Club Soccer Updates for HS Aged Boys

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Wingback Willie

Member
HS soccer is around the corner. How are some of the clubs with local HS talent doing this spring? Any seniors poised to have stand out seasons? Any Juniors or Seniors ready to break out? What club teams are doing well and what HS are represented on their teams?
 
 
Around here (NEO), the club season is mostly dominated by FC Evolution (formerly Pennine). The 05 Boys team (coached by Mike McLaughlin) went 7-0 in the National League PRO group, scoring 42 goals and only giving up 2. They were strong before (with top starters from the Ignatius state champion team), but added to the team in the winter with the disintegration of the Challenger North team.

State cup will be interesting, since this is the first year of a combined Ohio cup, not separate Ohio North and South. I imagine CUP as well as Kings Hammer (who, I believe won Nationals last season) will be in the mix.

In the 04 age group, it's all CUP in the south and Challenger in the north.
 
The 03 Ohio Galaxy team is very strong in Southwest Ohio area. Outside of that CUP is top team in the area on the boys side. KHA 05s won Nationals last year after an impressive run but have struggled this season. A lot of very good talent with great players who also play for their high school. It’s great to see.
 
The 06 CUP team has already qualified for Regionals and Nationals. They have good representation from Moeller and St X along with kids from Mason, Monroe, Centerville, Lakota West, Indian Hill and Mariemont. Some good kids to keep an eye on this year for sure as they enter there So/Jr seasons.
 
When I was in the club circuit in the 90's teams like Cleveland United, Ohio Premier, Emerald, Internationals, West Side Stars were the main programs. Are any of those still in existence?
 
eaglepride said:
When I was in the club circuit in the 90's teams like Cleveland United, Ohio Premier, Emerald, Internationals, West Side Stars were the main programs. Are any of those still in existence?
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Cleveland United merged with CSA and Internationals and became Cleveland Force. Internationals still exists on the girls side (under the Internationals name). Ohio Premier in Columbus is still around, but I wonder if you're talking about OP Fire? That's gone. West Side Stars exists (sort of). It's the holdover players left from the old Internationals boys teams. Never heard of Emerald?
 
The '06 Metro Rapids team (2021 State Cup Champs) is merging with Galaxies to form a super team. Most Metro players are going with the exception of their top scorer who is going to CUP. Should be good Galaxies team, and a nice pick up for CUP.
 
soccerdad72 said:
Cleveland United merged with CSA and Internationals and became Cleveland Force. Internationals still exists on the girls side (under the Internationals name). Ohio Premier in Columbus is still around, but I wonder if you're talking about OP Fire? That's gone. West Side Stars exists (sort of). It's the holdover players left from the old Internationals boys teams. Never heard of Emerald?
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Two different clubs. Not sure if they were at one point affiliated.

https://www.opfccle.com/ (CLE)
https://www.opsoccer.com/ (CBUS)

I remember Emerald. I haven't seen them around in awhile. It's impossible keeping track of all the mergers that have happened between all these different clubs.
 
I forgot about OPFC - they're still actively around. And no, I don't think they've ever been affiliated with OP Soccer from Columbus.
 
OhioBobcatFan06 said:
Is West Side Stars the West Side All Stars that just have a couple teams on the girls side?
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I've not heard them referred to as "All Stars", but it's probably the same club you're thinking of. I think they have one HS aged combined team for boys, but in general, I think they have more girls teams. They combined with whatever was left of Pro Soccer Club (which broke away from Cleveland United years earlier) a few years ago.
 
soccerdad72 said:
I've not heard them referred to as "All Stars", but it's probably the same club you're thinking of. I think they have one HS aged combined team for boys, but in general, I think they have more girls teams. They combined with whatever was left of Pro Soccer Club (which broke away from Cleveland United years earlier) a few years ago.
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I played for them in the 90s. We had kids from St. Ignatius, Ed’s, Westlake, Bay, Mentor, Amherst, Rocky River, Fairview Park, Avon Lake, Bay, etc… Great program but after Molnar left the program, it died off I believe.
 
I did not get to see all the games today, but glancing at the results it looks like a bit of chalk with a few surprises sprinkled in. The ‘04’s will be cup vs challenger, but it looks like cup may have gotten a bit of a scare from elite in today’s game. Those two teams know each other well, so not much of a surprise really. Big surprise in the ‘05 bracket with FC evolution getting knocked out. I would have had them as the odds on favorite to win it all, but a shocking loss today to CEFC and a tie yesterday vs challenger. Not sure what happened there. Disappointing bracket c with cup gold and galaxy as both got a forfeit and an easy win. Both will get through, but not sure how tested. Columbus united was expected in bracket b. Sets up well for another challenger vs cup final. In the ‘06’s, a lot of parity in the A bracket, with hammer squeaking in. Cup Gold held on vs Barca today. I would have expected them to win that. Challenger and club ohio round out the senifinal, but looks like a fair amount of parity there. Overall Cup and Challenger showing up very strong.
 
Laces said:
I did not get to see all the games today, but glancing at the results it looks like a bit of chalk with a few surprises sprinkled in. The ‘04’s will be cup vs challenger, but it looks like cup may have gotten a bit of a scare from elite in today’s game. Those two teams know each other well, so not much of a surprise really. Big surprise in the ‘05 bracket with FC evolution getting knocked out. I would have had them as the odds on favorite to win it all, but a shocking loss today to CEFC and a tie yesterday vs challenger. Not sure what happened there. Disappointing bracket c with cup gold and galaxy as both got a forfeit and an easy win. Both will get through, but not sure how tested. Columbus united was expected in bracket b. Sets up well for another challenger vs cup final. In the ‘06’s, a lot of parity in the A bracket, with hammer squeaking in. Cup Gold held on vs Barca today. I would have expected them to win that. Challenger and club ohio round out the senifinal, but looks like a fair amount of parity there. Overall Cup and Challenger showing up very strong.
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Seems like outside of 05s and FC Evolution there weren’t many surprises in most of the age groups.

CUP tends to win a lot of Ohio South State Cups. Will be interesting to see if they can win with Ohio North involved.
 
Laces said:
I did not get to see all the games today, but glancing at the results it looks like a bit of chalk with a few surprises sprinkled in. The ‘04’s will be cup vs challenger, but it looks like cup may have gotten a bit of a scare from elite in today’s game. Those two teams know each other well, so not much of a surprise really. Big surprise in the ‘05 bracket with FC evolution getting knocked out. I would have had them as the odds on favorite to win it all, but a shocking loss today to CEFC and a tie yesterday vs challenger. Not sure what happened there. Disappointing bracket c with cup gold and galaxy as both got a forfeit and an easy win. Both will get through, but not sure how tested. Columbus united was expected in bracket b. Sets up well for another challenger vs cup final. In the ‘06’s, a lot of parity in the A bracket, with hammer squeaking in. Cup Gold held on vs Barca today. I would have expected them to win that. Challenger and club ohio round out the senifinal, but looks like a fair amount of parity there. Overall Cup and Challenger showing up very strong.
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I was surprised to see Evolution lose yesterday (or, for that matter, tie Challenger). I'll have to ask my son if he hears what happened this weekend, as a number of his friends play on that team. I think they're already in Regionals (based on winning the Great Lakes conference) and they're already in Nationals as well, so maybe they didn't bring the full team. Seems unlikely, as they had won at least the last 4 or 5 Ohio North State Cups.
 
Looks like CUP 04 and 06 won their first game today, along with Challenger 04 and Evolution 05 (who won 10-0)

CUP 05 lost their first game.
 
Interesting situation in the 05 bracket. I was looking at the schedule for semis today and noticed a third game listed. Turns out, all four teams in the semis are already qualified for Nationals, so the next two highest point totals from pool play are having a game for the Midwest qualifying spot for Florida.
 
The all-Ohio U18 final is set - both CUP and Challenger won this morning (I believe CUP went to PKs).

Evolution 05 also took extra time, but won in the final minute of ET on a PK (man, I would have hated to be that ref!)
 
soccerdad72 said:
The all-Ohio U18 final is set - both CUP and Challenger won this morning (I believe CUP went to PKs).

Evolution 05 also took extra time, but won in the final minute of ET on a PK (man, I would have hated to be that ref!)
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An Ohio referee called a penalty in the last minute of a national final about a decade ago in Arizona. Roy Lassiter ran after him when the game was over.
 
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