|
|
Posted by
,
October 9, 2014 |
|
Email
Aaron Nielsen
Twitter
@ENBSports
|
|
Read this on your iPhone/iPad or Android device
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
College soccer has already reached the mid-point of the 2014 season and it has been difficult to determine who are currently the best teams in the United States. The first half of the season is mostly games against non-conference opponents, so records can be deceiving based on how strong of a schedule each school has played. Meanwhile, in Canada the cream of the crop are separating themselves from the pack and you are really beginning to see the influence MLS and academy teams are having on both competitions.
The current top 10 schools in the NCAA Division 1 rankings do have a familiar flavor with last season’s number one club Washington currently holding that spot with a 9-1-0 record. The Huskies are lead by senior keeper Spencer Richey and GA talent Christian Roldan, but it is the eight goals of Darwin Jones that has lead Washington and moved Jones up the prospect list. Jones, a senior, actually started his career in junior college and only played one season of division one college soccer before this year, but the striker has good speed and has played very aggressively the first 10 games of the season.
The top 10 teams also include perennial contenders such as UCLA, Notre Dame, Georgetown, and Marquette. While schools such as North Carolina, Virginia, Stanford and Louisville remain in the top 25 but have struggled, giving the impression that there is more parity in US college soccer this season and it will be a difficult time selecting the at-large teams for the National Tournament in November. One interesting development that has happened this year is good soccer programs, who struggled last year or previous seasons, are having strong campaigns so far and have arguably potentially weaker recruiting classes then they had in previous seasons.
Indiana would be the greatest example of this. The National Champions in 2012 struggled last season despite players still being taken in the MLS draft, while this season they might not have any players taken. Charlotte, who lost their best player in the off season Giuseppe Gentile to become a pro, has the 49ers are a surprising 8-1-0 this season lead by underclassman Kyle Parker. While Penn State, who lost a couple players via transfers this off season, are 10-0-1 led by the goalkeeping of 6'6 senior Andrew Wolverton and the play of fellow senior Mikey Minutillo who missed last season through injury.
Goalkeeping has had an impact with many of the top teams having strong senior leadership in this role. As mentioned, Washington and Penn State have solid keepers, but also Thomas Gomez (Georgetown), Tyler Miller (Northwestern), Earl Edwards (UCLA), Charlie Lyon (Marquette), Joachim Bell (Louisville) and Patrick Wall (Notre Dame). Further proof of the impact a strong keeper has is the current struggles of UCONN who lost keeper Andre Blake this offseason to the MLS Draft. Despite Cyle Larin having four goals and two assists in nine games, the Huskies are 3-5-1 and will need to have a strong conference showing if they want to make the National Championship Tournament.
With UCONN’s struggles, the school so far to watch from a Canadian perspective has been the Syracuse Orangemen who are 9-1-0. Syracuse have four Canadians on their roster: sophomores Chris Nanco and Alex Halis, although the players who have made the greatest impact are seniors Skylar Thomas and Jordan Murrell, so much so both have moved up into my top 100 prospect list. Thomas is a 6'3/180 very strong central defender who played for the Canadian U-18's. While Murrell has been one of the top players the first half of this season, including contributing a goal and four assists from a full back position. Murrell should be a familiar name for those who follow Canadian soccer closely as he was also part of the Canadian team U18 team and was also captain of the Toronto FC Academy. It will be interesting to see if Toronto offer him a homegrown status contract, especially with the struggles of UConn's Allando Matheson.
The MLS Academies certainly have had an impact on college soccer where many of the top 100 players in my list come are from Academy programs, including my number one prospect and New York Red Bull homegrown player Brandon Allen, who has eight goals in eleven games with Georgetown this season. Other MLS Academy players who are looking good this season have been DC United's Ian Harkes with Wake Forest, FC Dallas Boyd Okwuonu with North Carolina, Red Bulls Sean Davis with Duke, Philadelphia's Connor Maloney with Penn State, Real Salt Lake Andrew Brody and Ricardo Velazco with Louisville, and although not as dominate as he should be, Seattle's Jordan Morris with Stanford.
However, like Allando Matheson, the academy association might have put too much pressure on players, or lead to an over evaluation, as there are a number of Academy-based players who are also struggling. Of the players removed from my top 100 2015 MLS prospect include two MLS Academy players in Chicago's Drew Conner with Wisconsin and Red Bulls Mael Corboz with Maryland. They are both underclassman whose schools have struggled more than expected, meaning their chances of a Homegrown contract at the end of this college season is unlikely. The other high profile players to fall out of my top 100 list are North Carolina's Jordan McCrary, who suffered a season ending ACL injury, and Maryland's Alex Shinsky, who despite being one of the top recruits coming into college hasn't showed he has ability to make an impact at this level so I wouldn't expect much from him as a pro.
MLS Academies are also having an influence on CIS Soccer this season as three of the early candidates for player of the year are all coming to Canadian University play with MLS academy experience. Former TFC reserves player Kilian Elkinson, who now plays with University of Toronto, so far this season has 11 goals and three assists in 10 games. While Navid Mashinchi, who played a number of years with the Vancouver Whitecaps residency program, has seven goals and country high nine assists with the University of British Colombia.
For me the player I have been impressed with this season, first watching in the PDL this summer with KW United and now with York University, is striker/winger Jarek Whiteman who has 12 goals in 13 games with York University. York has benefited greatly from Toronto FC academy and now League One Ontario, and look to be not only the strongest club in CIS but even as a club team in the country. The side includes Dylan Sacramento, Matt Stinson, Jonathan Leo, Omari Morris, Kyle Crichton, Ernesto Gaita and Henry Moody. This quality is shown in their record this season where they are 12-0-1 and have outscored their opponents by 51 goals for to five allowed.
York’s greatest challenge for the CIS Championship this season looks to UBC who are a perfect 8-0-0 in the West and have only conceded two goals. The Thunderbirds have benefited greatly from the Whitecaps academy program and the current side includes Chris Serban, Harry Lakhan, Niall Cousens and Navid Mashinchi. Other schools who look to challenge are Saskatchewan with the forward combination of Brett Levis and David Brown. University of New Brunswick appear to be the strongest school in the East, although Cape Breton's Justin Maheu has already scored 12 goals. In Ontario, Ryerson, Toronto, and McMaster who held York to a draw, look to challenge the Lions. While in Quebec things look fairly even, where players who played soccer in France are having a greater impact at the moment than Montreal Academy players.
As I wrote in the past I'm not the biggest fan of Academies as I think people underestimate the transition from Academy to being a legitimate professional player and the value financially this has on the professional club. However, I will acknowledge, and this college soccer season so far has been further proof, that a structured development environment such as a professional academy does have an impact on quality and success throughout the soccer chain. Hopefully this commitment will continue and even be included in the women's game as I feel improved play and media awareness will make college soccer even more relevant to the North American soccer pyramid.
|