ECNL2 "Guesses"

E

equipo

BRONZE
With the ever changing landscape and two more seasons before my DD ages out I will encourage her to consider ECNL2. But since there's been no official announcement on ECNL2 teams we're left to guessing. So my guess would be... outside of tryouts and-or forming new teams that the ECNL clubs would look to promote teams within their club for ECNL2 status. If so below are my "guesses" on the ECNL club teams that can possibly be given ECNL2 status. The ECNL teams are in parenthesis.

Slammers HB (LAFC ECNL) - whether they get ECNL2 status from LAFC or Slammers this would be the top team going in. They're National Cup Champions.

Blues Helm (Blues ECNL) - finished SCDSL Flight 1, 3rd of 9 teams. Finished last in bracket at National Cup round 2 with 11 goals against and 2 goals for.

??? (Slammers ECNL) - too many Slammers teams to guess. Slammers Whittier, Slammers South, Slammers Elite, etc. All good teams.

Breakers Reserve (LA Breakers ECNL) - finished SCDSL Flight 1, 5th of 10 teams. Played down at State Cup Presidents and made semi-finals.

Sharks EGSL (Sharks ECNL) - finished SCDSL Flight 2, 2nd of 9 teams. Finished last in bracket at National Cup round 2 with 12 goals against and 1 goal for.

??? (Arsenal ECNL) - outside of the ECNL team that's on track to finish around 8th of 10 teams I can't find any other 03 Arsenal teams. ?

Strikers FC North (Strikers ECNL) - finished SCDSL Flight 1, 5th of 6 teams. Finished last in bracket at National Cup round 1 with 8 goals against and 2 goals for.

??? (Rebels) - a new team for ECNL. My guess is Rebels SC (National Cup finalist) gets ECNL status so Rebels Academy or Rebels IE get ECNL2 status. Both finished last in their brackets at National Cup round 1.

Eagles DPL (Eagles) - another new team for ECNL. My guess is their DPL team gets ECNL2 status. Their DPL team finished DPL season 11th of 13 teams.

I am not looking to promote or throw shade at any of these teams. Just curious if there's any shared thoughts on ECNL2 as we prepare to weigh options for next season.
 
Yeah. When you look at that list of teams, you see the joke that is ECNL2. Really poor teams top to bottom. Slammers HB is a team that has always been distantly behind the top Slammers teams and competitive with most clubs third teams.

That and DPL are really poor. Period. If you can play ECNL, because you don’t desire DA, get on an ECNL team.

If your kid doesn’t want to play that level, and isn’t interested in college, why even bother playing the last two years?

There’s more to life than soccer. Most of these kids haven’t been kids, they’ve been in a car to and from fields for half their lives.
 
ENCL 2 would be a joke, just like DPL. Another way for clubs to make money.

Slammers HB has turned into a very strong team that likely would be competitive with the Slammers ECNL teams. I think the Slammers ENCL teams are better, but not by that much. I think the comment that Slammers HB is "distantly" behind the top teams is pretty harsh and not accurate.

That being said, I don't know why Slammers HB would want to leave Discovery to be in an ECNL 2 league with the teams you listed above. I certainly wouldn't want to do that. In Discovery they can play Navy, IE Surf, Hawks, GPS, and several other very strong teams. Looks at the teams they would play in ECNL 2.

DPL is not much stronger than what ENCL 2 would be. Even the 03 Academy "Pilot" teams are not great. Several ECNL teams beat the Pilot teams down at a showcase a few months ago. Navy or Slammers HB would also beat most of the "Pilot" teams.

The Discovery league is pretty comparable to the "Pilot" league. Now, the top 3 ECNL teams and most of the 02/03 Academy teams (maybe not LA Premier, Eagles, or Albion (-47 goal differential)) are at a different level, but there's not much difference between Navy, Slammers HB, or the other top Discovery teams and the rest of ECNL or the bottom Academy teams.
 
DA or ECNL not an option for us next season for various reasons (didn't make DA roster, the coach of another DA team was a joke!, ECNL clubs we like are too far, ECNL club in area another joke!, etc.). So our attention is at DPL, ECNL2, SCDSL Discovery.

DPL clubs saying each year they're growing and next season will be strongest because of regional expansion and team improvements as most DA Pilot rosters will absorb into DPL.

ECNL2 is a guess that's why I posted above, just looking for shared thoughts or guesses until official announcements are made.

SCDSL Discovery looks to take a hit next season. Navy plays up in 02 Discovery and rumors of Slammers HB & Slammers Whittier (or at least their players) going ECNL2.

Coast Premier looks to take a hit too. Legends IE dominated last season. Rumors continue of that roster breaking up further amongst Legends DA/DPL or Arsenal ECNL.

It's a real shame that it's such a diluted playing field. Each league looks to offer 3 maybe 4 quality teams for competition. Then again we see that at the ECNL level too. Maybe it's not too late to take up softball! Lol.
 
One thing to watch out for is some of these ECNL teams may take players and push them down to the Regional teams and then combine them with Discovery players and form some good teams. You also may see Discovery get diluted with the top teams and players from ECNL clubs moving to the Regional league for exposure and then promoting Europa teams to Discovery to fill slots
 
Sunil Illuminati said:
How is DPL another way for clubs to make money? Wouldn't those kids be playing in another league any way?
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I didn't mean to sound harsh. Most things are a ways for clubs to make money. But, I think some of the weaker So. California Academy clubs came up with DPL as a hook to get more kids at their club under the guise of it being something special and a very high level league. There is nothing wrong with DPL and there are good players and good teams in it, just like other leagues, but it was marketed as being a high level league when in reality it is only on the Flight 1 level, clearly below and definitely not above Discovery or ECNL, as some clubs advertised.
 
Justice said:
I didn't mean to sound harsh. Most things are a ways for clubs to make money. But, I think some of the weaker So. California Academy clubs came up with DPL as a hook to get more kids at their club under the guise of it being something special and a very high level league. There is nothing wrong with DPL and there are good players and good teams in it, just like other leagues, but it was marketed as being a high level league when in reality it is only on the Flight 1 level, clearly below and definitely not above Discovery or ECNL, as some clubs advertised.
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I don't disagree on the level of DPL but didn't think that it's a money making scheme. I would have thought if anything it would make logistics somewhat easier, if the clubs are already playing each other at the DA level? I think DPL outside of the youngest age group, where there is no DA, is third tier at best.
 
equipo said:
??? (Rebels) - a new team for ECNL. My guess is Rebels SC (National Cup finalist) gets ECNL status so Rebels Academy or Rebels IE get ECNL2 status. Both finished last in their brackets at National Cup round 1.
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Rebels has also expanded with Rebels East, formally OVC. Their G03 team has had some recent success and was steadily improving. Kinda fell flat in National Cup, though. They were a CRL team so they had a round 1 bye and went 1-2 in the second round. Both opponents went far, for what it's worth.
 
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