'03 Division Outlook

SolarPower00 wrote:

silentparent wrote:

SolarPower00 wrote:Feet will drop, no doubt, but still a solid top15 team.
The thing about Sting Gut is....the results warrant that number 4 spot.
When you face them....no matter how much you agree with the roster moves,
You're gonna face a top5 calibre team. Without help, they probably do drop around 5 spots to 9 or 10. But, if recent history is any indication, they'll be suiting up guess players every week and not just any guests...game changers.

But that begs the question, who suits up in july? And if you have relied on those nowgone guess players where does that leave you in king tut?

Therein lies the problem.
But, a favorable QT seed can go along way towards taking care of business in weekend number 1....then enjoying the pool or beach for weekend number 2 ...while the rest of us are playing for our LHGCL lives

Infinity04Dad wrote:Assuming the 11 teams listed above still exist come QT isn't it pretty much a sure thing they will all make division 1? In the recent past, what is the highest ranked team to not make division 1?

Infinity04Dad wrote:Gophers (aka KiperJr) thanks for the data.

Similar train of thought: What were the highest FBR ranked teams to fall apart/disband/implode before signing contracts. Let's say top acdemy team that existed during the spring season (U10) but for some reason did not make it to select.

BumpyPitch wrote:Here are some observations or questions to be answered from this past Fall TGPL Gold teams participate with LHGCL Select or "Pre-ECNL" (for those few participating clubs) on the horizon :

DT-"South" - another excellent season for this talented team and coach. Lots of questions to be answered come select for this team and club. Does HN & the Texans Club work to make this team the marquee Dallas Texans Team of the age group? If so, who will coach? GA or RS or RM or other? Will the Dallas Texans consolidate other strong players towards this team within the club? Or does the club move the top core players from South to the Dallas side and work to make another top Dallas Texans team like years past come select? Whatever ever happens - I am sure HN will put his best '03 players players the club has in this age group to one team and the Texans Empire will be well represented come select! If not, HN could always get a top team from a rival and leave DT South alone?

Cosmos - as a small independent club from the economically challenged Park Cities area, TW has always beat the odds to place a LH D1 come select. Another up & down season for this team. Questions come select are simple; can they keep their core girls especially stud striker from being poached from their nemesis Sting? Or, can they poach players from the Sting factory of teams and complete roster with quality depth? Going to be fun to watch.

FCD - another solid season of play this fall with some great results! FCD will continue to try and poach what they can from their competitors and hope their top players hold and stay put. Lots of players playing for quite a few FCD teams in the age group to choose from to build "top" team come select. Who will be the coach? Will MGrubb coach this team come select or will the Diaz keep this ship and along with his ECNL teams? Hard to make games when you are out of town. Should be interesting.

FCD-East - like years past Coach JH will put together a very good team around a stud forward. It's going to be interesting to see which FCD team will be the better team come select. My bet is on East. For the club, its all good either way and FCD are in good shape going forward with ECNL to come.

Fever - another independent team from the Tarrant County area that had an up & down year, starting real strong and ending on a real low. Can this team keep their stud striker? Will they hold together at all come select. This team has a ton of questions regarding future than most, but hopes are they are still playing come select! Gave some teams a run for their money and were very competitive. One to keep an eye on come Spring, lots of variables here.

LP - the only big club that is NOT an ECNL member with tons of teams & players that currently has a very good top team. Lots of good questions to be answered come select? Does LW hand off top team to CPulp? Does this group combine all the top players from the other LP teams to form a LP super team? How will they respond to not being any ECNL member and keep elite players beyond first year of select. At the very least, for the first year of select, LP should have a top team .

SRSA - where do you start? Most dominant team by far over in the age group for sometime now! Where do they go from here? They will have a new coach coming this Spring with AS? Should we expect some "new" additions of other great players wanting to join before select? Most likely. Do they follow the Texans 02 from last year and only play boys next spring? With so many players and having a team that just played in Silver division can they put together another elite team that can actually compete with the top five in the age group in LH D1? If so, who will coach that one? No doubt this will be an elite team for years to come that will only get better and represent NT on the national stage as they get older. Going to be fun to watch.

Sting S & Sting M - with low roster numbers on both these teams now, do these two very good teams combine and become one? I know Out would like to see that! According to OUT, this will be "the top team" of the group? Still not convinced on that one. If so, who will be the coach this team come select? I am sure the powers of Sting are going to figure it out and Sting will be represented come select as one of the better teams to beat!

Sting W - will only continue to get better with their committed coach. Where do they add players from? Sting Dallas or from other Tarrant teams in the area? Most likely, other TC teams. By select RD will put together a solid D1 select team that will always be ready to play.

What other teams does everyone consider to be on the rise and ones to watch?

Couple of closing predictions that historically happens over the next 6/8 months before select ... Teams & coaches will actually change clubs, especially independents to one of the bigger ECNL clubs. Also, the top teams usually get EVEN stronger as "top" players from lesser teams want to play on top teams leaving 2 to 3 really dominant teams within the age group, while the rest will be very competitive amongst themselves. Good luck to all!!

BumpyPitch wrote:

BumpyPitch wrote:Here are some observations or questions to be answered from this past Fall TGPL Gold teams participate with LHGCL Select or "Pre-ECNL" (for those few participating clubs) on the horizon :

DT-"South" - another excellent season for this talented team and coach. Lots of questions to be answered come select for this team and club. Does HN & the Texans Club work to make this team the marquee Dallas Texans Team of the age group? If so, who will coach? GA or RS or RM or other? Will the Dallas Texans consolidate other strong players towards this team within the club? Or does the club move the top core players from South to the Dallas side and work to make another top Dallas Texans team like years past come select? Whatever ever happens - I am sure HN will put his best '03 players players the club has in this age group to one team and the Texans Empire will be well represented come select! If not, HN could always get a top team from a rival and leave DT South alone?

Cosmos - as a small independent club from the economically challenged Park Cities area, TW has always beat the odds to place a LH D1 come select. Another up & down season for this team. Questions come select are simple; can they keep their core girls especially stud striker from being poached from their nemesis Sting? Or, can they poach players from the Sting factory of teams and complete roster with quality depth? Going to be fun to watch.

FCD - another solid season of play this fall with some great results! FCD will continue to try and poach what they can from their competitors and hope their top players hold and stay put. Lots of players playing for quite a few FCD teams in the age group to choose from to build "top" team come select. Who will be the coach? Will MGrubb coach this team come select or will the Diaz keep this ship and along with his ECNL teams? Hard to make games when you are out of town. Should be interesting.

FCD-East - like years past Coach JH will put together a very good team around a stud forward. It's going to be interesting to see which FCD team will be the better team come select. My bet is on East. For the club, its all good either way and FCD are in good shape going forward with ECNL to come.

Fever - another independent team from the Tarrant County area that had an up & down year, starting real strong and ending on a real low. Can this team keep their stud striker? Will they hold together at all come select. This team has a ton of questions regarding future than most, but hopes are they are still playing come select! Gave some teams a run for their money and were very competitive. One to keep an eye on come Spring, lots of variables here.

LP - the only big club that is NOT an ECNL member with tons of teams & players that currently has a very good top team. Lots of good questions to be answered come select? Does LW hand off top team to CPulp? Does this group combine all the top players from the other LP teams to form a LP super team? How will they respond to not being any ECNL member and keep elite players beyond first year of select. At the very least, for the first year of select, LP should have a top team .

SRSA - where do you start? Most dominant team by far over in the age group for sometime now! Where do they go from here? They will have a new coach coming this Spring with AS? Should we expect some "new" additions of other great players wanting to join before select? Most likely. Do they follow the Texans 02 from last year and only play boys next spring? With so many players and having a team that just played in Silver division can they put together another elite team that can actually compete with the top five in the age group in LH D1? If so, who will coach that one? No doubt this will be an elite team for years to come that will only get better and represent NT on the national stage as they get older. Going to be fun to watch.

Sting S & Sting M - with low roster numbers on both these teams now, do these two very good teams combine and become one? I know Out would like to see that! According to OUT, this will be "the top team" of the group? Still not convinced on that one. If so, who will be the coach this team come select? I am sure the powers of Sting are going to figure it out and Sting will be represented come select as one of the better teams to beat!

Sting W - will only continue to get better with their committed coach. Where do they add players from? Sting Dallas or from other Tarrant teams in the area? Most likely, other TC teams. By select RD will put together a solid D1 select team that will always be ready to play.

What other teams does everyone consider to be on the rise and ones to watch?

Couple of closing predictions that historically happens over the next 6/8 months before select ... Teams & coaches will actually change clubs, especially independents to one of the bigger ECNL clubs. Also, the top teams usually get EVEN stronger as "top" players from lesser teams want to play on top teams leaving 2 to 3 really dominant teams within the age group, while the rest will be very competitive amongst themselves. Good luck to all!!

Back from REHAB - Bumpy's back in action and FlyGirl is on the outs. Perfect timing. Wanted to go back a few weeks/months and see what has come to fruition from my previous crystal ball, see above and see below:

DT South - as predicted this team slowly lost several key contributors to rivals over the last four months. Why didn't DT South play in the TGPL Gold division? Could it be the fear of losing to lower ranked teams and then losing more players? Don't know? Once a strong core of girls down to a few. Will this group combine with Dallas Texans and be coach by Moreno or Scott? Going to be interesting.

This team will be fine - just not in the top 5.

Cosmos - this is an athletic group built around one of the top forwards in division and getting stronger. TW doing a good job keeping his girls and adding girls as needed. Easily a LH D1 team.
Unbeaten (so far) in gold, nice tournament showings. There is more to this team than one forward. This is the best of the independents.

FCD Premiere- strong team appears committed to go select with Coach Diaz. This team will battle their sister team for top billing in the FCD club and winning the LH Spring Roundup is a good start. Congrats on the Spring Roundup championship beating Sting M in final.

FCD East - one of the best forward duos outside of SRSA. This team will only get better over the next couple of months before select time. Lots of high scoring games in their future. Again, if you like scoring teams this is one to watch. Another top tier team.

Fever - another small independent looking to hold it together. As long as coach & dd continue to lead this group, they should compete for a D1 spot. Need to add some players to offset key losses. If you are a fan of small clubs having success, this is definitely one to root for.
Will fall out of top 10 without "guess" help in tournaments to boost rankings.

LP - formerly know as LP Dalglish now called RASE. Easily a top 5 team in the age group with several key additions from rival. LW is a very good coach and this group should continue their success going forward.
Solid group, best team next to SRSA

LP Keegan - started the spring season with big wins against FCD Premiere and Fever. If this team can continue to get these kind of results, LP club appear to have two top 10 teams in the age group. Great job girls.
Good talent, needs consistent play to stick in top 10

Solar Chelsea - looks like this group is coming together slowly working their way out of the shadow of their sister team. New coach and his girls got an impressive win against one of the better teams in the age group last week. From the looks of it - this group has a very full roster and with time should only get better. Should be a strong LH D1 team select time.
Looks like a couple of girls (defenders) still playing 2 rosters, but its nice to finally see a stand alone team. They will be a challenge for anyone to beat in gold.

SRSA - really nothing to add to what everyone already knows except it was good to hear how great this team represented North Texas by destroying those California teams in Vegas Playing the top boys teams on Saturdays is only going to make this group better.
Nice to see this team getting some close games in the boys division. Lake Highlands should be boring for them, especially their keeper - just go ahead and get that girl a chair......

Sting G - coming together as predicted having played in every tournament available. AG is a good coach and recruiter that will make her team easily the top team for Sting. Sting G will eventually solidify roster over the next couple months and be a more consistent top tier team.
Guess players exit, growing pains enter. A tough spring season is in store for this team.

Sting M - roster numbers were a concern back in the fall, now quality throughout roster an issue. Will have a tough time holding remaining top girls from their sister team and other rivals. If & only if they can hold together and add a couple, then they could be a top 10 team in LH D1. Lots of

Sting W - still competing against seemingly stronger competition. Need to find some offense to compliment very strong defense. If they find some offense, this could be another LH D1 team for Sting.

What other teams to watch

Vitesse, Feet and who else
I like Liverpool Rush, D'Feeters-Hillard and Texans Moreno in Silver.
IMO, - Rush and Keegan should combine forces and become a second top 5 team for Liverpool.
- Feet is somewhat on an island, but should be D1 no problem.
- If Moreno could get a few additions (offense) from DT South as theorized above, that team would be dangerous.

The next three months are going to be crazy, sit back and enjoy the ride. Let the discussion begin again.

No more for me.

Off to an AA Meeting...

theota2603 wrote:DT South is playing SDL boys on Saturdays rather than TGPL Gold. This team has some excellent additions and will be just fine.

patricklikesu wrote:

theota2603 wrote:DT South is playing SDL boys on Saturdays rather than TGPL Gold. This team has some excellent additions and will be just fine.

Keep telling yourself that all the while playing boys teams that are a step down from TGPL Gold.

Shelby427 wrote:Go is right... The best reason to play boys is for speed of play. Boys are more athletic, quicker, and faster. They will force you to make quick decisions. You cannot over-power them, you must out-finesse them.

I also agree that boys in general rely too much on one-on-one play styles while the top girl teams play much better soccer.

silentparent wrote:

Shelby427 wrote:Go is right... The best reason to play boys is for speed of play. Boys are more athletic, quicker, and faster. They will force you to make quick decisions. You cannot over-power them, you must out-finesse them.

I also agree that boys in general rely too much on one-on-one play styles while the top girl teams play much better soccer.

I would disagree about better soccer. Girls do not pressure the ball nearly as well as compared to boys. They seem to get stunned when they play boys at how little time they haveto do something with the ball.Seen this at many levels

Shelby427 wrote:

silentparent wrote:

Shelby427 wrote:Go is right... The best reason to play boys is for speed of play. Boys are more athletic, quicker, and faster. They will force you to make quick decisions. You cannot over-power them, you must out-finesse them.

I also agree that boys in general rely too much on one-on-one play styles while the top girl teams play much better soccer.

I would disagree about better soccer. Girls do not pressure the ball nearly as well as compared to boys. They seem to get stunned when they play boys at how little time they haveto do something with the ball.Seen this at many levels

You are simply confirming my statement on athelticim, quickness and one-on-one play. You are also confirming my point about girls not having much time.

On average, top boys teams do not move the ball as well as top girls teams and will rely on dribbling to break down the defender versus setting up a nice one touch opportunity more often than the girls IMO. Of course I have no STATS to back this up but it is my opinion.

go99 wrote:sorry to reinflate his bubble but its true girls teams tend to move the ball better, play as a group and rely on athleticism less than the boys teams. As you said the boys will run circles around them and that is the reason for those teams to play boys. Its faster, more athletic pressure than they face playing girls. Even when its not the top teams

silentparent wrote:
Sorry to burst your bubble but those d1 boys teams will run circles against d1 girls teams, with the exception of srsa type of team. Put the womens national team aginst any la liga, epl team and they will be killed. I love girls soccer but it is what it is....

Till-I-Collapse wrote:Hey herradura, Just curious, what team is your DD on? Just trying to figure out if your being objective or if you have your own agenda.

herradura wrote:Pre Mid Season top 20 Human Rankings / Descriptions.
I have seen this done with MLS teams and always enjoy it and find it thought provoking - so here goes my try. Please edit at will.

1. SRSA - Elite
2. Liverpool RASE 03 - Deserving
3. Dallas Texans South - Dodging
4. FC Dallas Predator - Agile
5. Sting Gutierrez - Building
6. Solar Chelsea Gio - Capable
7. Liverpool Rush - Rising
8. Sting Mendoza - Hovering
9. Fever Black - Falling
10. Liverpool Keegan - Inconsistent
11. DFeeters Hilliard - Adjusting
12. Cosmos - Bracing
13. Sting West - Status Quo
14. Sting Goodman - Shell Shocked
15. Vitesse - Hanging on
16.Sting Central - Learning
17. Ayses - Sleeper
18. Solar Chelsea Blue - Solidifying
19. Polaris Black - Out of site, out of mind
20. Dallas Texans Moreno - Defense