# SoccerAnalytix > SoccerAnalytix! Elevate your team's performance with data-driven insights and stories. Focus includes USYS, ECNL & MLS NEXT. Public Ghost content for AI and LLM tooling. This file includes a bounded export of public pages first, then recent public posts. Append `.md` to any post or page URL to get the content in Markdown (for example, `/example-post.md`). ## Pages ### ABOUT URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/about/ Last updated: 2026-03-11T18:18:22.000Z At SoccerAnalytix, we aim to elevate youth soccer team performance with data-driven insights and stories. We're impressed by what happens inside leagues like ECNL / ECNL-RL, with a combined output that delivers 88,000+ nationwide goals annually. We're also amazed by MLS NEXT's Homegrown Division, the highest "goals scored per-game" elite youth soccer league in the United States. This content is available for personal use. ### CONTACT URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/contact/ Last updated: 2025-05-08T21:42:09.000Z **NAME** **EMAIL** **MESSAGE** Click on SEND! below this line: we usually respond within 1-2 business days. **SEND!** ### ECNL BOYS - SEASON PROGRESS - BY CONFERENCE & AGE GROUP URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/seasonstatistics/ Last updated: 2026-03-11T17:39:14.000Z --- ### ECNL BOYS - NATIONWIDE RANKINGS: BY CLUBS URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-clubs/ Last updated: 2025-05-08T21:18:41.000Z --- ### ECNL BOYS - NATIONWIDE RANKINGS: BY TEAMS URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-teams/ Last updated: 2025-05-15T16:50:32.000Z --- --- ### ECNL BOYS - NATIONWIDE RANKINGS: BY CONFERENCES URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-conferences/ Last updated: 2025-05-08T21:19:06.000Z --- ### ECNL BOYS - CHANGES IN NATIONWIDE RANKINGS: BY TEAMS & GAMEWEEK URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-teams-by-gameweek/ Last updated: 2025-05-08T22:21:10.000Z Last update includes Gameweek 35, with games up to Sunday 05-04-2025. **SELECT ECNL CONFERENCE:** FLORIDA HEARTLAND MID-AMERICA MID-ATLANTIC MIDWEST MOUNTAIN NEW ENGLAND NORTH ATLANTIC NORTHERN CAL NORTHWEST OHIO VALLEY SOUTHEAST SOUTHWEST TEXAS ### ECNL BOYS - CHANGES IN CONFERENCE RANKINGS: BY TEAMS & GAMEWEEK URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/conference-rankings-by-teams-by-gameweek/ Last updated: 2025-05-15T17:09:07.000Z **SELECT ECNL CONFERENCE:** FLORIDA HEARTLAND MID-AMERICA MID-ATLANTIC MIDWEST MOUNTAIN NEW ENGLAND NORTH ATLANTIC NORTHERN CAL NORTHWEST OHIO VALLEY SOUTHEAST SOUTHWEST TEXAS ### ECNL BOYS • NATIONWIDE RANKINGS • BY CLUBS URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/ecnl-boys-nationwide-rankings-by-clubs-2526-01/ Last updated: 2025-12-04T14:35:40.000Z _No content available._ ### MLS NEXT • NATIONWIDE RANKINGS • BY CLUBS URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/mls-next-nationwide-rankings-by-clubs-2526-01/ Last updated: 2025-12-04T14:35:51.000Z _No content available._ ### NATIONWIDE RANKINGS • UNIFIED MLS NEXT & ECNL BOYS • BY CLUBS URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/mls-next-ecnl-boys-combined-nationwide-rankings-2526-01/ Last updated: 2025-12-04T14:35:04.000Z ## The Top 10: --- ## MLS NEXT & ECNL BOYS Clubs: Unified Rankings _This page is for paying subscribers only._ ### MLS NEXT • NATIONWIDE RANKINGS • BY TEAMS URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/mls-next-nationwide-rankings-by-teams-2526-01/ Last updated: 2025-12-04T14:35:29.000Z _No content available._ ### ECNL BOYS • NATIONWIDE RANKINGS • BY TEAMS URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/ecnl-boys-nationwide-rankings-by-teams-2526-01/ Last updated: 2025-12-04T14:35:19.000Z _No content available._ ## Posts ### MLS NEXT & ECNL BOYS • 2025-26 SEASON • SUMMARY • 071 URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/mls-next-ecnl-boys-2025-26-season-summary-071/ Last updated: 2026-06-29T18:19:27.000Z Another great season is ending across this nation's top youth boys' elite soccer leagues. Here's a quick summary: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2026/06/2025-26-season-summary.png) For both ECNL BOYS and MLS NEXT HG, here's a view of this season's Top 10 Clubs - All Ages Combined: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2026/06/ecnl-boys-nationwide.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2026/06/mls-next-nationwide.png) Additional age group details are available on our website. For those who seek specific 2025-26 insights on the 29 MLS Academies, don't hesitate to review this: [RANKING 29 MLS ACADEMIES • 2025-26 SEASON INSIGHTS • 070Some ranking approaches are surprisingly well-aligned to actual 2025-26 Regular Season results inside the MLS NEXT Homegrown Division.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/icon/socceranalytix-07-2-6f7f9c04-b189-4745-b5f8-6d5bfa9a0f47.png)SoccerAnalytixRichard - From SoccerAnalytix![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/thumbnail/ranking29-9472bb73-1b90-4e08-afaa-62251e716883.png)](https://www.socceranalytix.com/ranking-29-mls-academies-2025-26-season-insights-070/) --- By Richard - From SoccerAnalytix ### RANKING 29 MLS ACADEMIES • 2025-26 SEASON INSIGHTS • 070 URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/ranking-29-mls-academies-2025-26-season-insights-070/ Last updated: 2026-06-29T18:19:43.000Z There are many stakeholders "out there" with an approach that ranks the 29 MLS academies. In the context of US youth soccer, this matters because these academies are often-considered to be the ultimate destination inside the 140+ club MLS NEXT Homegrown Division. Let's consider this recent ranking effort from Harrison Szep, and the team at StudentAthlete.ai : In under 12 minutes, they deliver a thoughtful - and balanced - perspective on ranking the development qualities of a youth soccer academy. The above approach leverages the now-ubiquitous S-Tier framework to rank the 29 academies as follows: During the 2025-26 Regular Season (includes FLEX, League and Pro games; no tournaments), these 29 academies produced 1,348 game results against each other (note: our focus is the oldest 3 age groups: U16-2010, U17-2009 and U19-2008/7). Here's the bigger-picture for the MLS NEXT Homegrown HG Division: ## MLS Academy -vs- MLS Academy Let's leverage the S-Tier framework, and assess its ranking insights in-relation to the 1,348 academy-vs-academy game results. How did each tier perform when playing against other academies? It's clear: Harrison Szep's S-Tier ranking approach is strongly-correlated to actual win-rate, as well as goal-production on a per-game basis. From top-to-bottom, win-rate declines across tiers. However - yes - B-Tier appears to somewhat "break" the observed pattern. Why? For various reasons - including geography - B-Tier has been under-exposed to playing against the Top 2 Tiers (S+A combined): As a consequence - we opine - B-Tier's results are somewhat "inflated" because they've been significantly less-exposed to the stronger Top 2 tiers teams. Said differently - as a parent - you might prefer to have your player within Tier C academies because of their increased-exposure to the *better* academies (ie: exposure to stronger opponents = development that requires more resilience). Using this point-of-view on the D Tier, we hypothesize that, had they been more-exposed to the stronger teams, their win-rate would have worsened. ## MLS Academy -vs- Other HG Division Teams Beyond the S-Tier ranking itself, let's compare academy results vs Other HG Division Teams. Do academies yield stronger-performance? It's clear - they do. ## Summary The 29 MLS academies unleash their season inside the 140+ club MLS NEXT Homegrown Division. We aligned their 2025-26 Regular Season game results to an S-Tier ranking framework designed by Harrison Szep's StudentAthlete.ai organization. Compared to the bottom tiers, the Top 2 tiers (S+A Combined): - Win more... a lot more - Produce more goals per game (GF-G) Harrison Szep's S-Tier framework never *needed* to be validated - in any way - by actual full-season regular game results... Their youth development analysis includes many more quantitative/qualitative elements. Nonetheless, isn't it interesting to observe the strong tier alignment with recent results? We also compared in-season game results between MLS academies vs Other HG Division teams. Academy win-rate was 60.8%, whereas non-academy win-rate was 25.2%. This is not as-brutal a variance as one might initially suspect... and by carving-out the bottom 33% least-performing non-academy teams, the win-rate variance narrows in a meaningful way. --- By Richard - From SoccerAnalytix ### MLS NEXT & ECNL BOYS: WEEK ENDING SUNDAY MAY-17 • 069 URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/mls-next-ecnl-boys-week-ending-sunday-may-17-069/ Last updated: 2026-05-29T20:41:10.000Z Nationwide rankings for all teams updated - see Nationwide web pages. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2026/05/matchweek-33-br-ecnl-boys-gameweek-37-br-summary-.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2026/05/mls-next-top-upward-movers-br-changes-in-nationwide-rankings-.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2026/05/ecnl-boys-top-upward-movers-br-changes-in-nationwide-rankings-.png) --- By Richard - From SoccerAnalytix ### MLS NEXT & ECNL BOYS: WEEK ENDING SUNDAY MAY-03 • 068 URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/mls-next-ecnl-boys-week-ending-sunday-may-03-068/ Last updated: 2026-05-19T17:35:32.000Z Nationwide rankings for all teams updated - see Nationwide web pages. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2026/05/gameweek-35-summary.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2026/05/mls-next-top-upward-movers.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2026/05/ecnl-boys-top-upward-movers.png) --- By Richard - From SoccerAnalytix ### MLS NEXT & ECNL BOYS: WEEK ENDING SUNDAY APR-19 • 067 URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/mls-next-ecnl-boys-week-ending-sunday-apr-19-067/ Last updated: 2026-05-05T17:38:41.000Z Nationwide rankings for all teams updated - see Nationwide web pages. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2026/04/mls-next-w-29-ecnl-boys-w-33.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2026/04/mls-next-top-upward-movers-w29.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2026/04/ecnl-boys-top-upward-movers-w33.png) --- By Richard - From SoccerAnalytix ### MLS NEXT & ECNL BOYS: WEEK ENDING SUNDAY MAR-15 • 066 URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/mls-next-ecnl-boys-week-ending-sunday-feb-22-065-2/ Last updated: 2026-04-21T14:40:12.000Z Nationwide rankings for all teams updated - see Nationwide web pages. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2026/03/jojKT-mls-next-matchweek-24-br-ecnl-boys-gameweek-28-br-summary--1.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2026/03/3B49k-mls-next-top-upward-movers-br-changes-in-nationwide-rankings-.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2026/03/wOMbE-ecnl-boys-top-upward-movers-br-changes-in-nationwide-rankings-.png) --- By Richard - From SoccerAnalytix ### MLS NEXT & ECNL BOYS: WEEK ENDING SUNDAY FEB-22 • 065 URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/mls-next-ecnl-boys-week-ending-sunday-feb-22-065/ Last updated: 2026-03-17T19:21:08.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2026/02/GW25-Summary.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2026/02/MLSN-MW21.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2026/02/ECNL-GW25.png) --- By Richard - From SoccerAnalytix ### MLS NEXT & ECNL BOYS: WEEK ENDING SUNDAY FEB-15 • 064 URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/mls-next-ecnl-boys-week-ending-sunday-feb-15-064/ Last updated: 2026-03-17T19:16:50.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2026/02/GW24-Summary.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2026/02/mlPUn-mls-next-top-upward-movers-br-changes-in-nationwide-rankings-.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2026/02/qqy0n-ecnl-boys-top-upward-movers-br-changes-in-nationwide-rankings-.png) --- By Richard - From SoccerAnalytix ### MLS NEXT & ECNL BOYS: WEEK ENDING SUNDAY DEC-07 • 063 URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/mls-next-ecnl-boys-week-ending-sunday-dec-07-063/ Last updated: 2026-02-24T19:28:55.000Z During this period, game volume significantly-decreased inside MLS NEXT because... well - MLS NEXT FEST is happening this week! More on that event soon. Here's the summary details: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2025/12/GW-16-Summary.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2025/12/GW-16-M-Uplift.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2025/12/GW-16-E-Uplift.png) --- By Richard - From SoccerAnalytix ### BETHESDA PREMIER CUP • NOV 2025 • A FEW DATA-DRIVEN INSIGHTS • 062 URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/bethesda-premier-cup-nov-2025-a-few-data-driven-insights-062/ Last updated: 2026-02-19T18:30:16.000Z How can you know if a tournament's age group divisions have been well-structured and balanced? Sometimes, you can find the answer in the game results data... The Bethesda Premier Cup is recognized as a Top 5 Boys US Tournament. In the November 2025 event, 250 teams participated in the showcase-level age groups: Using average goals scored per team per game (GF-G) is a useful metric to compare these age group / division permutations: Inside these age groups, we're observing approx. <20% variances in goal-production across divisions. There's an exception inside the U18/19 Patriot Division - more on that below. Beyond this exception, tournament officials have structured teams into groups that reflect fairly-similar levels of game proficiency. For example: - In the U16 age group, the tournament average GF-G is 1.30\. The variance between the lowest/highest GF-G bracket is -17.6%. - Said differently, the variance between the lowest/highest GF-G brackets and the *average age group GF-G* of 1.30 itself is less-than +/-10%. - In our opinion, this data demonstrates that teams with similar strengths have been grouped into well-balanced divisions... where the ability to score is similar across these divisions. Let's highlight: this data does not infer similar strength *across* divisions from the same age group. For example, it's *likel*y that the average team inside the top U16 #1 Champions Division would produce much-higher GF-G against an average team inside the #5 U16 Liberty Division. Coming back to the observed exception. Inside the U18/19 #4 Patriot Division, 18 out-of 98 total division goals (18.4%) were scored inside 2 out-of 48 in-division games (4.2%)... against the same team. This is indeed an outlier, but it's the only one across a 250-team tournament. ## "Top 33%" Team Performances Inside Divisions & Age Groups At SoccerAnalytix, we often segment tournament performances across Top, Mid and Base teams (ie: 1/3 slices). In this case, let's isolate how the Top 1/3 teams inside each division performed: 3 observations: - Is it a coincidence that goal production increases in-relation to age? - These top teams are scoring closer to ≈3 GF-G, higher than their respective entire-division GF-G averages. - The GF-G variances inside these Top 33% division subsets are larger than what we observed within the entire-division GF-G averages. As it relates to higher-performing teams, these larger variances are typical - which we can further dive-into in another post. ## Club Performances Inside the Cup In a tournament such as the Bethesda Premier Cup, it's obvious: clubs join-into the event with multiple age-group teams representing them. In fact, many clubs have a few teams inside a single age group - but they're competing inside different divisions. Is club performance related to the number of teams it has nurtured into this tournament's Top 33% cohort? Consider this: Coming soon - let's analyze MLS NEXT Fest December 2025 results! --- By Richard - From SoccerAnalytix ### MLS NEXT & ECNL BOYS: WEEK ENDING SUNDAY NOV-16 • 061 URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/mls-next-ecnl-boys-week-ending-sunday-nov-16-061/ Last updated: 2025-12-09T18:17:07.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2025/11/MW-11-Summary.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2025/11/MW-11-MLSN-Up.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2025/11/MW-11-ECNL-Up.png) --- By Richard - From SoccerAnalytix ### MLS NEXT & ECNL BOYS: WEEK ENDING SUNDAY NOV-09 • 060 URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/mls-next-ecnl-boys-week-ending-sunday-nov-09-060/ Last updated: 2025-11-18T20:09:48.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2025/11/MW-10-Summary.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2025/11/MW-10-MLSN-Uplift.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2025/11/MW-10-ECNL-Uplift-1.png) --- By Richard - From SoccerAnalytix ### MLS NEXT & ECNL BOYS: WEEK ENDING SUNDAY NOV-02 • 059 URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/mls-next-ecnl-boys-week-ending-sunday-nov-02-059/ Last updated: 2025-11-12T17:04:40.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2025/11/MW-09-Summary.png) --- By Richard - From SoccerAnalytix ### MLS NEXT & ECNL BOYS: WEEK ENDING SUNDAY OCT-26 • 058 URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/mls-next-ecnl-boys-week-ending-sunday-oct-26-058/ Last updated: 2025-11-07T17:01:55.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2025/10/mw-08-summary.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2025/10/mw-08-wins.png) --- By Richard - From SoccerAnalytix ### MLS NEXT & ECNL BOYS: WEEK ENDING SUNDAY OCT-19 • 057 URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/mls-next-ecnl-boys-week-ending-sunday-oct-19-057/ Last updated: 2025-10-29T02:17:00.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2025/10/MW-07-Summary.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2025/10/MW-07-Wins.png) --- By Richard - From SoccerAnalytix ### MLS NEXT & ECNL BOYS: WEEK ENDING SUNDAY OCT-05 • 056 URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/mls-next-ecnl-boys-week-eoisode-056/ Last updated: 2025-10-22T20:36:40.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2025/10/MW05-Games-2.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2025/10/MW05-Trends.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2025/10/MW05-Games.png) --- By Richard - From SoccerAnalytix ### MLS NEXT & ECNL BOYS: WEEK ENDING SUNDAY SEP-28 • 055 URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/ecnl-boys-mls-next-week-episode-055/ Last updated: 2025-10-07T20:00:28.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2025/10/MW4-Summary.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2025/10/MW4-Tiers.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2025/10/MW04-Wins.png) --- By Richard - From SoccerAnalytix ### QUALITY-OF-OPPOSITION INSIDE ECNL BOYS: A U15 CASE STUDY • EP. 054 URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/quality-of-opposition-inside-ecnl-boys-soccer/ Last updated: 2025-08-21T17:12:18.000Z (*Note: If using a mobile device, reading this post sideways - landscape - will improve readability of tables, data, etc.)* Through Quality-of-Opposition (QOpp) analytics - we: - Aggregate age group teams into 3 cohorts: the Top 1/3, the Mid 1/3 and the Base 1/3 (updated weekly). - Compare the relative performance of these cohorts against each other. - Differentiate the strongest teams in a given conference... and compare them to the strongest teams in another. - Integrate the concept that Attacking/Defending profiles change in-relation to quality-of-opposition. By applying QOpp to a single team, we deliver different insights on how their Attacking/Defending profile evolves in-relation to opposition. In this example: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2025/08/A-pic-03.png) Beach FC (VA) ended its season as the #1 team in its conference. They won every single game against their top conference rivals, but - oddly - were not able to maintain that level of domination onto its weaker opponents (Base Teams). ## ECNL Conference Quality-of-Opposition Benchmarking For the 2024-25 Season, here's an initial summary of the Southwest and Mid-Atlantic U15 conferences: A few observations: - Compared to Southwest Top Teams, Mid-Atlantic Top Teams scored more goals against all Tiers. - Compared to Mid-Atlantic Base Teams, Southwest Base Teams scored more goals against all Tiers. - Inside the Southwest Conference, the GF-G variance between its Top Teams and Base Teams is 64% smaller than Mid-Atlantic. Might this reflect a more competitive-and-balanced conference? The data above was generated by these team tiers: Here's a visual that highlights how these tiers competed against each other: There are many a-ha moments in this graph, but consider this: - In the Mid-Atlantic Conference, the Top Teams lost more-often (12%) against their Base Teams... than the Mid Teams (8%). In our opinion, these datapoints provide insights into a team's resilience and competitive mindset... that make a difference in a nationwide event such as the ECNL Playoffs. Let's go deeper into the data: --- --- Example of a key observation: - In the Southwest U15 Conference, 21% of games ended in a Draw, which is almost twice-as-high as Mid-Atlantic... another sign of a very-competitive conference! ## Summary Quality-of-Opposition Analytics improves our ability to interpret team - and conference - performance. It highlights different Attacking/Defending profiles against opponent strength. We compared the 2010 U15 2024-25 Season Southwest vs Mid-Atlantic Conferences. We presented evidence supporting the thesis that - in *relative* terms - competitiveness inside Southwest was higher. Richard - from SoccerAnalytix --- ### ECNL PLAYOFFS vs FIFA WORLD CUP TEAM FORMATS: TOO MANY TEAMS? • EP. 053 URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/ecnl-playoffs-vs-fifa-world-cup-team-formats/ Last updated: 2025-08-16T18:29:52.000Z In some ways, the ECNL Playoffs and FIFA World Cup format puzzle (48 or 64 teams, etc.) spawns from a similar dilemma: how do you "funnel" 100+ ranked teams that initially-compete within distinct geographical areas... into a single event? Consider this: In this post, let's consider: If a tournament format is **well-designed*, shouldn't the Round-of-16 team population **closely-represent* the Top 16 ranked teams based on defined pre-tournament history? From recent history: From the above: We analyzed recent historical data from ECNL Boys Playoffs/Finals. In the last 2 seasons (2023-24 & 2024-25) - across 5 age groups combined (U13-U17) - the following % of teams were also Top 16\* ranked nationwide during the regular season: - 47% of teams making it to the Round-of-16 - 60% of National Champions - \* -> see notes in chart above for description of how rankings were calculated. We compared the above ECNL data to its equivalent in the previous 3 FIFA World Cups. In the worldwide event, the following % of teams were also Top 16 ranked worldwide: - 65% of teams making it to the Round-of-16 - 100% of World Cup Champions. Let's add this: - In both tournaments: - Top 16 teams - inside their respective 100+ team ranking system - are significantly-represented within the knockout round population. - There's evidence that the format is flexible-enough to provide an opportunity for *somewhat-unexpected* breakout performances to occur. - Compared to the FIFA World Cup, the ECNL Playoffs/Finals format yields a larger % of Other-Than-Top-16 teams moving-forward into its tournament. 2 reasons: - 1) Without going *too deep* into the math, this tournament captures performances across 14 distinct regions, which is 2X+ regions than what FIFA integrates on its side. By pulling-in "a few top teams" from each of these 14 different regions, you introduce the possibility of including stronger-than-expected teams that were not seeded as Top 16 nationwide. - 2) A focus for this tournament is player development and visibility. Therefore - by design - there's an implicit bias towards higher team count. On that 2nd point - some of the available data suggests that this bias actually increases levels of competitiveness inside the ECNL Playoffs/Finals. Consider this data below, which goes-further into describing from "where" in the rankings do winners come from: Arguably - a fairly-sizable % of winning teams bubbles-up from *deep* inside the rankings. That's good! ## Summary In the last 3 FIFA World Cups, 100% of winners were previously-ranked within the Top 16 Worldwide rankings. In recent ECNL Boys Finals, 60% of National Champions were previously-ranked within the Top 16 Nationwide rankings. From a certain perspective, that 60% reflects - in *relative* terms - a good level of competitiveness within ECNL's tournament format. Richard - from SoccerAnalytix --- ### ECNL vs MLS NEXT • LET'S COMPARE 2024-25 SEASON RESULTS • EP. 052 URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/ecnl-vs-mls-next-compare-2024-25-season/ Last updated: 2025-08-20T15:52:07.000Z (*Note: If using a mobile device, reading this post sideways - landscape - will improve readability of tables, data, etc.)* Comparing ECNL vs MLS NEXT "performance" through game data is meant to be a balanced exercise, executed with caution. Useful insights do exist: let's strive to uncover some of them. Here's an overview - let's compare these: In this post, we compare these league results through 2 frameworks: - Consolidated Rankings: ECNL & MLS NEXT, unified under a single ranking grid. - Quality-of-Opposition Analytics: team results are compared in-relation to the quality of their opponents. ## Consolidated Rankings: 32 Teams Within Mid-Atlantic's U15 2010 Here's a summary of 2024-25 Season results: --- --- Let's consolidate results from both leagues, in a way that's similar to how ECNL unifies nationwide conferences into its single *Champions League* ranking . The above yields some insights, but it's difficult to isolate the effect of relative competitiveness levels between these leagues. The next section below gets further into this. ## Quality-of-Opposition Analytics: A 3-Tier Approach This approach: - Aggregates each league teams into 3 cohorts: the Top 1/3, the Mid 1/3 and the Base 1/3. - Compares the relative performance of these cohorts against each other. - Differentiates the strongest teams in a given league... and compares them to the strongest teams in another league. - Integrates the concept that the quality of a team's opposition will influence Attacking and Defending profiles. For the 2024-25 Season, these teams populate their respective tiers as follows: Here are visuals that highlight how these tiers competed against each other: --- --- Let's go deeper into the data: --- --- ### Top Team Benchmarks Let's compare Top Teams against other tiers: ### Mid Team Benchmarks Let's compare Mid Teams against other tiers: ### Base Team Benchmarks Let's compare Base Teams against other tiers: --- ### Specific-Team Benchmarks Let's compare the Top 5 Mid-Atlantic teams against all 3 tiers: Here are 3 open-ended questions related to these 5 top teams: - When these 5 teams play against weaker opponents, shouldn't their performance improve? - Should we expect all of these 5 teams to have ≈100% wins against Base Teams? - Are the MLS NEXT teams on this list more-dominant than ECNL against other Top Team opponents? ## ECNL vs MLS NEXT: Top-Half of the Rankings? Quality-of-Opposition Analytics can also yield insights for questions like: what does it "take" for a team to reach the top-half rankings in these leagues? An example of an approach that addresses this question is to compare Mid Team performance... but only against other Top & Mid teams combined. See here: ## Summary During the 2024-25 Season, the U15 2010 Mid-Atlantic divisions of both ECNL Boys & MLS NEXT played a combined total of 240 regular season league games (no tournaments). We evaluated Mid-Atlantic "competitiveness" by using a Quality-of-Opposition framework, which slices each league into 3 cohorts: Top Teams, Mid Teams and Base Teams. Insights include: - ECNL Boys' best team was Beach FC, with an 86% win-rate, and MLS NEXT's top team was Philadelphia Union, with an 80% win-rate. MLS NEXT's last-place team had no wins, whereas ECNL Boys' equivalent secured 1 win during its season. - Although MLS NEXT produced higher GF-G as a whole, most of that variance was driven by results against its Base Teams (ie: the bottom 33% teams in that league). In *relative* terms, MLS NEXT Base Teams may be weaker than their ECNL Boys counterparts. - When aggregating Mid Teams data - *but* only against Top+Mid Team opponents - the results: - MLS NEXT - 59 Game Results - %W-L-D: 24-47-29 - ECNL BOYS - 45 Game Results - %W-L-D: 24-62-13 Although both cohorts achieved identical 24% wins, the variance on draws and losses is very - very! - significant. In MLS NEXT, you have to lose "... a lot less often" to increase the odds of making it to the top-half of the rankings. Said differently - in MLS NEXT - the tactical value of a draw is high... or at least, it was inside the 2024-25 Season U15 2010 Mid-Atlantic division. Richard - from SoccerAnalytix --- ### ECNL BOYS - GAMEWEEK 39 - LAST GAMEWEEK OF THE SEASON: HIGHLIGHTS - EP. 051 URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/ecnl-boys-gameweek-39-highlights-ep-051/ Last updated: 2025-06-24T13:41:59.000Z --- This gameweek's data was last-updated on 06-23-25. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2025/06/39-Summary.png) ## This Week's Upward Movers --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2025/06/39up.png) ## Latest Nationwide & Conference Analytics **ECNL BOYS - SEASON STATISTICS** [SEASON STATISTICS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/seasonstatistics/) **ECNL BOYS - LATEST NATIONWIDE RESULTS:** [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - BY CLUBS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-clubs/) [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - BY TEAMS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-teams/) [CHANGES IN TEAM RANKINGS - NATIONWIDE](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-teams-by-gameweek/) [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - CONFERENCE COMPETITIVENESS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-conferences/) **ECNL BOYS - LATEST IN-CONFERENCE RESULTS:** [CHANGES IN TEAM RANKINGS - IN-CONFERENCE](https://www.socceranalytix.com/conference-rankings-by-teams-by-gameweek/) --- ### ECNL BOYS - GAMEWEEK 38: HIGHLIGHTS - EP. 050 URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/ecnl-boys-gameweek-38-highlights-ep-050/ Last updated: 2025-05-28T17:15:22.000Z --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2025/05/GW-38.png) ## This Week's Upward Movers ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2025/05/Upwards-38.png) --- ## Latest Nationwide & Conference Analytics **ECNL BOYS - SEASON STATISTICS** [SEASON STATISTICS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/seasonstatistics/) **ECNL BOYS - LATEST NATIONWIDE RESULTS:** [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - BY CLUBS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-clubs/) [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - BY TEAMS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-teams/) [CHANGES IN TEAM RANKINGS - NATIONWIDE](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-teams-by-gameweek/) [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - CONFERENCE COMPETITIVENESS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-conferences/) **ECNL BOYS - LATEST IN-CONFERENCE RESULTS:** [CHANGES IN TEAM RANKINGS - IN-CONFERENCE](https://www.socceranalytix.com/conference-rankings-by-teams-by-gameweek/) --- ### ECNL BOYS - GAMEWEEK 37: HIGHLIGHTS - EP. 049 URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/ecnl-boys-gameweek-36-highlights-ep-048-co/ Last updated: 2025-05-19T15:50:44.000Z --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2025/05/GW37.png) ## This Week's Upward Movers ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2025/05/Upwards-GW37.png) --- ## Latest Nationwide & Conference Analytics **ECNL BOYS - SEASON STATISTICS** [SEASON STATISTICS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/seasonstatistics/) **ECNL BOYS - LATEST NATIONWIDE RESULTS:** [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - BY CLUBS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-clubs/) [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - BY TEAMS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-teams/) [CHANGES IN TEAM RANKINGS - NATIONWIDE](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-teams-by-gameweek/) [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - CONFERENCE COMPETITIVENESS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-conferences/) **ECNL BOYS - LATEST IN-CONFERENCE RESULTS:** [CHANGES IN TEAM RANKINGS - IN-CONFERENCE](https://www.socceranalytix.com/conference-rankings-by-teams-by-gameweek/) --- ### ECNL BOYS - GAMEWEEK 36: HIGHLIGHTS - EP. 048 URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/ecnl-boys-gameweek-36-highlights-ep-048/ Last updated: 2025-05-15T16:38:40.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2025/05/GW36.png) --- ## This Week's Upward Movers During Gameweek 36, these teams improved their nationwide rankings the most: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2025/05/Upward-GW36-2.png) --- ## Latest Nationwide & Conference Analytics **ECNL BOYS - SEASON STATISTICS** [SEASON STATISTICS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/seasonstatistics/) **ECNL BOYS - LATEST NATIONWIDE RESULTS:** [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - BY CLUBS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-clubs/) [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - BY TEAMS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-teams/) [CHANGES IN TEAM RANKINGS - NATIONWIDE](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-teams-by-gameweek/) [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - CONFERENCE COMPETITIVENESS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-conferences/) **ECNL BOYS - LATEST IN-CONFERENCE RESULTS:** [CHANGES IN TEAM RANKINGS - IN-CONFERENCE](https://www.socceranalytix.com/conference-rankings-by-teams-by-gameweek/) --- ### ECNL BOYS - GAMEWEEK 35: HIGHLIGHTS - EP. 047 URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/ecnl-boys-gameweek-35-highlights-ep-047/ Last updated: 2025-05-13T16:13:29.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2025/05/GW35.png) --- ## This Week's Upward Movers During Gameweek 35, these teams improved their nationwide rankings the most: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2025/05/GW-35-Upwards-1.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2025/05/GW-35-Upwards-2.png) --- ## This Week's Conference Age Group During Gameweek 35, the 2008 Texas Conference produced significant changes in conference rankings... evidence of a very-competitive group! Click on this image for interactive link: [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2025/05/ecnl-boys-2008-changes-in-conference-rankings-texas.png)](https://www.socceranalytix.com/conference-rankings-by-teams-by-gameweek/) --- ## Latest Nationwide & Conference Analytics **ECNL BOYS - SEASON STATISTICS** [SEASON STATISTICS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/seasonstatistics/) **ECNL BOYS - LATEST NATIONWIDE RESULTS:** [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - BY CLUBS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-clubs/) [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - BY TEAMS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-teams/) [CHANGES IN TEAM RANKINGS - NATIONWIDE](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-teams-by-gameweek/) [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - CONFERENCE COMPETITIVENESS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-conferences/) **ECNL BOYS - LATEST IN-CONFERENCE RESULTS:** [CHANGES IN TEAM RANKINGS - IN-CONFERENCE](https://www.socceranalytix.com/conference-rankings-by-teams-by-gameweek/) --- ### ECNL BOYS - GAMEWEEK 34: HIGHLIGHTS - EP. 046 URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/ecnl-boys-gameweek-34-highlights-ep-046/ Last updated: 2025-05-09T16:50:03.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2025/04/GW34.png) --- ## Latest Nationwide & Conference Analytics **ECNL BOYS - SEASON STATISTICS** [SEASON STATISTICS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/seasonstatistics/) **ECNL BOYS - LATEST NATIONWIDE RESULTS:** [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - BY CLUBS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-clubs/) [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - BY TEAMS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-teams/) [CHANGES IN TEAM RANKINGS - NATIONWIDE](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-teams-by-gameweek/) [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - CONFERENCE COMPETITIVENESS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-conferences/) **ECNL BOYS - LATEST IN-CONFERENCE RESULTS:** [CHANGES IN TEAM RANKINGS - IN-CONFERENCE](https://www.socceranalytix.com/conference-rankings-by-teams-by-gameweek/) --- ### ECNL BOYS ▫ GAMEWEEK 33: HIGHLIGHTS ▫ EP. 045 URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/ecnl-boys-gameweek-33-highlights-ep-045/ Last updated: 2025-05-09T16:48:56.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2025/04/GW33.png) --- ## Latest Nationwide & Conference Analytics **ECNL BOYS - SEASON STATISTICS** [SEASON STATISTICS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/seasonstatistics/) **ECNL BOYS - LATEST NATIONWIDE RESULTS:** [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - BY CLUBS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-clubs/) [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - BY TEAMS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-teams/) [CHANGES IN TEAM RANKINGS - NATIONWIDE](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-teams-by-gameweek/) [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - CONFERENCE COMPETITIVENESS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-conferences/) **ECNL BOYS - LATEST IN-CONFERENCE RESULTS:** [CHANGES IN TEAM RANKINGS - IN-CONFERENCE](https://www.socceranalytix.com/conference-rankings-by-teams-by-gameweek/) --- ### ECNL BOYS ▫ GAMEWEEK 32: HIGHLIGHTS ▫ EP. 044 URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/ecnl-boys-gameweek-32-highlights-ep-044/ Last updated: 2025-05-09T16:48:15.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2025/04/GW32.png) --- ## Latest Nationwide & Conference Analytics **ECNL BOYS - SEASON STATISTICS** [SEASON STATISTICS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/seasonstatistics/) **ECNL BOYS - LATEST NATIONWIDE RESULTS:** [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - BY CLUBS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-clubs/) [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - BY TEAMS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-teams/) [CHANGES IN TEAM RANKINGS - NATIONWIDE](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-teams-by-gameweek/) [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - CONFERENCE COMPETITIVENESS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-conferences/) **ECNL BOYS - LATEST IN-CONFERENCE RESULTS:** [CHANGES IN TEAM RANKINGS - IN-CONFERENCE](https://www.socceranalytix.com/conference-rankings-by-teams-by-gameweek/) --- ### ECNL BOYS ▫ GAMEWEEK 31: HIGHLIGHTS ▫ EP. 043 URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/ecnl-boys-gameweek-31-highlights-ep-043/ Last updated: 2025-05-09T16:47:19.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2025/04/GW31.png) --- ## Latest Nationwide & Conference Analytics **ECNL BOYS - SEASON STATISTICS** [SEASON STATISTICS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/seasonstatistics/) **ECNL BOYS - LATEST NATIONWIDE RESULTS:** [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - BY CLUBS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-clubs/) [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - BY TEAMS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-teams/) [CHANGES IN TEAM RANKINGS - NATIONWIDE](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-teams-by-gameweek/) [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - CONFERENCE COMPETITIVENESS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-conferences/) **ECNL BOYS - LATEST IN-CONFERENCE RESULTS:** [CHANGES IN TEAM RANKINGS - IN-CONFERENCE](https://www.socceranalytix.com/conference-rankings-by-teams-by-gameweek/) --- ### ECNL BOYS ▫ GAMEWEEK 30: HIGHLIGHTS ▫ EP. 042 URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/ecnl-boys-gameweek-30-highlights-ep-042/ Last updated: 2025-05-09T16:47:34.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2025/04/GW30-1.png) --- ## Latest Nationwide & Conference Analytics **ECNL BOYS - SEASON STATISTICS** [SEASON STATISTICS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/seasonstatistics/) **ECNL BOYS - LATEST NATIONWIDE RESULTS:** [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - BY CLUBS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-clubs/) [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - BY TEAMS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-teams/) [CHANGES IN TEAM RANKINGS - NATIONWIDE](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-teams-by-gameweek/) [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - CONFERENCE COMPETITIVENESS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-conferences/) **ECNL BOYS - LATEST IN-CONFERENCE RESULTS:** [CHANGES IN TEAM RANKINGS - IN-CONFERENCE](https://www.socceranalytix.com/conference-rankings-by-teams-by-gameweek/) --- ### ECNL BOYS ▫ GAMEWEEK 29: HIGHLIGHTS ▫ EP. 041 URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/ecnl-boys-gameweek-29-highlights-ep-041/ Last updated: 2025-05-09T16:46:01.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2025/03/IOHl6-ecnl-boys-gameweek-29-br-quick-view-1.png) --- ## Latest Nationwide & Conference Analytics **ECNL BOYS - SEASON STATISTICS** [SEASON STATISTICS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/seasonstatistics/) **ECNL BOYS - LATEST NATIONWIDE RESULTS:** [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - BY CLUBS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-clubs/) [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - BY TEAMS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-teams/) [CHANGES IN TEAM RANKINGS - NATIONWIDE](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-teams-by-gameweek/) [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - CONFERENCE COMPETITIVENESS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-conferences/) **ECNL BOYS - LATEST IN-CONFERENCE RESULTS:** [CHANGES IN TEAM RANKINGS - IN-CONFERENCE](https://www.socceranalytix.com/conference-rankings-by-teams-by-gameweek/) --- ### 040. ECNL BOYS GAMEWEEK 28: HIGHLIGHTS URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/040-ecnl-boys-gameweek-28-highlights/ Last updated: 2025-05-09T16:45:01.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2025/03/tvruG-ecnl-boys-gameweek-28-br-quick-view.png) --- ## Latest Nationwide & Conference Analytics **ECNL BOYS - SEASON STATISTICS** [SEASON STATISTICS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/seasonstatistics/) **ECNL BOYS - LATEST NATIONWIDE RESULTS:** [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - BY CLUBS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-clubs/) [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - BY TEAMS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-teams/) [CHANGES IN TEAM RANKINGS - NATIONWIDE](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-teams-by-gameweek/) [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - CONFERENCE COMPETITIVENESS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-conferences/) **ECNL BOYS - LATEST IN-CONFERENCE RESULTS:** [CHANGES IN TEAM RANKINGS - IN-CONFERENCE](https://www.socceranalytix.com/conference-rankings-by-teams-by-gameweek/) --- ### 039. ECNL BOYS GAMEWEEK 27: HIGHLIGHTS URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/039-ecnl-boys-gameweek-27-highlights/ Last updated: 2025-05-09T16:44:21.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2025/03/l3LPv-ecnl-boys-gameweek-27-br-quick-view.png) --- ## Latest Nationwide & Conference Analytics **ECNL BOYS - SEASON STATISTICS** [SEASON STATISTICS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/seasonstatistics/) **ECNL BOYS - LATEST NATIONWIDE RESULTS:** [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - BY CLUBS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-clubs/) [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - BY TEAMS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-teams/) [CHANGES IN TEAM RANKINGS - NATIONWIDE](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-teams-by-gameweek/) [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - CONFERENCE COMPETITIVENESS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-conferences/) **ECNL BOYS - LATEST IN-CONFERENCE RESULTS:** [CHANGES IN TEAM RANKINGS - IN-CONFERENCE](https://www.socceranalytix.com/conference-rankings-by-teams-by-gameweek/) --- ### 038. ECNL BOYS GAMEWEEK 26: HIGHLIGHTS URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/038-ecnl-boys-gameweek-26-highlights/ Last updated: 2025-05-09T16:43:46.000Z See Nationwide Rankings below: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2025/03/2Zgdm-ecnl-boys-gameweek-26-quick-view.png) --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2025/03/sa8Yp-ecnl-boys-games-played-by-conference-age-group-gameweek-26.png) --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2025/03/Yefr9-ecnl-boys-of-season-completed-by-conference-age-group-as-of-gameweek-26.png) --- ## Latest Nationwide & Conference Analytics **ECNL BOYS - SEASON STATISTICS** [SEASON STATISTICS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/seasonstatistics/) **ECNL BOYS - LATEST NATIONWIDE RESULTS:** [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - BY CLUBS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-clubs/) [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - BY TEAMS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-teams/) [CHANGES IN TEAM RANKINGS - NATIONWIDE](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-teams-by-gameweek/) [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - CONFERENCE COMPETITIVENESS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-conferences/) **ECNL BOYS - LATEST IN-CONFERENCE RESULTS:** [CHANGES IN TEAM RANKINGS - IN-CONFERENCE](https://www.socceranalytix.com/conference-rankings-by-teams-by-gameweek/) --- ### 037. ECNL BOYS GAMEWEEK 25: HIGHLIGHTS URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/037-ecnl-boys-gameweek-25-highlights/ Last updated: 2025-05-09T16:43:06.000Z See Nationwide Rankings below: --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2025/02/Yefr9-ecnl-boys-of-season-completed-by-conference-age-group-as-of-gameweek-25.png) --- ## Latest Nationwide & Conference Analytics **ECNL BOYS - SEASON STATISTICS** [SEASON STATISTICS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/seasonstatistics/) **ECNL BOYS - LATEST NATIONWIDE RESULTS:** [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - BY CLUBS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-clubs/) [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - BY TEAMS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-teams/) [CHANGES IN TEAM RANKINGS - NATIONWIDE](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-teams-by-gameweek/) [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - CONFERENCE COMPETITIVENESS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-conferences/) **ECNL BOYS - LATEST IN-CONFERENCE RESULTS:** [CHANGES IN TEAM RANKINGS - IN-CONFERENCE](https://www.socceranalytix.com/conference-rankings-by-teams-by-gameweek/) --- ### 036. ECNL BOYS GAMEWEEK 24: HIGHLIGHTS URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/036-ecnl-boys-gameweek-24-highlights/ Last updated: 2025-05-09T16:41:53.000Z --- ## Latest Nationwide & Conference Analytics **ECNL BOYS - SEASON STATISTICS** [SEASON STATISTICS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/seasonstatistics/) **ECNL BOYS - LATEST NATIONWIDE RESULTS:** [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - BY CLUBS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-clubs/) [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - BY TEAMS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-teams/) [CHANGES IN TEAM RANKINGS - NATIONWIDE](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-teams-by-gameweek/) [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - CONFERENCE COMPETITIVENESS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-conferences/) **ECNL BOYS - LATEST IN-CONFERENCE RESULTS:** [CHANGES IN TEAM RANKINGS - IN-CONFERENCE](https://www.socceranalytix.com/conference-rankings-by-teams-by-gameweek/) --- ### 035. ECNL BOYS GAMEWEEK 23: HIGHLIGHTS URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/035-ecnl-boys-gameweek-23-highlights/ Last updated: 2025-05-09T16:40:41.000Z --- ## Latest Nationwide & Conference Analytics **ECNL BOYS - SEASON STATISTICS** [SEASON STATISTICS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/seasonstatistics/) **ECNL BOYS - LATEST NATIONWIDE RESULTS:** [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - BY CLUBS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-clubs/) [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - BY TEAMS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-teams/) [CHANGES IN TEAM RANKINGS - NATIONWIDE](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-teams-by-gameweek/) [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - CONFERENCE COMPETITIVENESS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-conferences/) **ECNL BOYS - LATEST IN-CONFERENCE RESULTS:** [CHANGES IN TEAM RANKINGS - IN-CONFERENCE](https://www.socceranalytix.com/conference-rankings-by-teams-by-gameweek/) --- ### 034. ECNL BOYS GAMEWEEK 22: HIGHLIGHTS URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/03-ecnl-boys-gameweek-22-highlights/ Last updated: 2025-05-09T16:36:58.000Z Gameweek Highlights: --- ## Latest Nationwide & Conference Analytics **ECNL BOYS - SEASON STATISTICS** [SEASON STATISTICS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/seasonstatistics/) **ECNL BOYS - LATEST NATIONWIDE RESULTS:** [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - BY CLUBS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-clubs/) [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - BY TEAMS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-teams/) [CHANGES IN TEAM RANKINGS - NATIONWIDE](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-teams-by-gameweek/) [NATIONWIDE RANKINGS - CONFERENCE COMPETITIVENESS](https://www.socceranalytix.com/nationwide-rankings-by-conferences/) **ECNL BOYS - LATEST IN-CONFERENCE RESULTS:** [CHANGES IN TEAM RANKINGS - IN-CONFERENCE](https://www.socceranalytix.com/conference-rankings-by-teams-by-gameweek/) --- ### 033. ECNL vs MLS NEXT: A JANUARY 2025 BENCHMARK URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/034-ecnl-vs-mls-next-a-january-2025-benchmark/ Last updated: 2025-05-09T16:20:26.000Z Comparing ECNL vs MLS NEXT (MLSN) "competitiveness" is a perennial favorite among US youth soccer stakeholders. The following summarizes Boys' results from a January 2025 East Coast tournament: 26.1% of tournament results are driven by head-to-head match-ups between ECNL and MLSN teams competing against each other. Let's go deeper into that data: - ECNL has a better winning record that MLSN - almost 44% wins against MLSN. - We *get it*, that "... a win is a win" - but let's also recognize that ECNL's higher win rate is associated to a negative GD-G. This infers narrow *close-call* wins, and more-decisive losses. - Let's de-average Goal Differential (GD-G) results - ECNL's (0.11) looks like this: If we further de-averaged on a club basis, we'd discover stories like VDA Virginia Development Academy, which delivered the highest ECNL win rate against MLSN (80%, 4 wins out of 5 games, across multiple age groups). Instead, let's visualize insights per age group: Many readers won't be surprised to observe that MLSN dominated ECNL teams inside the oldest age group. ## Summary In late January 2025, a single East Coast tournament produced 218 games across 4 age groups. 57 games were head-to-head ECNL vs MLSN games. Against each other, ECNL won more games, but MLSN wins were more-decisive. As the ECNL vs MLS NEXT conversation moves along, consider: - Team-specifics matters most, as it relates to youth development - These leagues yield competitiveness variances across geography and age groups... and this evolves over time. - The top 1/3 teams of both leagues (ie: Top 33%) should face each-other more often, but - the above analysis doesn't contain data on the % of tournament teams that align into that top box. Richard - from SoccerAnalytix --- ### 031. ECNL BOYS FINALS: 4 PENALTY SHOOT-OUT WINS... IN A ROW? URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/031-ecnl-boys-finals-4-penalty-shoot-out-wins-in-a-row/ Last updated: 2025-02-04T17:30:27.000Z There are many outstanding stories to-be-told, all related to this year's ECNL Finals. To be onsite - and to witness the swirl of competitive joy and agony across a few age group finalists - it was a special day. From a data-driven perspective, this episode's focus is on the "jaw-dropping statistical anomaly" that was LAFC So Cal ECNL 2010 Boys. They won the 2024 U14 ECNL Boys National Championship in a penalty shoot-out. However, in-order to make it to the Finals, they had to be on the winning-side of 3 previous penalty shoot-outs. Consider this: For some readers, the concept of winning a national championship after multiple penalty shoot-outs suggests a "lucky streak" for a "lucky team". This would be an unfair assessment. Look at the table above once-again, but this time focus on the group stage line-item: - Across 2011-2007 Boys age groups, there are only 3 teams (out of 320) that exited their 2024 Playoffs Group Stage with 0 Goals Against (ie: they conceded no goals during their group stage games in California). What happened to those 3 teams during the knockout rounds? - LAFC So Cal ECNL B10 - 2024 U14 ECNL National Champions - Pipeline SC ECNL B09 - 2024 U15 ECNL Finalist / 2nd Place - LAFC So Cal ECNL B08 - 2024 U16 ECNL National Champions In other words, group stage results foreshadowed LAFC So Cal ECNL B10's knockout round success. Also - as a side note - may we emphasize: - LAFC So Cal is a club that produced 2 national champion teams that both exited their 2024 Playoffs Group Stage without conceding a single goal. --- Penalty shoot-outs have a relatively-recent history in soccer. There was a time when draws were solved by complete game replay, or coin-toss decisions. Ridiculous. Here's a summary - major international tournaments: In these tournaments, teams never exceeded 2-in-a-row penalty shoot-outs during the knockout rounds. Across the internet, you'll find stories of very-long penalty shootout events, but these were single non-consecutive events. Top 2 alleged world records: - 2022, England - Washington vs Bedlington Terriers - Score: 3-3 (25-24 / 54 penalties) - 2005, Namibia - KK Palace vs Civics - Score: 2-2 (17-16 / 48 penalties) --- As a final word, we offer these 2 questions: 1. Will it ever happen again, that a team wins an ECNL national championship after 4 consecutive penalty shoot-out wins? 2. Will LAFC So Cal ECNL 2010 Boys win more ECNL national titles? We say: no to #1, and yes to #2. Richard - From SoccerAnalytix ### 030. ECNL BOYS PLAYOFFS: DID THE STRONGEST TEAMS WIN THEIR GROUP STAGES? (PART 2) URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/030-ecnl-boys-playoffs-did-the-strongest-teams-win-their-group-stages-part-2/ Last updated: 2024-08-29T13:59:52.000Z In last week's episode, we demonstrated that Group Stage winners produced results that were similar to their strong regular season performances. However: - Group Stage participants - that did not win their groups - delivered significantly-weaker results vs. their own regular season: - They scored ≈1 less goal per-game - They conceded 1+ more goal per-game Here's a summary, related to Group Stage participants that did not lead/win their groups: This week, we dive-deeper into the above data, and visualize "how" this data manifests itself inside age groups - as follows: Here are takeaways: - Younger age group teams were likely to produce *more severe* levels of GD-G under-performance, compared to their own regular season results. - It's difficult to isolate a trend across either offensive (GF-G) or defensive (GA-G) age-related results... but the GD-G net effect is relevant . Richard - From SoccerAnalytix ### 029. ECNL BOYS PLAYOFFS: DID THE STRONGEST TEAMS WIN THEIR GROUP STAGES? (PART 1) URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/029-ecnl-boys-playoffs-did-the-strongest-teams-win-their-group-stages-part-1/ Last updated: 2024-08-29T14:00:11.000Z During the Playoffs, the Group Stage awaits 304 teams across 5 age groups. These teams reach these playoffs by dominating their respective conferences "back home". Can they replicate their regular season winning performances in California? Here's some data: Here are takeaways: - Group Stage winners delivered results that were "very similar" to their aggregate performances during the regular season. Nonetheless, the data suggests that their offensive capabilities were somewhat-impaired by the relatively-stronger competition (ie: GF-G dropped by 0.20). - Group Stage participants - excluding the winners - delivered significantly-weaker results vs. their regular season: - They scored ≈1 less goal per-game - They conceded 1+ more goal per-game - ... which yielded underwhelming goal differentials. Does this data support the narrative that "... the strongest teams probably won their group stages..."? There are some nuances at-play, but from a narrow perspective: - Teams that "replicate" their *regional* regular-season winning performances inside group stages populated with *nationwide* opponents deserve a trip to the knockout rounds. In next week's episode, let's dive-deeper into this data, and consider age group variations. Richard - from SoccerAnalytix ### 028. ECNL BOYS PLAYOFFS: WHO'S WINNING THE MOST GAMES? URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/028-ecnl-boys-playoffs-whos-winning-the-most-games/ Last updated: 2024-08-29T14:00:24.000Z This episode was last-updated on Sunday, June 30, 2024. There are so many different - and really-interesting! - ways to slice-through the performance data produced during the ECNL Boys Playoffs. In this episode, we're focused on ranking teams as-follows - during the Group Stage of play: - Which club is winning the most games? - Has any club won 100% of its games? In a forthcoming episode, we'll definitely also analyze game results from the Knockout stages - stay tuned! --- ## Cumulative group stage game results - Day 5 - Sat, June 29, 2024 Here's a summary: Related ranking: ### 027. THE ECNL PLAYOFFS DRAW: FOCUS ON NORTHERN VIRGINIA'S THREE (3) 2010 BOYS TEAMS URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/2024-ecnl-playoffs-draw-case-study-2010-boys/ Last updated: 2024-08-29T14:00:44.000Z In many ways, what follows is an informal case study. Most of the 1,600+ teams that produced 51,000+ goals in the ECNL regular season are now enjoying a summer pause. For others - including 3 Northern Virginia 2010 Boys teams - the postseason awaits! Let's consume as-much data as-possible to enlighten these 3 teams' journey inside their group stages. Is what follows "excessive" from a data consumption perspective? Of course it is! Arlington Soccer, Northern Virginia Alliance (NVA) and Virginia Development Academy (VDA) aren't just regional "giants" in the game of soccer: they also enjoy a rich history of nationwide success across multiple age groups. In the 2010/U14 Boys Age Group, all 3 teams secured a spot at this year's ECNL Playoffs in California. However, last year, in this 2010 age group, only NVA (fka Loudoun Soccer) made it into the post-season. This is how they exited their group stage in 2023: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2024/06/image-6-1.png) In 2023, across 2010 Boys, the 12 winning teams that exited their 4-team group-stage did so, as follows: - 7 Teams (58%): 2 Wins; 1 Draw - 3 Teams (25%): 3 Wins - 2 Teams (17%): 2 Wins; 1 Loss ... and 4 of the 9 teams above - with 1 Draw or 1 Loss - required tiebreakers to move-forward into the tournament. --- ## Interpreting Play Groups' Offensive Defensive Profile In this year's Playoff Draw, 64 2010 Boys teams (out of 145) were sliced-into 16 groups. We consumed the average regular season GF-G and GA-G for each of these teams, in-order to visualize the weighted-effect across these groups, as follows: From the above, some takeaways: - Arlington Soccer and VDA are parked-into groups with similar profiles, where teams have a recent history of winning games with relatively-smaller GD margins. - NVA's Group F has an aggregated higher-scoring history. - By the way, Group B is somewhat of an outlier for 2 reasons: - It contains NCFC Youth Academy, 2nd in nationwide regular season age group rankings (ie: high GF-G). - Supreme FC (ranked 88th) appears to have replaced its conference counterpart Florida West (ranked 64th) into the Playoffs (ie: high GA-G). --- ## Analyzing Northern Virginia's opponents inside Play Groups The tables below include nationwide team rankings across 4 items: PTS-G, GF-G, GA-G and GD-G. They yield insights on relative Offensive vs Defensive capabilities displayed during the regular season. ### VDA - Virginia Development Academy Group G's strongest-adversary is Santa Clara Sporting. Ranked #8 nationwide on PTS-G, it had 1 Loss in its 26 regular season games: Other takeaways: - Santa Clara Sporting's high-ranking on PTS-G is mostly-driven by its #4 ranking on GA-G. Ranked behind VDA on its offensive record (ie: #42 vs #23), they may find out "the hard way" that VDA wins games with GD of 4-or-more 36% of the time, compared to their own 23%. - In terms relative to VDA, Manhattan SC and Alabama FC should not be under-estimated on all-things defensive. ### Arlington Soccer Group M's strongest-adversary is Northwest's XF Academy. Relative to its counterparts, their regular season data infers an ability to just "... score more and concede less". Other takeaways: - Arlington Soccer will be perceived as an underdog in this group. However, we note that they won 32% of their regular season games by a one-goal margin... a high percentage nearly-unmatched across the entire playoff population. You can interpret this datapoint in different ways... but one of them is that Arlington Soccer has the grit-and-resilience to win low GD games. ### NVA: Northern Virginia Alliance Inside Group F, NVA's strongest-opponent is Northeast's FSA FC. Ranked nationwide among the Top 10 across all 4 metrics below, they had an outstanding regular season. Other takeaways: - It's relevant to highlight that, during the regular season, NVA played 57% more games than FSA FC... and won 5 more games than them. - It's also relevant to highlight that NVA's record is stronger than FSA FC's closest-opponent in its Northeast Conference. - The virtual hallways within Group F are "haunted" by Slammers FC... they ended NVA's journey last year... in the Final 8 Round: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2024/06/image-12.png) What follows is just anecdotal... but is it surprising that 3 of last year's Final 8 Round teams are here in Group F (ie: FSA FC also lost that round to San Diego Surf, the eventual tournament winner)? 2024 is just like 2023: NVA's 2010 Boys have what-it-takes to win their group stage. --- ## De-averaging results yields other insights: an NVA example We learn "a lot" by leveraging average per-game data. At SoccerAnalytix, we also de-average datasets in-order to surface different aspects of a story. In the above Group F table, you noticed that both NVA and FSA FC delivered impressive goal-productions stats: the former's GF-G at 3.86 and the latter at 4.21\. In some ways, it's hard to interpret the variance (4.21 - 3.86 = 0.35). One way is to assert that FSA FC scores 1+ goal than NVA for every 3 games. The table below de-averages both teams' scoring cadence, and - in our opinion - highlights many similarities between them: Taking a step-back, both teams absolutely stand-out by producing such a high percentage of high-scoring games. However, is FSA FC that much stronger by producing 6-or-more goals-per-game ≈10% more often than NVA? A few thoughts: - Behind the %, note that, during the regular season, both teams produced the same count (which is 4) of games with 6-or-more goals. - At some point, the % of high-scoring games highlights "less" about the scoring team itself, and "more" about the relative weakness of available opponents. Let's elaborate-further on this in another episode. --- ## A quick note on *implied* Conference Rankings At pro levels in many sports, different conferences - inside the same league - yield demonstrably different levels of competitiveness. This is also the case within ECNL conferences. For 2010 Boys, the strongest teams inside relatively-stronger conferences are winning with aggregate GD-G closer to 1.0, whereas their equivalents in other conferences are winning with GD-G in-excess of 2.0\. In this current episode's dataset, we did not quantify inter-conference variances... but it's an aspect to consider for future analytics. --- ## Final thoughts... Last year, for the 2010 Boys teams that made it to the Final 8 Round - this was their regular season nationwide ranking: - 3rd, 6th, 11th, 12th, 21st, 22nd, 25th & 35th In other words: you never know what might happen in California! That's it - playoff updates coming-up next week! Richard - From SoccerAnalytix ### 025. ECNL GAMEWEEKS 38/39: HIGHLIGHTS URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/025-ecnl-gameweeks-38-39/ Last updated: 2024-07-09T16:14:34.000Z About 1% of the season's games were played in these last 2 gameweeks... but make no mistake - the drama was high, as were the consequences! There were still teams on-their-way to clinching a last-minute spot into the postseason, and the "Nationwide Team Rankings ▫ All Ages Combined" had a few more surprises left in its rankings bag-of-tricks. Our stories for ECNL Boys Gameweeks 38/39: - **Nationwide Team Rankings** ▫ **All Ages Combined:** - Mountain's Colorado Rapids execute an impressive 3-spot uplift into the Top 10. - Midwest's FC Wisconsin didn't give-up, and jump 1o spots upwards into the rankings, fueled by game-results from all 6 age groups. - **Conferences & other regional highlights**: - 68% of all games played during this period were from Midwest and Mountain... - ... and inside Mountain results we found this period's highest GF in a single game, with Real Colorado Academy ECNL B11 scoring 12 goals on a cool evening at Aurora Sports Park. - **Nationwide Team Rankings** ▫ **By Age Group**: - Colorado Rapids 2008 Boys win their last 2 games of the season, and: - Grab 2nd-place in their age group conference ranking. - Clinch the last-spot *in extremi*s that takes them into the postseason... --- ## Gameweek summary ECNL Boys and ECNL Girls: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2024/06/owRd1-ecnl-boys-gameweeks-38-39-quick-view-1.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2024/06/07JrU-ecnl-boys-gameweeks-38-39-goals-scored-variance-analysis-1.png) --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2024/06/FRVtk-ecnl-girls-gameweeks-38-39-quick-view-1.png) --- ## Nationwide Team Rankings ▫ Boys - All Ages Combined ### Mountain's Colorado Rapids with a "last-minute" entry into the Top 10, and FC Wisconsin rise by 10 spots. Here's a snapshot of latest rankings - Top 10 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2024/06/ojkBh-ecnl-boys-gameweek-39-nationwide-club-rankings-all-ages-combined-by-points-gf-ga-gd--1.png) See full rankings on our post in the Featured section. For those wondering how a club jumps into the Top 10 on the last-weekend of those season, it looks like this - with 10 wins: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2024/06/NpxYy-ecnl-boys-gameweeks-38-39-nationwide-team-rankings-colorado-rapids-all-ages-1.png) You'll find end-of-season drama everywhere in our rankings, including the middle-space, where Midwest's FC Wisconsin climbed up the rankings, from 73 to 63... biggest-mover of the last 2 weeks! ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2024/06/EehJx-ecnl-boys-gameweeks-38-39-nationwide-team-rankings-fc-wisconsin-all-ages-1.png) --- ## Conferences & other regional highlights ### 68% of all games played were from Midwest and Mountain Consider these grids: ... and then this: ... and here's a week-over-week variance comparing to Gameweek 37: One of the takeaways from these past 2 weeks is that goal-production on a per-game basis decline vs Gameweek 37, but reverted-back to averages observed in the last few weeks of the season. In an upcoming episode, we'll review these above grids with full-season data. ## Nationwide Team Rankings ▫ By Age Group ### Mountain's Colorado Rapids 2008 Boys clinch their postseason spot in their final 2 games of the last weekend In-order to secure their postseason spot, Colorado Rapids 2008 Boys had to do more than just win these 2 games (see below): - The math demonstrated that winning these 2 games would produce a PTS-G tie vs Utah Avalanche 2008 Boys... but that team had a Goal Differential advantage of +11, which they also had to overcome... - ... and they did! They won these 2 games with an aggregated GD of 14. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2024/06/86nTL-ecnl-boys-gameweeks-38-39-conference-rankings-mountain-north-flight-colorado-rapids-2008-boys-1.png) --- That's it for this week! Richard - from SoccerAnalytix. ### 023. ECNL GAMEWEEK 37: HIGHLIGHTS URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/ecnl-gameweek-37-highlights/ Last updated: 2025-05-09T16:24:08.000Z This is the season's last week with 100+ games played across either Boys or Girls, and 98%+ of season game-volume is behind-us. Nonetheless, there are still opportunities to win games, and secure rankings spots! Our stories for ECNL Boys Gameweek 37: - **Nationwide Team Rankings** ▫ **All Ages Combined:** - Ohio Valley's Nationals Soccer Club exited the Top 10 list, replaced by Florida Kraze. - Northeast's Charlotte SA Academy enters the Top 25 by winning a single game during the week. - **Conferences & other regional highlights**: - Northeast's recent weekly game-volumes have been high, and this week was no exception - they completed 57 of 248 nationwide games played. --- ## Gameweek summary ECNL Boys and ECNL Girls: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2024/06/DBL0b-ecnl-boys-gameweek-37-quick-view-1.png) --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2024/06/ipENK-ecnl-girls-gameweek-37-quick-view-1.png) --- ## Nationwide Team Rankings ▫ Boys - All Ages Combined ### Ohio Valley's Nationals Soccer Club drops from Top 10 ▫ Charlotte SA Academy enters the Top 25 Here's a snapshot of latest rankings - Top 10: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2024/06/qvZc2-ecnl-boys-gameweek-37-nationwide-club-rankings-all-ages-combined-1.png) See full rankings on our post in the Featured section. Ohio Valley's Nationals Soccer Club started Gameweek 37 ranked #9 across the country. Consider the following: - The team begins the week with a cumulative PTS-G of 2.23. - During Gameweek 37, they play 12 games, and deliver PTS-G of 1.58 during the week. - Net effect: their cumulative PTS-G drops by 0.09, and they lose a coveted position inside the nation's Top 10. Let's also highlight that - during this current season - this organization was ranked #1 across the country for 15 consecutive gameweeks in a row. It's a strong organization, and we look-forward to its winning ways in the upcoming postseason. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2024/06/unDPO-ecnl-boys-gameweek-37-nationwide-team-rankings-nationals-soccer-club-all-ages-1.png) Mid-Atlantic's Charlotte SA Academy only had to play 1 game this week. They won that game - improved their PTS-G by 0.01 - and entered the nation's Top 25. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2024/06/FFO2D-ecnl-boys-gameweek-37-nationwide-team-rankings-charlotte-sa-academy-all-ages-1.png) --- ## Conferences & other regional highlights ### Northeast delivers high game-volume, but relatively-low goal-production on a per-game basis. Consider these grids: ... and then this one: At SoccerAnalytix, we're perpetually-intrigued by performance variances across conferences and age groups. With high GF-G, does it mean that there are "really-strong" teams inside a conference... or does it mean that it's a relatively less-competitive conference? It turns-out that it's always a mix of both reasons... and - over time - we'll present to you a statistical approach that isolates each one of these aspects. --- By the way, due to expected lower game-volumes, we'll review Gameweek 38+39 through a single episode in 2 weeks. That's it for this week! Richard - from SoccerAnalytix. ### 022. ECNL GAMEWEEK 36: HIGHLIGHTS URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/draft-022-ecnl-gameweek-36-summary/ Last updated: 2024-07-09T16:13:28.000Z This week's nationwide game-volume decreased by 20.3% for Boys, and 42.9% for Girls. On the Boys' side, there were only 9 games across Mid-Atlantic, Midwest and Mountain conferences. Our stories for ECNL Boys Gameweek 36: - **Nationwide Team Rankings** ▫ **All Ages Combined:** - Pipeline SC drops from #1 top spot to #3. - Northeast's World Class Soccer Club improves its Top 25 situation, moving-up from 24 to 19. - **Conferences & other regional highlights**: - Most games generated from Northeast, Northern Cal and Southwest. In terms of season-to-date game-volume, these regions are catching-up to other conferences. - Southwest teams produce 13.1% more goals per-game (GF-G) than Northeast. --- ## Gameweek summary ECNL Boys and ECNL Girls: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2024/06/oyBYs-ecnl-boys-gameweek-36-quick-view-1.png) --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2024/06/GcooM-ecnl-girls-gameweek-36-quick-view-1.png) --- ## Nationwide Team Rankings ▫ Boys - All Ages Combined ### Pipeline SC drops to #3 ▫ Northeast's World Class club uplifts to #19 Here's a snapshot of latest rankings - Top 10: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2024/06/1IZJz-ecnl-boys-gameweek-36-nationwide-club-rankings-all-ages-combined-1.png) See full rankings on our post in the Featured section. Last week, we highlighted the unusual-context from which Pipeline SC reached the #1 spot... by not playing a single game! However - this week - they had 7 games across 4 age groups. Although they won 4 games... still not-enough to hold-on to the #1 spot. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2024/06/1XRTs-ecnl-boys-gameweek-36-nationwide-team-rankings-pipeline-fc-all-ages--1.png) As a contrasting example, Northeast's World Class soccer club won 100% of its games. By improving its cumulative PTS-G by 0.05, it's now ranked 19th nationwide. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2024/06/bxUUR-ecnl-boys-gameweek-36-nationwide-team-rankings-world-class-all-ages-2-1-1.png) --- ## Conferences & other regional highlights ### Southwest delivers strong goals per-game output. Consider these grids: Takeaways from above: most games were played across Northeast, Southwest and Northern Cal. Takeaways from above: focusing on age groups with higher game-volume, the Southwest 2009s delivered high GF-G results. --- That's it for this week! Richard - from SoccerAnalytix. ### 021. ECNL GAMEWEEK 35: HIGHLIGHTS URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/021-ecnl-gameweek-35-summary/ Last updated: 2025-03-22T02:01:38.000Z The month of May has arrived. It's the proverbial beginning-of-the-end of the season, with 94%+ of Boys nationwide games now behind us: - Gameweeks 34+35 contained ≈10% of the Boys entire season's scheduled game play. - Gameweek 34 itself was the 3rd-busiest week of the year (409 games). In other words, it's "crunch time" for many teams competing for the few remaining postseason slots. The data may have surfaced evidence of increased play-intensity during Boys' Gameweek 35: average goals-scored per game increased by 7.4% vs previous Gameweek 34. Our stories for ECNL Boys Gameweek 35: - **Nationwide Team Rankings** ▫ **All Ages Combined:** - Northeast's Pipeline SC reclaims the #1 top spot. - Northeast's SUSA FC delivers a 14-spot uplift - this week's biggest-mover across this ranking. - **Conferences & other regional highlights**: - Compared to other conferences, Northern Cal, Northeast and Texas produces higher GF-G. - Also - 45.1% of this week's gameload emerges from the above-mentioned 3 regions. - **Nationwide Team Rankings** ▫ **By Age Group**: - Midwest's Chicago Magic 2007 Boys skyrockets-up their nationwide age group rankings by 29 steps. - Northeast's STA 2009 Boys makes a dramatic entry into their Top 25. --- ## Gameweek summary ECNL Boys and ECNL Girls: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2024/06/5h8zU-ecnl-boys-gameweek-35-quick-view-4-1.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2024/06/45n5E-ecnl-boys-gameweek-35-goals-scored-variance-analysis-2-1.png) --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2024/06/CTo1k-ecnl-girls-gameweek-35-quick-view-1.png) --- ## Nationwide Team Rankings ▫ Boys - All Ages Combined ### Pipeline SC back to #1 ▫ SUSA FC up by 14 spots The math is straightforward: the further-along you get into the season, the harder it is to improve your rankings - this is the nature of cumulative performance. Here's a snapshot of latest rankings - Top 10: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2024/06/gcnho-ecnl-boys-gameweek-35-nationwide-club-rankings-all-ages-combined-4-different-rankings-2-1.png) See full rankings on our post in the Featured section. Pipeline SC moved-up from #2 to #1 nationwide. However, the intriguing aspect of this near-term success is that... they didn't have to play a single game in-order to reclaim the top spot. Instead, it's Seattle United's single-game tie that reduced its PTS-G by ≈0.01\. Pipeline SC's PTS-G remained stable week-over-week, at 2.52. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2024/06/umays-ecnl-boys-gameweek-35-nationwide-club-rankings-seattle-united-all-ages-1-1.png) As a contrasting example, consider this week's Northeast SUSA FC: they uplifted their rankings from #75 to #61\. It's this week's biggest - by far! - club-level upward-move, driven by a no-loss streak across 10 games. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2024/06/Pzutf-ecnl-boys-gameweek-35-nationwide-club-rankings-susa-fc-all-ages-1-1.png) --- ## Conferences & other regional highlights ### Northern Cal, Northeast and Texas are this week's standouts You can tell by your own favorite team's conference schedule: a few weeks can pass-by between games. At a national level, this observation translates into conferences impacting gameweek results at different levels. In-order to correctly-appraise what's going-on across conferences, questions like these are relevant. During Gameweek 35: 1. What's the game volume across each conference? 2. At the conference-level, what's the average GF-G? 3. At the conference-level, to what extent did the average GF-G change on a week-over-week basis? This data highlights differences in aggregate performance across conferences - let's deep-dive into this in another episode. By integrating insights from the above 3 questions, we can contruct a story of "... what happened across our conferences in this past week...". Consider these 3 heatmap grids: Takeaways from above: There was a significant amount of game-volume across 6 of 12 conferences. Takeaways from above: Of the 6 high-volume conferences, 3 delivered relatively-high GF-G results (> 2.0). Takeaways from above: Many of the conferences with relatively-high GF-G also produced higher-averages than the previous week. A short-term bump? --- ## Nationwide Team Rankings ▫ By Age Group ### Midwest's Chicago Magic 2007 Boys jump 29 spots... wait, what? ▫ Northeast's STA 2009 Boys make their way into Top 25 Each Age Group team competes within its own conference... but of-course there's an implicit nationwide ranking, right? That ranking (mostly-driven by PTS-G) reflects your likelihood of making-it into the postseason. One of this week's biggest age group movers was Chicago Magic 2007 Boys... another week like this one, and might they just make it into the postseason? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2024/06/CJiiO-ecnl-boys-gameweek-35-nationwide-rankings-by-age-group-chicago-magic-2007-boys-1-1.png) There are many data-driven ways to communicate that a team is performing at an exceptional level inside its age group. Here's an example of a team jumping its way into their coveted Top 25, with 2 consecutive in-week wins: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/27/0c/270cbd3c-f50f-4397-adc4-31babb8a91d6/content/images/2024/06/hWWUD-ecnl-boys-gameweek-35-nationwide-rankings-by-age-group-sta-2009-boys-1.png) --- That's it for this week! Richard - from SoccerAnalytix.