Originally Posted by Anonymous
Originally Posted by Anonymous
Originally Posted by Anonymous
Originally Posted by Anonymous
Anyone’s daughter do the AU Futures event this year? Just wondering how it compares to previous years. Was it still by region? How did the Md team do?


Yeah. MD team was a juggernaut. Their coach was apparently from Princeton and was fully engaged. Barking out structures for man-up opportunities; critiquing off-ball cuts after goals in blowouts. Pretty impressive effort from her. Top players with little to prove (unless they want to go to Princeton) seemed to be taking it very seriously as well, sprinting line to line.

Overall, the event seemed to be a bit low energy. Teams were uneven. No "AU pros" anywhere to be seen on day 2. It was hot...

What region did Maryland play in the finals?
There were two “Maryland” teams and they played each other in the finals. There were no “juggernaut” teams there!

Okay, two all-star tournaments last week. Different participation from MD between AU Futures and American Select.

The "juggernaut" reference was to Team Orange at AU Futures. Had Coppermine standouts, several Heroes, etc. They won all 5 games, most comfortably, and were champs. Team Orange did play another MD team in the final, Team Black, after beating them in pool play as well. Team Black appeared to have a number of good players from Crush, which means that Team Orange must have been pretty good to beat them twice. I stand by my description.

I was not talking about American Select where the Maryland 2028 team did not have as strong representation from some of the top clubs, namely Coppermine and Crush, who clearly picked AU, and lost by 6 in the first round of the bracket to Massachusetts, after going 2-2 in pool play. They lost to Pennsylvania, Long Island (all YJ), and Massachusetts (fast, athletic group who clearly practiced and played together before and just scored at will in transition).

American Select was a much more serious event, in my view. Hopefully, MD makes a better showing next year. Both 2025 teams went 0-4, even though one had TC coaching; 2026s lost in first round; 2027s lost in the final, and 2028s lost in the first round. LI looked like the strongest region at the lower ages--maybe due to teams drawn from one club.