing for CESA last year. It seemed to me that CESA threw out some pretty big hints before tryouts when they announced training not only in Columbia but in Rock Hill and Asheville that they were going to get a particular influx from those areas.
Major John Reisman: You've seen a general inspecting troops before haven't you? Just walk slow, act dumb and look stupid!
Major John Reisman: Oh, the gentleman from the South had a question about the dining arrangements. He and his comrades are discussing place settings now.(If you remember the text of this quote you will realize how funny it is)
Pinkley: [impersonating a General] Where are you from, son?
Soldier: Madison City, Missouri, sir!
Pinkley: Never heard of it.
What I was discussing about CESA's selection process was to support the reasoning concerning CESA winning even more titles. Yes I know that CESA is offering services to kids from all over. This is the model they are going with and it is working. However, these new kids come from other clubs thus the other clubs are weakening at the same time CESA is improving. In my mind CESA is offering better services and thus has the pick of what players they want for all practical purposes. People want to play for the best club whether it is wins and losses or true services.I have no problem with CESA branching out.
In regards to the CUFC discussion I did not review the post prior to writing, thus I most likely attributed comments to you that were more perceptions from this thread. My previous message was to generate discussion more than anything. I thought you were contrasting the 1st year CESA (I thought they swept that year?) to CUFC but you are contrasting next year. My mistake!
To answer your question CESA probably has a larger area which they draw from due to their aggressive branching out. In addition, they now have a couple years experience under their belts. CUFC more likely than not draws from only the Columbia area. To think that CUFC would draw from CESA territory or Bridge territory is unlikely due to their infancy. If anything they might get a few players who were not selected by CESA or Bridge. Thus, I think comparing a first year club with CESA has too many variables for my feable mind to figure out. I believe that club soccer will improve due to CUFC as a whole and we will see some parity amongst all the larger clubs.
USMNT2014: Thanks...I thought I was just being misleading in my writing and apologize for any confusion due to a lack of clarity. The only thing I've tried to argue is (1) there are high fan expectations for CUFC I've heard both verbally and seen on this message board and (2) those high expectations seem to be translating to parity with CESA in terms of 2006-2007 state championships. I tried to put myself in the shoes of those fans and argue why it was possible. I do think your point concerning a more competitive environment is also valid -- and I think anyone counting Bridge out isn't paying attention to how serious and competitive that club is. In addition, there are strong "one-off" teams (the NECSA U18B team this year and the Lexington U17B team next year spring to mind) that might also be very strong contenders.
Once you put together the best players you can, regardless of the club, it comes down to execution. Issues such as how much training is offered, how well the coach gets the players to work together, how much the players and coaches are willing to sacrifice their social time to go to the best events possible, and the like seem to me to then be paramount to the success of the team. Hopefully we'll see CUFC dive in and really nail these types of issues so that increasing numbers of kids have an opportunity to receive some great services regarding youth soccer.
I agree with your statement that CUFC will hopefully dive in and nail these issues. I am not overly encouraged yet as CUFC has been realtively quite during this "inactive" time. Some information would be nice. Perhaps listing the team's players by name rather than a number would be a good start. As long as they provided these services all will be forgotten. If they do not follow through with the organization of these services the better clubs will then start cherry picking the quality players. And if they expect players to be loyal to inferior clubs they will be sadly mistaken.
Add to the above listed mix the need for chemistry on any team. I think of all the things a coach looks for, this is the hardest to pick up on in a few hours of tryouts. A player may have great skills but does he make the team better?
I made a comment regarding CUFC much earlier in this thread related to Pinasco's U18 team and the things I had been hearing. I remember this as a very strong team last year, and I had heard that they lost only a few key players while picking up some 'A' players. Based on some other posts here it sounds like they have the tools to be very good if they get and keep their act together,but who knows what is going to happen? They could blow up completely in a cloud of self interest. It will be intersting to see how this and the rest of the off season jockeying by all of the clubs plays out between now and the state cup.
Just for the heck of it, I'll predict that Bridge and Lexington each win at least one title.
As for the CUFC 18 boys team i am pretty sure the invitations offered are as follows.
Goalkeepers:
Jason McCabe, John Jenkins
Defenders:
Jess Maki, Jason Yonge, Stephen Shuford, Danny Cates, Garret Lay
Midfielders:
Jonathan Zurcher, Eamon Penland, Kevin Orzech, Robert Birnie, David
Allen, Mark Crabb, Ryan Martin
Forwards:
Ryan Kropp, Brian Wedell, Carey Hite, Michael Sullivan
as for who accepted the invitations i am not sure except for danny cates opting to play for the lexington u-17 team
Is Maki a defender or midfield?
My guess is as good as yours, but i wouldn't be supprised to see him play at a defensive center mid infront of the marking backs but behind most attacking players, he seemed to fit into that role well threw the highschool season.