REDMOND, WASHINGTON – The Elite Clubs National League National Championship had something of an in-between day here Friday at 60 Acres Soccer Park.

Each of the 120 teams here played a match on the day, but they probably shouldn’t have.

The main reason for being here is to crown national champions and take care of the organization’s unique promotion and relegation format to determine who will be in the top and 2^nd flight of the league next season.

But there’s this default idea of playing every day at a "tournament" that elite youth soccer is still mired in, no matter how much all the signs tell you teams of young adults should not play three full matches in three days. Add in the idea of paying parents that three matches in three days somehow brings more good than…..two matches in three days, and there you have it.

In truth, a national championship where a team gets a day off between the semifinal and final is much better for the quality of the match AND the championship, but here were Saturday’s finalists playing a separate game on Friday, a day after their semifinal and a day before their final.

It’s also true that if you split up the 48 non semifinal or promotion matches being played Thursday and Saturday, you could make it much more likely for college scouts to see the rest of the players over the course of the three days, since fewer matches would be played at the same time.

All of this is in the context of what I wrote yesterday, that this is a great event and the concept ECNL’s member clubs are putting together is a great leap forward for elite girls soccer.

It’s also true that a lot of excellent young soccer talent was on display Friday, but with no particular meaning to the matches themselves, I just strolled through the lovely complex here and watched. By the way, this setting, run by Seattle-area club Crossfire Premier – is as pretty a soccer park as I’ve seen. Along with that, the people from Crossfire are doing a great job of putting the event together. There are a lot of very friendly and helpful people on hand to take care of whatever you might need.

So without further discussion, here are a few highlights of what I saw from U15 teams.

South Carolina side CESA Premier played to a 3-3 draw with Arizona’s SC del Sol. SC del Sol defender Jasmine Stokes was composed in the back and steps well to the ball, as well having good strength to hold off challenges if needed. CESA defender Tahihr Nesmith was decisive in challenging and covers a lot of ground.

In FC Milwaukee’s 1-1 draw with FC Dallas, Milwaukee defender Jackie Wandt was strong in the back, showing good positional sense and also good feet in controlling the ball and distributing. Her teammate Sara Waters also has a good pair of feet and showed some good vision and creativity in the attack. FC Dallas forward Belicia Mendiola is tenacious and quick in the attack.

Houston area club Challenge SC defeated Charlotte Soccer Academy 3-1. Challenge’s Kaleigh Olmsted is a quick and creative attacker, while Auburn Mercer of Charlotte is a smart and strong defender with a good first touch.

In a 2-0 win over Virginia Rush, Ohio Elite got a very strong goalkeeping performance from Ayanna Parker, who was very decisive coming off her line and also showed good command of her area on crosses, and excellent positioning to put herself in position to make saves. Morgan Lindeman was good on the left side for the Cincinnati-area team. For Virginia, Meredith Resinger was tenacious going forward from her right back position, as well as covering a lot of ground defensively and being a good 1v1 defender. Elizabeth Mello was a tough tackler in midfield.

Key Saturday Matches

U15 Championship Match: Dallas Sting vs. Arsenal FC

3^rd Place Match: CASL Spartan Elite vs. Eclipse Select

Promotion Match: Solar SC vs. Soccerplus Connecticut

(San Juan SC and Lonestar SC have been promoted by virtue of league position)

Relegation Playoff: Stars of Massachusetts vs. D’Feeters

U16 Championship Match: Mustang Rampage vs. PDA Charge

3^rd Place Match: Stars of Massachusetts vs. Crossfire Premier

Promotion Match: Challenge SC vs. Connecticut FC

(Arsenal FC and SC del Sol have been promoted by virtue of league position)

Relegation Playoff: Sereno SC vs. Birmingham United

U17 Championship Match: PDA Tsunami vs. Stars of Massachusetts

3^rd Place Match: Ohio Elite vs. Lonestar SC

Promotion Match: San Juan SC vs. FC Virginia

(Albertson Fury and SC del Sol have been promoted by virtue of league position)

Relegation Playoff: Charlotte Soccer Academy vs. Colorado Rush