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# QUALITY-OF-OPPOSITION INSIDE ECNL BOYS: A U15 CASE STUDY • EP. 054
- URL: https://www.socceranalytix.com/quality-of-opposition-inside-ecnl-boys-soccer/
- Published: 2025-08-20T14:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2025-08-21T17:12:18.000Z
- Description: Through Quality-of-Opposition analytics, we benchmarked the 2024-25 Season U15 Southwest and Mid-Atlantic conferences. Was one conference more-competitive than the other?
- Author: Richard - From SoccerAnalytix

(*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:

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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

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