Quote from: Freddyfud on December 19, 2023, 10:47:35 AM
Out of the almost 400 players eligible for today's MLS SuperDraft, there are 2 names familiar to this board:  Amer Lukovic and Hakeem Morgan.  Good luck to both of them.

https://www.mlssoccer.com/superdraft/news/mls-superdraft-2024-eligible-players

Definitely, good luck.  MLS so-called Super Draft is really a joke. I wish there was actually a way to track the draft to see how many players actually make the first team and how long they last.

I suppose there is a way to track, but would take a lot of time most of us don't have. We need a PhD candidate willing to put the time in. Would love to see what the yield is with these 87 over 1 yr, 3 yr, 5 yr. Maybe we would be surprised, expect to be disappointed.

Quote from: SierraFD3soccer on December 19, 2023, 11:06:41 PM

Quote from: Freddyfud on December 19, 2023, 10:47:35 AM
Out of the almost 400 players eligible for today's MLS SuperDraft, there are 2 names familiar to this board:  Amer Lukovic and Hakeem Morgan.  Good luck to both of them.

https://www.mlssoccer.com/superdraft/news/mls-superdraft-2024-eligible-players

Definitely, good luck.  MLS so-called Super Draft is really a joke. I wish there was actually a way to track the draft to see how many players actually make the first team and how long they last.

Anyone want to give their takes on highest level MLS squads deciding not to play in the 2024 US Open Cup Soccer competition?

SC just captured my feelings on it...

https://youtu.be/cQHFgCjCWn0?si=fS-5ylkl73jyGu--

Quote from: Kuiper on December 19, 2023, 06:05:42 PM

Logan Falzarano of Johns Hopkins was named DIII Men's Soccer Academic All-American of the Year.

Rightfully so. Kid earned a 3.99 dual majoring in Applied Mathematics & Statistics / Computer Science at one of our nation's finest institutions.  My runner up would be Lyndon Hu with his 4.0 in Biology from The University of Chicago.

Quote from: Kuiper on December 19, 2023, 06:05:42 PM
(by the way, call me a sucker for the humanities, but I like to see the Messiah GK majoring in English - that and History have sadly fallen into disfavor based on general reports and these lists of majors)

I like this kid, who according to his bio is also part of the Hegemonocle Comedy Magazine.
Hans Haenicke   Macalester College   Jr.   3.98   German Studies / Media & Cultural Studies

Quote from: WLCALUM83 on December 20, 2023, 09:20:41 AM

Quote from: SierraFD3soccer on December 19, 2023, 11:06:41 PM

Quote from: Freddyfud on December 19, 2023, 10:47:35 AM
Out of the almost 400 players eligible for today's MLS SuperDraft, there are 2 names familiar to this board:  Amer Lukovic and Hakeem Morgan.  Good luck to both of them.

https://www.mlssoccer.com/superdraft/news/mls-superdraft-2024-eligible-players

Definitely, good luck.  MLS so-called Super Draft is really a joke. I wish there was actually a way to track the draft to see how many players actually make the first team and how long they last.

Anyone want to give their takes on highest level MLS squads deciding not to play in the 2024 US Open Cup Soccer competition?

Simple Coach's social media influencer status strikes again!  US Soccer rejects MLS' move to withdraw its teams from the Open Cup

https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/39154089/us-soccer-rules-mls-teams-participate-24-open-cup

Quote from: Rcjh2245 on December 19, 2023, 11:35:46 PM
I suppose there is a way to track, but would take a lot of time most of us don't have. We need a PhD candidate willing to put the time in. Would love to see what the yield is with these 87 over 1 yr, 3 yr, 5 yr. Maybe we would be surprised, expect to be disappointed.

Nowhere near a PhD but here is a Google Sheet view of games played by year for each of the MLS draft selections during a 10 year period (2010-2019.) There were 666 of them.  Based on medians it shows the top 12 picks seem to do pretty well for the first few years at least.  Draft data is from wikipedia (best I could find?) and games played and other stats from a dataset I found on Kaggle.

MLS Games Played by Draft Pick

Great data. That's pretty bleak.

Quote from: Rcjh2245 on December 19, 2023, 11:35:46 PM
I suppose there is a way to track, but would take a lot of time most of us don't have. We need a PhD candidate willing to put the time in. Would love to see what the yield is with these 87 over 1 yr, 3 yr, 5 yr. Maybe we would be surprised, expect to be disappointed.

Lately, some of the most successful draft picks have been goalkeepers.  The two starting keepers in the MLS Cup Final were Roman Celentano of FC Cincinnati (who played 3 years and 52 games at Indiana from 2019-2021) and Patrick Schulte of Columbus Crew (who played 3 years and 51 games at St. Louis University from 2019-2021).  There are other recent examples:  Drake Callender of Inter Miami also played 54 games with Cal Berkeley from 2016-2019 and received his first USMNT call-up in 2023.  Dayne St. Clair of Minnesota United played 43 games for the University of Maryland from 2015-2018 and he was named to Canada's World Cup squad.  And, of course, Matt Turner came out of college at Fairfield, although at an earlier time.

Goalkeepers need lots of good game reps to develop and playing in college is one way to get a those reps.  Plus, the reps are actually reasonably high quality because most defenses aren't exactly lock-down and the ability to substitute allows for fresher strikers and forces the goalkeepers to deal with lots of athletic players.  It's also why some of the DIII players who get pro looks (at some level) are goalkeepers.  They often come to DIII to play right away and that can give them a leg up.

Quote from: Kuiper on December 20, 2023, 01:28:07 PM

Quote from: Rcjh2245 on December 19, 2023, 11:35:46 PM
I suppose there is a way to track, but would take a lot of time most of us don't have. We need a PhD candidate willing to put the time in. Would love to see what the yield is with these 87 over 1 yr, 3 yr, 5 yr. Maybe we would be surprised, expect to be disappointed.

Lately, some of the most successful draft picks have been goalkeepers.  The two starting keepers in the MLS Cup Final were Roman Celentano of FC Cincinnati (who played 3 years and 52 games at Indiana from 2019-2021) and Patrick Schulte of Columbus Crew (who played 3 years and 51 games at St. Louis University from 2019-2021).  There are other recent examples:  Drake Callender of Inter Miami also played 54 games with Cal Berkeley from 2016-2019 and received his first USMNT call-up in 2023.  Dayne St. Clair of Minnesota United played 43 games for the University of Maryland from 2015-2018 and he was named to Canada's World Cup squad.  And, of course, Matt Turner came out of college at Fairfield, although at an earlier time.

Goalkeepers need lots of good game reps to develop and playing in college is one way to get a those reps.  Plus, the reps are actually reasonably high quality because most defenses aren't exactly lock-down and the ability to substitute allows for fresher strikers and forces the goalkeepers to deal with lots of athletic players.  It's also why some of the DIII players who get pro looks (at some level) are goalkeepers.  They often come to DIII to play right away and that can give them a leg up.

[/b]

Look no further than SLU's own Greg Sutton.

Quote from: Kuiper on December 20, 2023, 11:53:22 AM

Quote from: WLCALUM83 on December 20, 2023, 09:20:41 AM

Quote from: SierraFD3soccer on December 19, 2023, 11:06:41 PM

Quote from: Freddyfud on December 19, 2023, 10:47:35 AM
Out of the almost 400 players eligible for today's MLS SuperDraft, there are 2 names familiar to this board:  Amer Lukovic and Hakeem Morgan.  Good luck to both of them.

https://www.mlssoccer.com/superdraft/news/mls-superdraft-2024-eligible-players

Definitely, good luck.  MLS so-called Super Draft is really a joke. I wish there was actually a way to track the draft to see how many players actually make the first team and how long they last.

Anyone want to give their takes on highest level MLS squads deciding not to play in the 2024 US Open Cup Soccer competition?

Simple Coach's social media influencer status strikes again!  US Soccer rejects MLS' move to withdraw its teams from the Open Cup

https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/39154089/us-soccer-rules-mls-teams-participate-24-open-cup

My influencing is just off the charts.  I think what got them was when I call US Soccer ... MLS' useful idiot.....

SC.

This is kind of cool.

Santiago Solari, Stockton Men's Soccer player in 1994 who went on to play at Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid, and Inter Milan, was just named Real Madrid's Director of Football

https://onefootball.com/en/news/real-madrid-appoint-former-manager-as-director-of-football-38760642

And former Northwestern University men's soccer coach highlights the DIII connection with Stockton

https://x.com/Tim_Lenahan/status/1737864048639627454?s=20

Some times talked about on the boards, but maybe not enough especially when you have a son that is going, about to go, or has graduated. What is a program offering that is more than just practices and games?

Son recently went to F&M (not everyone's cup of tea but maybe not on the Amherst level) and F&M posted this today - https://www.instagram.com/p/C5ySlJ_OdX2/?hl=en. Most have alumni games, but not many wrap it around professional development opportunities for their players. Apparently, 89 fellow alumni showed up these events last weekend. Events like this, as well as regular contact with alumni, are big parts of playing for the team. If an alumnus did not have a good time and sees the program not going in a similar direction, alumni don't support and will not necessarily go out of their way to help current players.

May be hard to replicate with newer coaches, but when considering programs, I think this should be a part, and maybe a major part, of a kid's consideration. While my son did not need the career help (he is an actuary), many of friends used alumni for advice and leads to internships. Further, many of his fellow players are now his best friends and will most likely be for the rest of his life.

Not much more parents can want for their sons.

I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like what Emory is bringing in next season: three undergrad D1 transfers (from Fordham, St. Mary's, and Radford), three D1 grad transfers (one Louisville and two from Princeton), and an all-region grad transfer from W&L.  Several of those D1 transfers were starters at the D1 level.  They also are brining in seven FYs.  Wild. 

Quote from: nescac1 on June 26, 2024, 12:45:53 PMI don't think I've ever seen anything quite like what Emory is bringing in next season: three undergrad D1 transfers (from Fordham, St. Mary's, and Radford), three D1 grad transfers (one Louisville and two from Princeton), and an all-region grad transfer from W&L.  Several of those D1 transfers were starters at the D1 level.  They also are brining in seven FYs.  Wild. 

This is the last year of the COVID extra year, which accounts for the grad transfers from both DI and DIII, but it's also the early days of the explosion of NIL and the transfer portal generally, as well as the uncertainty of the future of non-revenue sports at smaller D1s.  Soccer didn't have the transfer restrictions of football/basketball, but the other factors, plus the growth in the international pool of players interested in college, has had a knock-on effect on college soccer.  Plus, a lot of the soccer kids have grown up moving from club to club in search of playing time or better situations.  In my Go West thread post (#718) on commitments in Region X, UC Santa Cruz, Trinity (TX), University of St. Thomas, and Mary Hardin-Baylor all have a decent number of transfers announced.