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GIRLS ECNL ANNOUNCES ‘ECNL REGIONAL LEAGUE – NORTHEAST CONFERENCE’ FOR THE 2019-20 SEASON

RICHMOND, VA (March 27, 2019) – In an effort to provide competition and development opportunities for a deeper player pool, the Girls Elite Clubs National League will launch the Girls ECNL Regional League – Northeast Conference beginning in the 2019-20 season. The Girls ECNL Regional League – Northeast Conference will include competition at the U13, U14, U15, U16, U17 and U18/U19 age groups.

The Girls ECNL Regional League platform was piloted in Texas in the 2018-19 season, where seven clubs within the ECNL Texas Conference participated in four age groups. The ECNL Regional League – Texas Conference was tremendously successful, providing great competition within a professional environment, and will expand in 2019-20.

Girls ECNL Regional Leagues provide local and regional competition within a conference structure, and are operated and managed by the Girls ECNL. The Girls ECNL Regional Leagues allow improved coordination between teams of different levels within ECNL clubs, and opportunity for players to develop and prepare for the Girls ECNL in the future.

Qualifiers from Girls ECNL Regional Leagues will earn post-season competition opportunities beginning in June 2020.

More information regarding the Girls ECNL Regional Leagues will be released in the coming weeks.

So, if I'm understanding this correctly, is this basically a renaming and repackaging of what is currently the Northeast Girls NPL? That was essentially second teams for the ECNL clubs, so it sounds like this would be the same thing but now managed directly by ECNL and given the ECNL naming.

And there's the ECNL 2 we've all been speculating about. Now just need to see the club list.

Wait, is the ECNL regional league the same as ECNL 2? OMG really, Please help me decide this mess. Will the teams be the same teams already in the northeast NPL division? Or different?

ECNL, ECNL2, ECNL Regional. Yes, let's all be happy for the "all-in" clubs. Complain about US Soccer but this is all about getting money.

ECNL was formed by the Top, most successful clubs in each region to maximize the competitiveness not only within the club for training purposes but also to form a competitive league for those top players in those top clubs in al four regions. For that they have greatly succeeded. GDA was formed by US Soccer to even narrow the focus of competitiveness and training to those "serous" players who want to train and play matches in a ration of 4:1. Quite clear that DA has fallen short of there goal and now ECNL is taking advantage of the blunders of US Soccer by now moving past there exclusivity of being a top league to instead "Branding" there league name and become a league for all with many different levels of league play. They are hoping that the name "ECNL" will now entice everyone to join regardless of a players skill. I wonder if the pricing for each of these leagues will be equal. Using PDA as an example they have 2 teams in the top ECNL league will that price be the highest where both teams combined have approx 50 players and then with the additional leagues of ECNL2 and this newly formed ECNL Regional league will the price be the same as the top league? Parents really need to do there homework when it comes to all these newly formed leagues. This in my opinion is the very definition of the word "slick".

Will there really be an ECNL2 and ECNL regional as separate items? Or are they just rolling out the second ECNL regionally?

Won’t be ECNL 2 & ECNL RL, it’s one and the same. Question I have is will PDA & FC Stars still get two ECNL teams and one ECNL RL team while everyone else gets one in each league?

And does NE NPL cease to exist, or is this another layer?

It’s 2 ECNL teams AND 2 ECNL RL teams

To be fair, PDA and Stars are the only clubs who have the quality numbers to support
4 teams. The RL teams will be nothing more than EDP or similar level. It’s marketing and nothing more.

I'm not so sure about that. Lots of quality players out there who either aren't interested in the DA, or didn't make the first ECNL team. As competitve as first ECNL team, probably not, but a nice alternative especially if they will attend the Showcases.

Do you really think WC, Susa,EM,Matchfit in this area can support 4 teams per age group? Most struggle with having 2. Beyond top 2 teams the rest are of the players are just local club ability. RL league would turn into mush. Keep it competitive.

It would be good for clubs like SUSA that carry 22 plus per roster. NOthing like going to a game and being told you can;t play because to many are here. Maybe with a 2 more teams you may get playing time.

How long can SUSA even sustain the whole 22 player per roster model? Families are paying way too much money to get little to no playing time. At some point, these families will look elsewhere.

girls were told to sit at last tournament as too many girls were on the bench and only some of us were able to dress. Unfair to all of us never knowing when this will happen until the day or so before a match we are told

Exactly, that's not cool. So how long are families going to put up with that? Doesn't sound like a good long term plan and obviously given the last post, there are families who aren't going to put up with that much longer.

Plenty of teams have large rosters but coaches manage the process better. Not telling players ahead of time who is or isn't playing is totally uncool. However, parents also need to do their due diligence ahead of time. Know that if they are accepting a spot on a large roster that PT issues will almost always arise. It you're not confident your player is a starter or at least a first sub in, you should seriously consider other options here more PT is assured.

Kids want and need to play, period. Have no sympathy for those parents paying thousands of dollars to see their kid ride the pine game after game and tell themselves it’s ok.

I would be interested to hear who manages it well.

I know Matchfit doesn’t. Currently 28 on the 06 ECNL roster. Girls show up at a practice one day and are rostered by the next weekend’s game leaving the current girls at home.

I think parents want their kids to have the status of being on an ECNL team like SUSA but it wonlt matter if they aren;t seen playing time is important when a college coach is watching. Sitting the bench the coach that comes to watch will wonder why they aren;t on the field.

That is 100% correct. Why sit the bench or risk not being rostered if the kid wants to play college soccer. you do NOT need ECNL next to your name to play at the next level. If you are top of the class, yes I agree if helps for sure, but if you are the bottom third of the ECNL(great accomplishment in itself) you are better off on another team playing the majority of the time. choose wisely.....

Playing ECNL is not a guarantee you will get into a Division 1 school as people think. Playing any level soccer is an accolade with academics being the top choice.

Already looking elsewhwere. Hate the large rosters. It demeans the girl's efforts, causes anxiety if they are the ones told they cant play, a lot of time and money for girls who work hard. very hard, may not be the best ones but then put us on another team. Dont care about the name just let us play

Great post. And let's be honest, at best most girls on long island that are "D 1 material" are really D 1 mid major players, like Stony Brook, Hofstra, etc., not UCA, UNC, etc., and for that, you definitely do not need ECNL, you need playing time. And please don't mistake my comment as demeaning mid major programs and their players, that is an absolutely AWESOME accomplishment for any kid who gets there. It's just the point as people have said here, to pay what SUSA for example charges and then have games where you don't even dress is just not smart.