Thought I'd get the season-specific thread started, since there have been things happening. The Mutiny tweeted earlier today that the East conference schedule is close to being released; will be fun to see that materialize and give people games to talk about. RSL has already begun its "preseason", if you will, having played two games in BYU's spring tournament the other weekend, beating Dixie State 1-0 and Westminster 2-0. Most other teams are advertising recruiting/tryouts now as well.
And it also looks like the official word is out regarding the Laval and Dynamo teams... they will not be a part of UWS. As I stated in an earlier post, it looks like CSA is putting their foot down about their women's teams playing in Canada instead of the US. Check out the Twitter timeline of @24thminute - Duane Rollins of Canadian Soccer News. He talks about the dynamics of what's going up there. He clears UWS in this case as well. Its about CSA not UWS. They stated that did everything correctly on their part, its just that CSA wants what they want which is a league of their own (all apologies to Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, Madonna, etc.). I'd expect the West schedule due out by the same time which looks increasingly like... mid-March or in other terms, next week. That's good news. SC Blue Heat have been touting some great player signings on Facebook (Mele French, Sasha Andrews) but haven't seen anything on their website yet. Looking forward to the season!
Suffice to say the Laval people are pretty PO'd at the decision, based on their Twitter - heck, they were already venting their frustration a week or so ago. It's quite the alphabet soups of leagues and provincial soccer organizations up there, apparently, but it sounds like no one wants to play nice - and that none of the options currently available are at the level Laval wants to play at. Sad to see them close up for 2016, but I guess if they were barred from UWS, I don't blame them. I can maybe understand the CSA's point of view at lower levels, (e.g. they denied teams from joining WPSL's u20 a while ago apparently,) but Laval are at the level immediately under D1 and there's literally nothing in Canada close to that.
There has been some more news coming out of the UWS camp... NJ Copa FC are hosting Swansea Ladies on their preseason tour this June (http://www.uwssoccer.com/news_article/show/630370?referrer_id=2294922). That should be a real intriguing match. It will be interesting to see the level of play between the two teams. Arsenal Ladies are playing the Seattle Reign also this summer - FAWSL vs. NWSL. That's one level. Seeing UWS vs. a top WPWL team may showcase that next level beneath the fully pro teams. Like I said, intriguing. The Mutiny also released their first round of signings (http://www.uwssoccer.com/news_article/show/629602?referrer_id=2311518). A rock solid yet unspectacular bunch. Lots of post-college experience, though. The Swaby sisters should be a treat to watch together. The Swaby's, Cunningham and Walsh could very well be their back four. All tall and athletic. I'd like to see Penn State's Ellie Jean back with the Mutiny. She signed with them a few years back but didn't play. Now that would be a great defense! UWS tweeted that schedules should start coming out after 4/1. I wonder if the loss of the Canadian teams and having to re-structure the schedule has been the reason for the delay in the East. Maybe. I've heard behind the scenes that a couple of teams have been trying to get on board with UWS West at the last minute. Maybe that's the delay out there. Anyways... good to hear the schedule will be out this week.
Cool to hear about Swansea! Though I'm not sure I'd call that matchup as one between teams "next level beneath the pros".... Copa will be a completely new team, and I expect them to finish below the more established teams relatively easily; likewise, the WPWL is definitely not the level right below the FAWSL, with Wales ranked 40th out of 50-some UEFA leagues. The Welsh UWCL representative has never made it out of the preliminary group stage, earning either 3pts or 0pts in each of the past 7 years. So it looks to me more like a 3rd division matchup at best instead of a 2nd division matchup... Re: the schedule, we heard a while back that the East schedule was being drawn up without the Canadian teams anyway, so I'm guessing that wouldn't be the complication. A new team out West wouldn't surprise me, though, since then you would have a nice 6+6 setup. *EDIT* Here's the article that said the schedule was already being drawn without the Canadian teams: http://www.bigapplesoccer.com/leagues/uws2.php?article_id=43860
While there hasn't been an official schedule announcement yet, it seems that several teams have made their schedules public already: NJ Copa FC: Double Header Home Opener! Our UWS Team will begin their inaugural season on May 22nd. Clear The Day! #GONJCopaFC pic.twitter.com/DvefbikQWc— NJ Copa FC (@NJCopaFC) April 1, 2016 Full schedule here LI Rough Riders: Check out all of our different ticket packages! https://t.co/HqIdVBJjgf pic.twitter.com/79BUSyNW8l— Long Island Rough Riders (@LIRoughRiders) March 29, 2016 Home schedule only; the "schedule" link on their website isn't working for me Colorado Storm: http://www.coloradostorm.com/Default.aspx?tabid=580608 None of the other teams have any schedule information on their websites yet. Looks like a 10-game season for the East, though, and an 8-game season for the West.
I'm taking a closer look at the three schedules we have so far and HOLY CRAP NJ Copa FC has two two-day windows where they play back-to-back games! That's rough.
We have a schedule! Note: just clicking on the "schedule" tab of the website only shows you the immediate upcoming games. Go HERE to see them all. I'll provide my initial analysis once I parse through the dates. The schedule is clearly incomplete, with just 28 East games and a paltry 15 West games so far, when I think it should be 30 East and 20 West. RSL has no home games listed yet, for example, while all four away games. Okay, both games missing in the East are Inferno-Valkyries games, so it's just those two teams haven't settled on dates yet. Aside from the four RSL home games missing, the Pride and Storm have not settled on a return date for their H&H series, so that's the five missing West games. There are a couple of two-day turnarounds in the West, but nothing like Copa's and Inferno's two one-day turnarounds. The "busiest weekend" will be June 17-19, with seven games in those three days. No day has more than three games, and no other spots in the schedule have back-to-back three-game days. This may change with those 7 missing games still to be added in. Regular season starts May 14th, ends July 23rd - not counting missing games, of course.
RSL's four home game are now on the schedule, the first two (5/28 v HOU and 6/11 v SCBH) at Davis HS and the second two (6/29 v COS and 7/7 v COP) at East HS. I hope that if they host a playoff game it's at RioT (like the "WPSLE final" was). The Inferno-Valkyries games are also set, 7/9 at Lancaster and 7/17 (busy weekend!) at TSF. Just waiting on Storm @ Pride now.
Hear hear to STT! Keep up the good work... And its official - http://www.uwssoccer.com/news_article/show/635737?referrer_id=2294922 Looks like UWS is keeping up with mobile-mania with their own app through Sport Ngin. Download the app, put in the Team ID that can be found on each team's page on the UWS site and you can follow all the in-season particulars of said team. Not too bad.
Interesting, so the "playoffs" are really just a "Supercup" match. The current iteration of the NASL tried that for a year before going back to a four-team playoff. Then again, if UWS expects to expand for 2017, then expanding playoffs for next year would also make sense. I guess it makes sense to have the West host since their regular season ends sooner than the East's regular season does, which means the West champion has more sell-up time. (Also, what do you wanna bet their mouths are watering at the prospect of having their first final at RioT?)
RSL is joining another university-hosted spring tournament, playing hosts UVU this Saturday morning and SUU Saturday afternoon. Their website is also now updated to include these two games and all eight UWS games, plus first and second team rosters.
Some fun stuff from UWS retweets: Nice RSL write-up: Over The Touchline: RSL Women 2016 Season Preview @RealSaltLakeWmn #RSL #RSLFamily https://t.co/68P8lx0Mc1— Ryan J. Kelly (@sirveaux24) April 12, 2016 Also, proof that UWS is attracting WNT talent from around the world in the same way the W-League did, as Costa Rican WNT defender joins Lancaster: Muy contenta por esta nueva oportunidad. A préstamo por 3 meses a la National Pro-Am League de USA! #FutbolFemenino https://t.co/Cj0COJn0bH— Carol Sanchez (@carolsanchezcr6) April 12, 2016
Woke up to some news from Santa Clarita this morning... http://www.uwssoccer.com/news_article/show/642791?referrer_id=2294922 I've heard they're doing work as far as their roster is concerned but... that's a real nice first group of signings that were released. Some up and coming youngsters and most certainly quality veterans but the big surprise was New Zealand's Emma Kete. It looks like the Blue Heat have set the standard in the West as far as their roster is concerned. We're almost two weeks until kickoff, so let's hope more news like this comes through the wire! Getting pumped up for the season.
I don't recognize the other names, but geez.... French, Kete, and Toraya are very nice snags! I need to start figuring out which teams in the pro-am UWS are "pro" and which ones are "am". I know Copa and the Aces are pro, while the Mutiny and (I think) RSL are am.... With the roster SCBH has there, I'm guessing they're pro as well.
Good start to season. First two matches played. Impressive website at www.uwssoccer.com All scores and stats posted right after the games were played.
That post had nothing to do with the post it quoted, and also didn't actually provide any real information like the scores and stats is promoted, but whatever. The first week of UWS games is in the books, with both home teams winning 3-0. Veteran team LIRR provided a rude welcome to expansion Copa FC, while the Mutiny maybe unsurprisingly showed up the Magic. Just two games this weekend, will see five more next weekend. No attendance numbers, from what I can see on the stats pages. Still waiting to see if there are any match write-ups.
Okay, so there was nothing from UWS itself, but both home teams already have write-ups on their respective websites. NEM: http://www.mutinysoccer.com/news/2016/05/15/2016-mutiny3-magic0/ (Attendance estimated at over 900) LIR: https://liroughriders.com/rough-riders-make-uws-history/ (More of a bare-bones summary than a true write-up)
UWS has the scores and stats for both games posted. Why would they write the game stories when the teams should? Isn't that the team's responsibility? I'm a bit confused by your critique. I would expect a weekend wrapup posted on Monday from the league. If not, than you can criticize them at that point. BTW the Mutiny had their game story up a few hours after the game.
MLS, NASL, USL, and NWSL all write their own game reports in addition to what the teams put on their respective websites. If nothing else, the league should report attendances somewhere, so if they're not on the stats pages/boxscores, they should be on reports. Considering that only two of the four teams in action yesterday have reports of their own up so far, I guess maybe I shouldn't be surprised, but at the same time you could say that if not all teams are writing their own reports, the league should at least post a bare-bones summary of the games.
Wow. I suggest decaf. Sounds like you have an agenda against UWS. I look forward to you sharing the same level of scrutiny about the WPSL but I won't hold my breath.
WTF? Have you not seen my constant posts in this thread (and the other UWS thread) highlighting all cool info UWS has been giving us? Have you not seen how all my recent WPSL posts have included backhanded comments about what WPSL lacks? If you haven't noticed, I've shifted from WPSL to UWS fairly solidly a few months ago when they actually came through with the West conference. I suggest you may be the one needing decaf. Or glasses. Sorry if I'm not allowed to point out one thing that needs improvement among most things that have been done right. Otherwise I have no clue how you're seeing me having an agenda against them, what with how much I've been sharing and covering them in these forums. I can't drink caffeine in the first place, btw.
Sorry about the confusion. I was pretty psyched to see the build up for the UWS season and see that both games were covered as far as social media, game stories, etc. Than I read your posts here and was kind of like WTF myself. I kind of gave up on the WPSL and that thread after seeing a lot of the same old-same old with them so far this year, so I've missed that discussion. The one thing I'll say is those leagues you mentioned are fully professional while UWS is pro-am with an emphasis on the "am" at this point in its development. If I see a weekend recap on Monday and some weekly league awards as well I'll be a happy guy. They've really been trying hard (I read your comment on their Twitter game and I agree) and I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt. But yeah... you have every right to point out those areas of improvement. It just seemed a little harsh to me at this juncture. This medium can be a bit black and white at times and you can't read the color in what someone has written. Carry on!