As we near the end of the 2011-2012 season, we continue unveiling our July update to TeamRank, the comprehensive ranking system for elite club soccer teams nationwide. Today we release the latest standings for U13, U14 and U15 Girls. Next week, we will update the older age groups on the boys side. We will update our National Top 50 of each age group at least once per month.

With almost all competitions for the year having been completed, except for the US Youth Soccer National Championship, the National Premier Leagues’ inaugural Champions Cup, and the US Soccer Development Academy National Finals, we will be unveiling our final updates for each age group this month. With some very minor tweaking based on the aforementioned competitions, we will publish our final standings for each age group by August 1, and will begin updates for the 2012-2013 season in September.

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De Anza Force Knocked off the top

De Anza Force has been our top-ranked team since we began our current rating system at the start of the 2012 spring season, but a tough loss at the hands of #8 South Bay Force in the US Club Soccer National Cup XI West Regional keeps them from both staying at the top and competing in the US Club Soccer National Cup later this month.  De Anza had a great 2011-12 campaign with wins at Surf Cup, So Cal Blues Cup and an unblemished record in the NorCal Regional Academy League, so the team remains at #2. US Youth Soccer Region IV champion West Coast FC takes over #1, having finished the season strong, winning the Cal South National Cup (state cup) and the US Youth Soccer Region IV Championship.  All three of these clubs look to fare well as ECNL competition starts next fall. 

The fourth and fifth spots this month go to sleeper teams: Yardley Makefield Explosion ’98 and Dallas Texans, respectively.  Explosion had a so-so fall and headed into the spring Colonial Regional League season with a lot of ground to make up from a rankings standpoint.  Well, they caught up in a big way by winning the Colonial League, then the Eastern Pennsylvania State Cup, then the US Youth Soccer Region I Championships by beating #3 PDA O’Reilly in the final.  Dallas Texans basically came out of nowhere in the last month and a half after a 5-4-7 record and 5^th place finish in the Lake Highlands Girls Classic League, to beat #17 Solar in the North Texas State Cup final and capped the season as US Youth Soccer Region III Champions.

Arsenal FC ECNL Champs at U14

Elite Clubs National League play weighs heavily in our rankings for U14 and up, since league competition is consistently challenging, and with the ECNL National Finals having finished last month, each of our top five this month was involved in the ECNL competition during the 2011-12 season.

The top two finishers in the ECNL SoCal Division this year, #1 Arsenal FC and #3 San Diego Surf faced each other in the ECNL National Final as well, with Arsenal FC taking the top prize in Illinois, so Arsenal also takes over the #1 spot in our rankings to finish the competition year. Last month’s #1, PDA Arsenal, fell to Arsenal FC in the ECNL semifinal, and drops into second.

Other strong finishers in the ECNL National Finals were #4 Mustang Explosion, who lost to Surf on pks in the semifinal round, and #5 Dallas Texans, champions of the Texas Conference, who Arsenal was able to topple in the first round of the National Finals.

 

U15s Applecart Turnover

What’s that old saying?  Don’t upset the apple cart?  Well, Colorado Rush and Dallas Sting have obviously never heard it, bypassing the eight teams ranked above them last month to finish out the year ranked #1 and #2, respectively.  Rush was provided some stellar play by U.S. U15 Girls National Team members Betsy Brandon and Jordan DiBiasi among others on its way to a 1-0 defeat of Sting in the ECNL National Finals.

Rush and Sting got a little help in the turnover from now #3 PDA Clash’s run to the ECNL semifinals, and a couple of key losses by Legends FC and So Cal Blues.  #4 Legends, although they will still be attending the US Youth Soccer National Championships via their divisional win in the US Youth Soccer National League, had a hiccup in Region IV Championship play and lost to unranked Pride SC Predators in the semifinals, keeping them from earning the Region IV crown. So Cal Blues fell to semifinalist and eighth ranked Crossfire in the first round and fell to #7 in our rankings.  Gwinnett SA Phoenix Red remains at #5 after a quarterfinal finish in ECNL play.

 

Next Thursday: U16, U17, and U18 Boys

TeamRank is the comprehensive team-ranking system devised by TopDrawerSoccer.com to provide an objective and common-sense approach to determining which elite youth soccer teams are the best in the nation.

The rankings, updated monthly, are primarily results-based, with a nod toward the league and championship competitions that emulate how excellence is determined in leading soccer nations around the world.

Tournaments are also included but at a reduced value due to the many mitigating factors involving such events, including attrition and guest players.

A final layer of executive evaluation is provided to account for variables that often impact results, thus ensuring that the monthly lists are not subjective, but are not purely mechanical.