Liverpool Elite 00 on their way to Nationals!!!!!

Bummer, but great job being the only NTX team to make it to Nationals. Awesome season.

Congratulations to Liverpool players, coaches and families...hoped they'd pull it out, but being top 4 in the nation is a tremendous result and an experience they'll keep with them forever.

Mary Kate's mom on NEFC must be pitching a fit right now...  I wonder if she will do a follow up article in the RI newspaper about how her little National team all-star scored 4 goals but her team didn't advance to the finals.

In case you missed the story this mom wrote...  You can'tmake this stuff up:
http://www.eastbayri.com/sports/portsmouth-girl-headed-to-u-s-soccer-national-championships/

Its_a_marathon wrote:Mary Kate's mom on NEFC must be pitching a fit right now...  I wonder if she will do a follow up article in the RI newspaper about how her little National team all-star scored 4 goals but her team didn't advance to the finals.

In case you missed the story this mom wrote...  You can'tmake this stuff up:
http://www.eastbayri.com/sports/portsmouth-girl-headed-to-u-s-soccer-national-championships/

I don't have the background information, emotion or vested interested of the MA/RI parents so I don't see anything horribly wrong with what the mom said. Sounds like a mom that is excited her daughter is playing in the National Championships and was chosen to the u14 Region 1 Pool as a u13 (that is a big deal) and already has an invite to play in the Costa Rica games. The kid obviously has some game!

after keeping up with 32 pages on this subject at the Talk Soccer forum, I can give you the basics...

This kid was on a team that fell out in regionals, she and another superstar kid, were then transferred to the NEFC team to move forward into nationals. Most of the posters involved believe the kid's parents are taking a lion's share of the credit for the team making it to nationals and basically doing way too much horn-tooting over their daughters. (with the rest of the team being an afterthought). Kid's parents on the forum are known as "Diva Mom and A-hole dad"... and then "honey-boo-boo" for the other kid's mom. They apparently have a pretty bad reputation amongst the other parents, for constant club hopping, and shameless self promotion, so not much leeway given here. Dunno much about the personalities of the two girls, although there was one story of the kid walking across the field at a break in practice to her mother, and then putting her foot out so the mom could tie her shoe for her....which made me laugh. Thankfully they seem to be content with bashing the hell out of the parents of these two.

Anyway there seems no doubt that these two girls are pretty strong players, the one scored the majority of the goals for NEFC at the tournament..... but they are viewed as opportunists with no loyalty and completely in it for their own glorification.

Anyway, its entertaining reading, and there is a lot of cross club sniping going on... especially now that NEFC did not make it to the finals (they ended up in third after a "goals against" tiebreak.)

I always tie my DD's shoes.

well I will too if she's near me....and asks... however I also would mock her if she walked all the way across a field to where I was sitting and stuck her shoe out for me to tie.... I'd look for the hidden camera.

Slakemoth wrote:after keeping up with 32 pages on this subject at the Talk Soccer forum, I can give you the basics...

This kid was on a team that fell out in regionals, she and another superstar kid, were then transferred to the NEFC team to move forward into nationals. Most of the posters involved believe the kid's parents are taking a lion's share of the credit for the team making it to nationals and basically doing way too much horn-tooting over their daughters. (with the rest of the team being an afterthought). Kid's parents on the forum are known as "Diva Mom and A-hole dad"... and then "honey-boo-boo" for the other kid's mom.  They apparently have a pretty bad reputation amongst the other parents, for constant club hopping, and shameless self promotion, so not much leeway given here. Dunno much about the personalities of the two girls, although there was one story of the kid walking across the field at a break in practice to her mother, and then putting her foot out so the mom could tie her shoe for her....which made me laugh. Thankfully they seem to be content with bashing the hell out of the parents of these two.

Anyway there seems no doubt that these two girls are pretty strong players, the one scored the majority of the goals for NEFC at the tournament..... but they are viewed as opportunists with no loyalty and completely in it for their own glorification.

Anyway, its entertaining reading, and there is a lot of cross club sniping going on... especially now that NEFC did not make it to the finals (they ended up in third after a "goals against" tiebreak.)

Thanks for the Cliff Notes. You saved me countless hours, not that I would have actually read it all. I started and couldn't make it past page 3.

The question is, how much is jealous parents sniping and how much is true? Probably a bit of both. Sounds like Mary Kate is a player in any event and her parents are deservedly proud, even if they are showing it an annoying and arrogant manner.

Sweeper wrote:Thanks for the Cliff Notes.  You saved me countless hours, not that I would have actually read it all.  I started and couldn't make it past page 3.

The question is, how much is jealous parents sniping and how much is true?  Probably a bit of both.  Sounds like Mary Kate is a player in any event and her parents are deservedly proud, even if they are showing it an annoying and arrogant manner.  

There is no doubt that the kid is a great player, and thankfully for the most part she is not dragged through the mud on the forum.. just the parents. Finally found one parent to say something "nice" about the dad, but it seems to be whispering into a hurricane... Here's an example...

poster1 - "enjoy the ride NEFC parents, this girl is going to take you to great places this year and no you wouldn't be here without her, do what you want to her pathetic parents though"

poster 2 - "Must have sucked to see a phenom on MI team blow doors on your phenom today. You might want to temper your World Cup domination plans. You'll see there's plenty more like her out there.....And, btw, her parents aren't assholes."

Or this little exchange ...

Poster 1 -"Perhaps this will help quite the naysayers by proving just how difficult it is to win a national championship. Other MA clubs -- Scorps come to mind -- have taken some heat over the years for getting close, but not being able to seal the deal. I believe the one exception was back when the Stars got it done.

It's a long tough road, and no one should think otherwise, or minimize the accomplishment of just getting there. Job well done NEFC girls."

Poster 2 - "Yes. Congrats to NEFC and the team. As a parent of a player whose team has been there more than once and whose team failed to seal the deal - I certainly hope the attacks (and we know they were from NEFC lovers) on other club's regional and national level teams now stop - now that they realize what a long road it is and how difficult it is. And my kid's team made the nationals back in the days when you couldn't add players to compensate for injuries!"

Poster 3 - "You Scorpions parents all suck. Your day has come and gone. Why you are even in this thread is a mystery (well not really). Take your half hearted platitudes and stick them where the sun doesn't shine. We all know who is doing the bashing and where it is coming from. "


later post.... "Too many crazy parents on that team. Typically a team can only handle two crazy parents but they have two national level crazy parents and then 2-3 regional crazy parents. Makes for a disaster moving forward. How can these parents deal with each other, when each parent wants their kid to be the best on the team. Constant battle!! TS will be very busy this fall."

you get the idea...

This little gem just in....

poster 1 - "You should have seen diva mom's face when the MI girl scored 3 goals today and her daughter wasn't the center of attention. Priceless!! Girl from MI is a great player. I think diva thinks there is no one else in the country that is better than her daughter."

Poster 2 - "Classic! And the MI girl is clearly a better skilled player with faster speed. Diva mom is going to end up with an ulcer every time a better player comes on the scene."

Well not to highjack the " Liverpool Elite 00 on their way to Nationals!!!!!" thread but back to Liverpool at Nationals.

Congratulations to LP and their players. They also have a number of National Level caliber players and it has been an enjoyable (but not yet profitable) time playing against them many times. All of those games at Nationals were 1 goal games and while not there, I'm sure that they could have gone the other way just as easily.

I've never had an issue with any parent or kid on the team other than the one time that _____ ran past my DD and scored or the time that _____ made and incredible play to stop a goal of ours. There was the time that _____ knocked one of our DD's down and took the ball from her. Come to think of it, maybe I do have issues with them but only in a good way.

They are a great team to play against and they will pull the best out of you. Job well done. Represented NT well.

agree.. do not want the original thread to get overshadowed by diva mom and honey-boo-boo. Congats to the girls on a long run to the final 4. no doubt a week of great competition, and cool experience for the girls.

Good job girls. I have a question though. We are so competitive here and have so many great teams, when do our teams win it all? Did any of our ECNL teams win it all this year? I always hear about great effort but who was the last team to win it all? Was it a Sting 96 or Texans 95. Just seems like as hyper competitive as we seem to be we could win more National Championships. We have a huge pool of players. I wonder if it's coaching. Anyway well done Liverpool for getting there.

Pro1 wrote:Good job girls. I have a question though. We are so competitive here and have so many great teams, when do our teams win it all? Did any of our ECNL teams win it all this year? I always hear about great effort but who was the last team to win it all? Was it a Sting 96 or Texans 95. Just seems like as hyper competitive as we seem to be we could win more National Championships. We have a huge pool of players. I wonder if it's coaching. Anyway well done Liverpool for getting there.  

We have too many clubs sharing the top players. Our talent is spread out all over the city.

Good point. You dang well know Michigan Hawks don't have near the amount of talent we do much less spread it out between 6 clubs over 2 or 3 divisions.

I think the fact that they can hide behind guest ID's definitely opens the flood gates to some crazy posts. http://talking-soccer.com/TS4/showthread.php?t=107593&page=36

Pro1 wrote:Good job girls. I have a question though. We are so competitive here and have so many great teams, when do our teams win it all? Did any of our ECNL teams win it all this year? I always hear about great effort but who was the last team to win it all? Was it a Sting 96 or Texans 95. Just seems like as hyper competitive as we seem to be we could win more National Championships. We have a huge pool of players. I wonder if it's coaching. Anyway well done Liverpool for getting there.  

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Agreed! Our teams are deep in talent. For example, our 98s sent 3 teams to the ECNL championship (8 teams total). We finished #3 FCD, #4 Texans, #7 Sting. Pretty impressive and bodes well with our '00 talent pool.

Pro1 wrote:Good point. You dang well know Michigan Hawks don't have near the amount of talent we do much less spread it out between 6 clubs over 2 or 3 divisions.

Hold'on there Tontoe.... Having seen Michigan Hawks up close and personal two years in a row. They definitely have the amount of talent "we" (I'm not sure who we are though) have.

The cold hard truth is that it has been 756 days and counting since North Texas has seen a National Championship (Sting 97). That is nothing to be ashamed of but still....

DDdad wrote:Well not to highjack the " Liverpool Elite 00 on their way to Nationals!!!!!" thread but back to Liverpool at Nationals.

Congratulations to LP and their players.  They also have a number of National Level caliber players and it has been an enjoyable (but not yet profitable) time playing against them many times.  All of those games at Nationals were 1 goal games and while not there, I'm sure that they could have gone the other way just as easily.  

I've never had an issue with any parent or kid on the team other than the one time that _____ ran past my DD and scored or the time that _____ made and incredible play to stop a goal of ours.  There was the time that _____ knocked one of our DD's down and took the ball from her.  Come to think of it, maybe I do have issues with them but only in a good way.  

They are a great team to play against and they will pull the best out of you.  Job well done.  Represented NT well.  

What exactly is the bar to be considered national caliber? You are either in the national pool or you are not. Let's not go overboard with the subjectiveness. Pulpanek '00 is a tremendous "TEAM" with a tremendous coach and tremendous players. They have most certainly done themselves and others proud to have competed so well.

Not to get flamed here if I have something wrong but sadly, I actually looked this up a year or two ago.

Sting has more National Championships than any club in the country boys or girls at 11. Sting won two National Championships two years ago when the 97's and 95's both won. The 95's also won a championship the year before. This year, Sting was the only club in the country to take 3 teams to the ECNL national finals. In the 98 division out of 8 teams at National Finals, three were from North Texas. I'm sure I'm not including some other club victories but it is not my day to watch them.

I've seen the Legends team, Hawks team and Liverpool teams all play who competed in the U13 championships and fully believe that any of them could have won on a given day. The Sting 96 team was far and away the best team in ECNL play in their age group for 364 days last year. They lost 0-1 to a very good Slammers team and ultimately they had to settle for 3rd (again). In fact, there were more teams from North Texas in the ECNL finals than any other conference including SoCal.

Soccer at that level is a game of inches and sometimes the ball falls your way and sometimes it does not.

IMO, there is nothing wrong with the coaching, clubs or players in North Texas. They are turning out a great product and I can assure you that any team in the country knows they are in for a battle when they face a top North Texas team whether that be Sting, Texans, FCD, Solar etc etc.

Yes, IMO there are too many ECNL teams in North Texas and from year to year, that may make winning it all more difficult. However, in most years, they do find a way to consolidate enough to sure make a run at it.

Let's remember that the LP team that rampaged through Regionals finished 2nd in Lake Highlands this year and I know they played more than one tight game this season with more than one team. When anyone from NT reaches this level, IMO, we should all feel we had a hand in it. Someone had to toughen them up. I will guarantee you that any team that wins in Lake Highlands can play with any team in the country. I have no love for LP but I will take my hat off to a team that performed well at that level and think they did a great job representing NT. Only 1 team can win Nationals and just like in Poker, that team will have played great and been very lucky at the right times.

And to answer you directly Limb, I do believe they have at least one girl who is in the National Pool and at least another one or two that IMO are certainly qualified but may not have played ODP or ID2 at this age. I do think there are a couple there (and a few more here in NT) that are good enough to play and start on any U13 team in the country. While that may not make them National Team Players, it does make them National Team caliber IMO. Long road from U13 to U23.

DDdad wrote:Not to get flamed here if I have something wrong but sadly, I actually looked this up a year or two ago.

Sting has more National Championships than any club in the country boys or girls at 11.  Sting won two National Championships two years ago when the 97's and 95's both won.  The 95's also won a championship the year before.  This year, Sting was the only club in the country to take 3 teams to the ECNL national finals.  In the 98 division out of 8 teams at National Finals, three were from North Texas.  I'm sure I'm not including some other club victories but it is not my day to watch them.  

I've seen the Legends team, Hawks team and Liverpool teams all play who competed in the U13 championships and fully believe that any of them could have won on a given day.  The Sting 96 team was far and away the best team in ECNL play in their age group for 364 days last year.  They lost 0-1 to a very good Slammers team and ultimately they had to settle for 3rd (again).  In fact, there were more teams from North Texas in the ECNL finals than any other conference including SoCal.  

Soccer at that level is a game of inches and sometimes the ball falls your way and sometimes it does not.  

IMO, there is nothing wrong with the coaching, clubs or players in North Texas.  They are turning out a great product and I can assure you that any team in the country knows they are in for a battle when they face a top North Texas team whether that be Sting, Texans, FCD, Solar etc etc.  

Yes, IMO there are too many ECNL teams in North Texas and from year to year, that may make winning it all more difficult.  However, in most years, they do find a way to consolidate enough to sure make a run at it.  

Let's remember that the LP team that rampaged through Regionals finished 2nd in Lake Highlands this year and I know they played more than one tight game this season with more than one team.  When anyone from NT reaches this level, IMO, we should all feel we had a hand in it.  Someone had to toughen them up.  I will guarantee you that any team that wins in Lake Highlands can play with any team in the country.  I have no love for LP but I will take my hat off to a team that performed well at that level and think they did a great job representing NT.  Only 1 team can win Nationals and just like in Poker, that team will have played great and been very lucky at the right times.  

 All very good points and I agree....However, this is big girl ball and there are no participation trophies, we (including me) like to talk about how great our teams are but at the end of the day each year NTX (like so many other areas) receives 12 chances (7 USYS, 5 ECNL) to win a national championship and the last two years NTX has come up short.

Note:  Sting was not the only club to take 3 teams to the ECNL national finals this year.  PDA also sent 3 teams and 2 of those teams played for a title, 1 of them walked away with a title beating Sting 3-0.

DDdad wrote:And to answer you directly Limb, I do believe they have at least one girl who is in the National Pool and at least another one or two that IMO are certainly qualified but may not have played ODP or ID2 at this age.  I do think there are a couple there (and a few more here in NT) that are good enough to play and start on any U13 team in the country.  While that may not make them National Team Players, it does make them National Team caliber IMO.  Long road from U13 to U23.  

They do not have any girls that are in the national pool. There are two girls from NTX that were invited to the u14 (birth year 1999 and above) WNT camp in May http://www.ussoccer.com/news/u-14-national-development-program/2013/05/u14-gnt-heads-to-portland.aspx. Neither was from Pulpanek '00. One haled from Solar '99 ECNL and the other from FCD '99 ECNL notably neither of them played '99 ODP (smh) but I'm quite sure both went through iD2.

It is certainly possible, probable even that a few of Pulps girls put themselves squarely on the national team map given that they performed well at the national championships. There were at least 2 girls (Legends-1, Hawks-1) that were in the 1st camp and at the championships so it's likely that there were national team scouts there as well.

In short - this whole thing was AWESOME. The ceremonies, facilities, officiating, setup, perks, interaction with the other teams (the 99 Tophat girls/familes were absolutely fantastic to us and our girls). Once in a lifetime event (especially in an area as ECNL-centric as NTX). The memories of being hotel-bound for a week will be with the girls forever. Due to ECNL movement and dual-rostering, I think it will be a tall order for NTX teams to probably get past regionals in girls anytime soon. The other states just have an advantage over their local ECNL teams.

The statement that any of the teams had legitimate shots at the title is definitely true. The other age groups had scores of 8-1 and 8-2 and they could have been 20-1, 20-1. For 00s - every team was very close. Of our three games and each half - NEFC - we gave up 2 in the first 3 min, but outplayed them the rest of the way. Hawks - pretty even first half, not even close the second - combination of our girls playing well and them not coming out to play. Legends - they controlled the game most of the first and all of the second half. We had a lot of chances, but it wasn't even by any means (even though their goal was in stoppage). We gave up 3 goals on corner kicks and 1 on our own goal kick (ouch). The talent was very good, but Legends had speed from top to bottom. The forward for NEFC was at least as good as billed if not better. Didn't really notice any Hawks standouts, but they were also extremely good. Legends didn't have any true standouts in our game as they too were fairly evenly stout in our game. Very impressed with the teams and event.

It would be nice if everyone could experience it.

Spolar wrote:

Pro1 wrote:Good job girls. I have a question though. We are so competitive here and have so many great teams, when do our teams win it all? Did any of our ECNL teams win it all this year? I always hear about great effort but who was the last team to win it all? Was it a Sting 96 or Texans 95. Just seems like as hyper competitive as we seem to be we could win more National Championships. We have a huge pool of players. I wonder if it's coaching. Anyway well done Liverpool for getting there.  

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Agreed! Our teams are deep in talent. For example, our 98s sent 3 teams to the ECNL championship (8 teams total). We finished #3 FCD, #4 Texans, #7 Sting. Pretty impressive and bodes well with our '00 talent pool.

The 98s actually sent four teams to Richmond for the ECNL championships; 'Feet were also there after winning their bracket in Colorado.

outonthelimb wrote:
 All very good points and I agree....However, this is big girl ball and there are no participation trophies, we (including me) like to talk about how great our teams are but at the end of the day each year NTX (like so many other areas) receives 12 chances (7 USYS, 5 ECNL) to win a national championship and the last two years NTX has come up short.

Note:  Sting was not the only club to take 3 teams to the ECNL national finals this year.  PDA also sent 3 teams and 2 of those teams played for a title, 1 of them walked away with a title beating Sting 3-0.

I'm somewhat confused on what you're saying here.  Is it that NTX has become less competitive in the last couple of years? Hard to believe winning a one-off game has so much meaning about a area's competitiveness. Two years and a couple weeks ago NTX won 2 NC.  Last year NTX had two teams in the NC game, and both lost.  This year they had one team in a NC game, who also lost.

If I understood your point correctly, then I question whether history supports it.