SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Club Soccer & ODP Final Four State Cup

Maybe you could look at it from the perspective of 12 automatic premier spots age groups 96-94

SCU - 4
CESA - 4
Scump - 3
Coast - 1

Will SC get a 3rd in the 96? Cesa out on the girls boys 96 side?

Doesn't matter on the girls side. CESA top girl teams will play ECNL only next year.

MP - Not sure 4th best SC State Cup is the selling point for ECNL that CESA is lookig for.

Let's hope they regroup before next season.

No, I would think that 4th in State Cup wouldn't be a good selling point. I think the selling point for ECNL vs. R3PLE would be to compare the two leagues.

In U-15, teams played 9 games in R3PLE. In ECNL, there are 27 games scheduled. In R3PLE, CESA played CASL and Charlotte Soccer Academy's 2nd team one time each. In ECNL, the will play CASL and CSA's top team twice each. In U-15, CESA had 5 results out of 9 games. In ECNL, CESA has 4 results so far in 15 games.

In the U-17 age group, CESA was undefeated in 9 games winning R3PLE. In ECNL, they are 10 wins, 6 losses and 2 draws so far. U-16 had 6 wins, 1 loss and 2 draws in 9 R3PLE games. In ECNL, they have 7 wins, 7 losses and 4 draws.

To make a long story short, I think the selling point would be more games against better competition. I'm sure there are negatives too and someone will surely make that case. But the biggest positive seems to be more soccer against better teams.

DJ Harry spinning ....

DJ Harry is pretty funny. But is anything that I said untrue?

No, just spinning.

1) Comparison of national vs. sub-regional schedules (better comparison for level of competition would be ECNL vs. USYSA National or maybe R3PL, not R3PLE, and sounds like the u-17's can have a shot at testing those waters... sincere congratulations to them). 2) Forgets to mention the 3-5 games each per tournaments like CASL, Disney, PDA, etc. the teams could be attending if not attending the ECNL non-conference ECNL events. 3) "more soccer against better teams"... seems some teams shouldn't have to travel far to find all the competition they can handle or need for development.

My opinion, the selling point for ECNL (and it's not without merit from an overall club perspective) is that a club can offer a consistent level of competition to all its age groups regardless of the strength or weakness of an individual team. It follows, however, next year's u-16 ECNL schedule will include the #4 team from this year's SC State Cup. Teams #1 and #2 will be in R3PLE.

I watched some of the CESA '96 girls at camps last summer and know they worked hard preparing for the season. I wish them well wherever they play.

Sure, the 4th place team in SC State Cup will play in ECNL and the top two will play in R3PLE. My point was, who will the SC ECNL team play against? CASL and CSA's best team will play in ECNL and their 2nd team will play in R3PLE. GSA and Concorde (the best teams in GA) will play in ECNL. Other GA teams will play in R3PLE.

That's where the spin began, comparing R3PLE to ECNL as if it is relative to where CESA'96 will play next year. For CESA'96 next year it's ECNL or State Challenge League, they wouldn't qualify for R3PLE as #4 from SC.

Even if it was relative, the R3PLE vs. ECNL spin continued with how you were using CESA results to compare the two leagues. You left out the u-18 results where CESA'93 was 2w/3d/4l in R3PLE (weakest CESA result) and 9w/1d/5l in ECNL (strongest CESA result). Stronger league based on results? Further, in u-16 next year yes CESA '96 will play what you are calling the "A" teams from CASL and CSA next year, but you left out the results from this Fall where they played both "A" and "B" teams from those clubs. According to posted results CESA'96 tied both teams from CASL. No apparent difference in strength based on results there. Against CSA they lost 2-0 to the "A" team in ECNL, but they lost 4-0 to the "B" team in R3PLE. It seems the R3PLE competition from CASL/CSA was a touch stronger with the "B" teams in R3PLE than with the "A" teams in ECNL, if you are using results to compare leagues.

Maybe CSA needs to re-evaluate which team is "A" and which is "B", but they'll eventually become known as the USYSA team and the ECNL team leaving speculation to determine which is the stronger. I guess ECNL as "more games against higher level" is a matter of individual club perspective and spin for its members. The same weekend next year CSA and CASL u-16 "A" teams are playing the #4 team from SC in ECNL the CSA and CASL "B" teams could be playing the #1 and #2 teams from SC in R3PLE. Would be interesting to hear CSA/CASL's ECNL vs. R3PLE spin to members that weekend.

You had no disagreement from me that CESA'96 competing in ECNL next year is their best opportunity to continue playing more games against higher level competition, although they don't seem to be lacking competition in-state. I still think you will find similar levels of competition capable of providing all the competition any SC team including CESA's can handle through either organization, but to get to the higher levels of USYSA the individual team needs to prove itself first. As for this year's u-15 GSA and Concorde you are correct that they will play u-16 ECNL next year, but you may be a little off on where the other teams from GA will be playing. This Fall u-15 teams from NASA and Norcross were already playing up in R3PL rather than R3PLE. GA, NC and FL also already had teams invited up and playing R3PL this year rather than R3PLE in the other age groups as well.

If CESA is moving its ECNL rosters out of USYSA league play I think it's great. It creates an opportunity for another SC team in each age group to pick up higher level play in R3PLE (or higher), improving the general pool of experience in SC. And who knows, in a couple of years CESA may have teams back in the thick of R3PLE and the hunt for state and regional championships.

BTW, congratulations to both the SCUMP u-15 as well as the CESA u-17 teams for winning R3PLE as well as the state championships. With 2 State/R3PLE champions headed to Regionals next summer, maybe we'll finally see an SC girls' team break the long drought on getting past the quarters.

I actually didn't look at the U-18s because they won't be playing in either league next year.

But, to get back to the point of spinning, you did a pretty good job yourself there. You looked at the scores of 4 games as your only evidence to support one team being better than another. CESA lost to CSA 0-2 and 0-4. You deduce that the 0-4 team must be the better team? Did you watch either game? I didn't, but I've noticed over the years that sometimes scores are deceptive. Have you watched enough soccer over the years to notice that sometimes the better team loses or that sometimes there is much more to the game than the score? CESA tied both CASL teams, so they must be equal right? Come on Bernard, that's disappointing from someone who puts so much time into overanalyzing everything soccer related.

I'm assuming that you called CESA the "#4 team from SC" because they lost the consolation state cup game. Did you see that game? I'll give credit to SCUFC Palmetto for winning the game, but I'm not sure I would call them the 3rd best team in SC. Maybe it's CFC, who beat SCUFC Palmetto 4-2. Maybe it's Furman, who tied SCUFC Palmetto 3-3. Or maybe it's CESA who beat Furman 4-0. Or maybe there's more here than the scores. For someone who is as detail oriented as yourself, I would have thought you would have called CESA the team that placed 4th in a tournament. But instead, you did a pretty good job of stating things in a way that promotes what appears to be a long-standing agenda of yours. In other words, well spun sir. While we're on it, may I commend you for keeping up the good fight long after your last child left the club that has apparently helped prepare both of your daughters for the fine college careers they seem to be enjoying. I knew that you would.