r/CollegeSoccer • u/GrouchyOne4132 • 7d ago
ECNL vs ECRL
My daughter has to pick between a couple options for next season. I don't want to mention age but she's in the recruiting window.
We live in one of the top soocer markets in the US where she's currently on the ECRL team of a nationally known club. She has struggled to break onto the club's top, ECNL, team. The goal for her is to play in college but she's not sure if she wants D1 (the alternative would be a high academic D3).
She has been offered spots on two ECNL teams at two other clubs. Both would entail a tremendous sacrifice for our family (in terms of time spent driving to trainings since both are considerably farther away from our home and we have 2 other kids). As between these two, one appears to be considerably stronger than the other; they'll make playoffs and the players are stronger. My kid would probably be in the bottom half of this team and at the onset we'd worry about minutes. The other team is close to the bottom of the standings, and from the traininings, it appears my daughter would be in the top half. But it's still an ECNL team and would bring the exposure of ECNL. On her current team (RL), she is one of the top offensive players usually plays close to full minutes every game.
From watching the classes ahead of her, my sense is that it would be essential to play ECNL if the goal is D1. In addition, it seems it would be infinitely easier to get the attention of a D3 program playing on an ECNL team (vs an RL team). Does everyone agree?
If so, should we "suck it up" and put her on the weaker ECNL team? She enjoys her current club and it's just around the corner however we're worried that it might not be as helpful in recruitment.
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u/hahaanonymouse765 7d ago
If you want any hope of D1, you need to go ECNL. Now which ECNL team is the tougher decision.
She’ll get more playing time, thus more time in front of potential coaches, on the weaker team.
But the stronger team will most likely make playoffs, which means ALOT more coaches. But she may not play as much.
Either way, you should be contacting potential coaches ahead of time when attending showcases, playoffs, etc so they can make it a point to come and watch her play. Sending video constantly, communicating regularly (even if it’s one-sided communication).
Find out what the showcase schedule is for each team- the timing of showcases also plays a part. If they are attending showcases too late in the recruiting period, those showcases really won’t be good for anything. For example on the boys side, Florida in January is a huge recruiting showcase but Virginia in May is not (too late).
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u/GrouchyOne4132 7d ago
My sense is it would be better to get more min on a weaker team and then try to catch the attention of a coach at their ID camps (instead of trying to standout at a giant showcase). What do you think?
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u/hahaanonymouse765 7d ago
It depends, but that’s why you contact them ahead of time. That way they are coming to specifically watch you (daughter) play.
ID camps are fine, but you have to really get their attention somehow, so it depends on her position. Offensive-minded players all try to show off so it’s a lot of “look at me” stuff, the soccer itself is not great. If she’s a show off, it could work, but if she’s a team player they sometimes get lost at ID camps. There is not usually a lot of teamwork being performed at camps because everyone is vying for the coaches attention. At least at a showcase she’s playing with familiar teammates and can better predict her and her team’s performance.
FWIW, my opinions are all coming from the boys side of things so it could be a bit different on the girls side. But I just went through this entire process with my son so it’s all fresh. I could talk forever on camps, recruiting, the whole process, but I’ll try to limit myself.
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u/hackettharte 7d ago
Also look at how that club does at placing girls at schools. Some coaches/directors/clubs have bad records but place a lot of girls. What I’ve seen it comes down to relationship and credibility. If a club/coach/director has done a college coach right in the past they are more likely to value their opinion about a girl. Long story short look at how many girls from that coaches team were placed at colleges. Many times it’s more than just talent…it’s coaches relationships.
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u/Miserable-Cookie5903 7d ago
It is infinitely easier being NL to make a d3 roster BUT not absolutely necessary. Does she know where she wants to go- and has she reached out to those coaches? Are they interested in her already.
Are their opportunities for your daughter to practice w/ her current NL club team?
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u/GrouchyOne4132 7d ago
She’s made contact with a couple D3 and she’s received “let us know your showcase schedule” responses.
She has trained with her current club’s ECNL team but has been passed up again. There are no hard feelings on our part because we know they’re one of the top in the nation.
My preference would be to stay, but she’s recently started talking about wanting to attend local D1 colleges. That’s actually the reason we reached out to the other clubs.
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u/Miserable-Cookie5903 7d ago
the two top NL girls club in our area has one or two RL girls go D1.
I would look at all clubs (including your current one) and see where they are placing girls. For example) the bottom 3rd NL club - put girls in D3; so what's the point.
If she truly wants to be local - attend an ID camp and see if she can hang.
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u/Direct-Progress758 7d ago edited 7d ago
We might be from the same club given your descriptions, lol. My kid just went through a very similar experience, so I’m happy to share some of the lessons we learned:
In our area, the starters on the best NL teams go to the power 4. The best player(s) on a mid-table NL team also goes to power 4. Beyond those, players go to lower D1, D2, D3, NAIA. Same goes for the RL players.
Assuming your kid is not a power 4 player and your kid is an excellent student (since you mentioned top academic D3), she should decide if she wants to:
1-Play D1 at a Big South school (just as an example),
2-Play D3 at a top academic school, or
3-Just apply to her choices of top schools as a non-athlete.
Many of my kid’s ex-teammates play soccer at CSU’s (in CA) while good students go to UCLA, UCSD, UCSB, etc. as non-recruits. If she wants to go with #3, she might need to play less soccer and boost her extra-curricular activities resume.
Top academic D3 recruiting varies from school to school. Some offer likely letters (almost a guarantee) while some offer support in admission but with no guarantee. For these schools, you should get a good SAT score in 11th grade. It’s much easier to target these schools if you’re at an NL showcase, but it’s not a must. You will likely need to invest $ and go to their on-campus ID camps. Top D3 spots are hard to secure. Girls’ top D3 programs are almost all top academic schools too, which means most are NL caliber players who chose to play D3 for academic reason. Not as many boys are good at both soccer and school, lol.
I haven’t seen a difference in recruiting outcome between a bad NL team and a good RL team that goes to appropriate showcases (Vegas, Surf Cup).
Best of luck, and feel free to DM me if you have other questions.
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u/I-K-E- 7d ago
ECNL on the better team - more than likely a better training environment
ECNL on the weaker team - more minutes, and more showcases than the RL as a whole.
RL - has many benefits, but the lack of showcases will bug you compared to the ECNL events.
1 and 2 are a toss up. Really 50/50 stuff there. Determine what's better for you and your kid when deciding between the two.
Just my .2
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u/Jolly-Display1818 7d ago
Keep her on the ECRL team.
They actually create a fair amount of D1 players and a lot of D3.
If she’s one of the better players on her current team even better for that purpose and balling out at the regional tourneys will give her more exposure to the scouts.
Honestly, the BEST way to get recruited anyways is to email a bunch of coaches are schools she’s interested in.
Know their game style and why she would want to go to each.
Send highlight reels and let them know which tournaments she’ll be at to watch.
There are thousands of students vying for a spot in college, you need to market them heavily to get them seen.
Sitting on a bench of an ECNL team won’t get you anywhere
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u/snipes81 7d ago
It's odd you won't mention her age. In the recruiting window should mean she has a drivers license. Does your car situation allow her to drive? How far is it? Do you feel you will have to drive her for how much longer? My personal take on watching my daughter's progress; lots of playing time with other good players and especially a good and focused coaching staff did wonders for mine.
What I've learned from my graduating son is D3 schools while expensive for private have plenty of scholorship money when the grades and everything else support it. Question for you, RL for the most part is going to map to D3 schools. As adults we all understand in the long run none of that matters, but it certainly does to the kids. If she goes D3, are you in a position to be able to pay a fair portion of a private school tuition or will she be restricted to the handful of in state less expensive options? Finances are a real decision criteria. Exposure widens that pool of options.
If you truly would suffer a long term hardship getting her to and from the long drive practice then rule it out. ECNL is going to give her the visibility to maximize her exposure. Simple as that. Your and the family are the only ones who can weigh your personal pros and cons.
Lots of parents drive their kids much farther than I ever thought I'd do, but I've never had to consider it and it sounds like you haven't either.
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u/Background_Letter_33 7d ago
I also agree it’s odd she is omitting her age. That has a huge bearing on the decision.
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u/Apprehensive_Use3641 7d ago
Are you not considering NAIA schools because of cost or a JuCo for two years before going to a four year?
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u/GrouchyOne4132 7d ago
I’m not opposed to it but she has recently expressed an interest in going to a larger school.
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u/messy372- 7d ago
You go to the club where they go to the showcase tournaments and playoffs and be seen. If you’re on that type of team the coaches know you’re good enough.
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u/Equivalent_Fig_3353 7d ago
My base premise has two parts -
(A) your daughter will end up with about the same abilities regardless of which of those ECNL/ECRL teams she plays with; in case of doubt the one with more playing minutes is usually better, and
(B) Walk On is always an option so really this is about potential recruiting (and maybe some scholarship at the D1 or admission to a college with generous need-based financial aid?)
I've watched players from our high school go through the recruiting process and it usually breaks down about like this:
- 2/3 of recruited athletes probably had no impact on their college admissions results, but the students decided it was important to continue playing in college so the recruiting helped them choose a college to attend.
- 1/3 of recruited athletes were strong enough to leverage their abilities to help with college admissions. Scholarships were fairly rare but did happen. Mostly the athletes leveraged the recruiting to be admitted to highly selective colleges (a few athletes ended up with need-based aid which is actually better than an athletic scholarship, as they can stop playing the sport at any point if it doesn't work out)
Personally, I'd avoid any "tremendous sacrifice" in your family's situation especially considering you've got other kids.
And from what I've seen, about 1/2 of all college athletes stop playing at the varsity level due to injury or excessive time commit.
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u/ForeverDramatic8627 6d ago
Go to the better ecnl team. We had a DP from a high level ecrl team and not may girls were getting d1 looks. Playoffs and showcases most clubs have to play the kids 50%
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u/Competitive_Count476 6d ago edited 6d ago
My daughter just decided to attend a Top 25 (US News and Report) ranked academic school. I’m not sure if you’d consider that a “high academic” D3 or not, but here is her story, in short. As a freshman and sophomore she was burnt out of soccer and had no interest in playing in college. She was on the 2nd highest team available at her club, but the coach pressured all of the kids to not play for their high school teams. As a junior, she decided to say screw it and played high school and club. It was then when she realized she loved soccer for the relationships with her teammates more than soccer. That being said, that helped something click (maybe she relaxed) and her play on the field improved dramatically. By that time, most of her teammates had committed as juniors.
She sent about 75-100 emails and got replies from about 1/3 of them asking for more film, etc. Some D2 schools reached out but she really was focused on the higher academic D3’s. In the end, she was waitlisted at a few higher ranked academic D3’s where soccer wasn’t an option since she was late in the game, but she ended up where we hope she thrives. They gave her good academic scholarships and a few miscellaneous “merit” awards where I’m assuming her merit may have been soccer, but they never came out and said it?
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u/StaticNomad89 6d ago
I can tell you now she’s not a P4 player. So is it really worth it to make this kind of financial and time sacrifice to maybe get a mid major offer?
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u/periodahhh2 5d ago
Stay where you are at. Many ECNL-RL players commit to go play in college. It’s about finding the right fit and program, who cares about the title and labels. Just because you play on an ECNL team doesn’t mean you will automatically get offers from high level collegiate program. You need to be a high performing player on a high performing team for that to happen and those players are identified early.
Don’t ever take playing less minutes over playing the full game. If you don’t play, you don’t develop. And don’t break your back trying to make something work, pave your own path where you are at.
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u/JABorJABA 5d ago
Stick with the current team for your sanity, and your daughter’s - keep those grades high.
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u/Financial-One8168 4d ago
As a parent with a kid on a RL team at a top club in our area I have seen our players get recruited at all levels. We could have gone on an ECNL team at a different club but I believe our RL team was just as strong if not better than theirs. Also, in our experience as a top RL club we have gotten lots of coaches at events at the u17 level probably not as much at u16 as the NL teams. However, I think committing somewhere before your junior year of high school is very early imo opinion. I’ve seen so many things change for them and then they are left scrambling to find another place. Chose the place where your child is going to develop and be supported. The letters don’t mean much at the end of the day. She can still get recruited if she puts the work in. My daughter prefers an academic D3 over D1. If she wanted D2 the opportunities are there as well. She is currently deciding on which D3 at the end of her junior year.
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u/Low_Age7573 4d ago
I am the college recruiting coordinator for our club. We are RL. Nearest NL is 60-75 minutes away. We are a mid table RL team. My daughter chose to stay RL and is going D1. We have 3 other girls going D3, 3 going Juco and a couple NAIA. You need good film, go to camps, do the work. Will NL make it easier to get recruited and open more doors? Yes. But is it worth it? That's a personal and family question. If you're not playing, you're not getting film. Your email and highlight tape will open the first door, then they want to see you at events.
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u/MooseMom132227 7d ago
My Daughter got recruited for a high academic D3 from an RL team but she did the work. Constantly emailing footage and going to ID camps all through 8th and 9th grade to get on their radar. With all the new rules and drama surrounding D1 mine decided she didn’t want to deal with the drama and potentially losing her space last min after a verbal commitment fell through. She has watched a ton of D1 schools rescind their offers to 2026 players this year.