08-23-2014, 12:02 AM
(This post was last modified: 08-23-2014, 12:05 AM by Viking_Guy.)
Hank--
I think the recruiting process is somewhat akin to the way basketball is trending - club teams matter MUCH more than high school sides, and relationships between club coaches and college staffs seem to pipeline players. So you often see several players from the same club side going to the same college.
Right now, we have verbals from four 2016 players, two from the De Anza Force in the South Bay, one from the perennial nation club championship contender San Diego Surf (home side of same cohort defenders Laura Liedle and Maya Theuer and new freshman MF Kyra Carusa), and one of the best keepers in the class, Lauren Rood. Again, Stanford is one of the few sides that regularly loses players who've committed to door #1. But at the very top, decommitment seems somewhat more common than in women's b-ball, for example. I think a lot of that is concern about playing time, especially for early commits who see additions in the classes before them who will be hard to supplant on the field. For example, we have a top-ten keeper in this year's freshman class, Alison Jahansouz. We also have one in next year's class, Penelope Edmonds. That would make four classes in a row with top-10 keepers (with Campbell being the #1 keeper recruit last year). It will be interesting to see if Edmonds sticks when LOI time comes, given Campbell ensconced in front of her and Rood right behind.
The best recruiting site I've found is topdrawersoccer.com. Here's Stanford's team page:
http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-s...ommitments
The best forums page I've found is:
http://forums.bigsoccer.com/forums/womens-college.66/
Of course, YMMV, and it is an open forum, so you have to wade carefully. But it also seems to gather quite a few parents, who would definitely be much better to comment on the process than I. There are also definite cadres of fans who either root for or against certain traditionally powerful teams - UNC, Portland, Santa Clara and Stanford being favorite idols/targets.
VG
I think the recruiting process is somewhat akin to the way basketball is trending - club teams matter MUCH more than high school sides, and relationships between club coaches and college staffs seem to pipeline players. So you often see several players from the same club side going to the same college.
Right now, we have verbals from four 2016 players, two from the De Anza Force in the South Bay, one from the perennial nation club championship contender San Diego Surf (home side of same cohort defenders Laura Liedle and Maya Theuer and new freshman MF Kyra Carusa), and one of the best keepers in the class, Lauren Rood. Again, Stanford is one of the few sides that regularly loses players who've committed to door #1. But at the very top, decommitment seems somewhat more common than in women's b-ball, for example. I think a lot of that is concern about playing time, especially for early commits who see additions in the classes before them who will be hard to supplant on the field. For example, we have a top-ten keeper in this year's freshman class, Alison Jahansouz. We also have one in next year's class, Penelope Edmonds. That would make four classes in a row with top-10 keepers (with Campbell being the #1 keeper recruit last year). It will be interesting to see if Edmonds sticks when LOI time comes, given Campbell ensconced in front of her and Rood right behind.
The best recruiting site I've found is topdrawersoccer.com. Here's Stanford's team page:
http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-s...ommitments
The best forums page I've found is:
http://forums.bigsoccer.com/forums/womens-college.66/
Of course, YMMV, and it is an open forum, so you have to wade carefully. But it also seems to gather quite a few parents, who would definitely be much better to comment on the process than I. There are also definite cadres of fans who either root for or against certain traditionally powerful teams - UNC, Portland, Santa Clara and Stanford being favorite idols/targets.
VG