I believe the answer to both questions is yes for the girls on these ECNL teams.
- The girls have no idea what school they might be interested in until they start to have their options open up. I've seen minds change more than once as new options become available. Unless you want their options limited to the schools they and you know, why limit them?
- We've seen many schools from a good radius around SC at all three events we've attended. As an example, here is a partial list we were given of the coaches that were handed team rosters during our games in San Antonio (during the Viking Cup). I'm guessing there are some good options in this list for the players, and there were also a lot of options outside of a 300 mile radius. Also, many of these coaches attended our games because they were there to look at SC players. And yes, there are a few kids interested in Ivy League schools too.
Clemson Coastal Carolina College of Charleston Cornell Davidson East Carolina Florida Gulf Coast University Florida International University George Washington Harvard James Madison Marshall NC State Pitt Princeton Tennessee UNC - Charlotte University of Alabama University of Alabama - Birmingham University of SC USC Upstate Vanderbilt West Point Western Carolina
Player on the ECNL teams are getting exposure and potential options. Whether they take advantage of it is dependent on how they play, their own desire and drive and how they follow up.
Remember too that ECNL is still new. The first group of ECNL players who have had a full cycle are more than two years away from graduating. The goal is to improve the level of girls soccer and that will take time.
In the end, I'm going to respectfully disagree with you completely.