State Cups - Other States

[FSM]

FYI: Connecticut State Cup Finals - Girls

Seems CFC/CUFC is already guaranteed 2 teams to the Regional Championship.


U13

South Central Breakers vs Yankee United Stars

U14

CFC Wolves v CFC Impact

U15

CUFC v CFC Wolves

U16

CUFC v Yankee

U17

CUFC v South Central

U18

CUFC v Oakwood

U19

Still in semi final stage

[butkusfan]

Raises a point that I have always found interesting. That being the very different way that we do our state cup. The use of the RR and the fact that the top eight are essentially given a free ride for a huge part of the tournament makes it very difficult for major upsets. Cinderella always needs some luck and help from a fairy godmother (the seedings) but in Massachusetts they run into a real evil step-mother - namely the need to do well in three games at U Mass and then a two week disconnect until the semis and finals so that the ugly step-sisters can regain their breath. When was the last time in the U-14 to 17 age groups that there was a team that played its way into the RR with more than 1 win and then actually won the championship? I know it has happened but just not that often.

[skinny maradona]

Seeing as how the State Cups are qualifiers for Regionals and those in turn for Nationals shouldn't the process be the same for all 55 states and mandated by USYS?
What is the intent behind state cup? Send the "best" team from each state or an open cup where every team starts with an equal chance.
Seems like having any kind of seeding amounts to rigging the competition by the state organization to give some teams a better chance of progressing.

[butkusfan]

I have found that it is generally best to avoid figuring out intent when it comes to almost anything in life. As for the state cup there are national rules but generally each of the four regions and 55 state associations have varying abilities to develop a system that works best for them. Ultimately the goal is to crown a national champion in the U-14 to U-19 age groups (boys and girls).

[mathman]

Raises a point that I have always found interesting. That being the very different way that we do our state cup. The use of the RR and the fact that the top eight are essentially given a free ride for a huge part of the tournament makes it very difficult for major upsets. Cinderella always needs some luck and help from a fairy godmother (the seedings) but in Massachusetts they run into a real evil step-mother - namely the need to do well in three games at U Mass and then a two week disconnect until the semis and finals so that the ugly step-sisters can regain their breath. When was the last time in the U-14 to 17 age groups that there was a team that played its way into the RR with more than 1 win and then actually won the championship? I know it has happened but just not that often.

I could get a second PhD by writing a dissertation on the various ways that the states do their state cups.

In many, it's all just single elimination, sometimes with seeding, other times with no seeding at all.

In some others (Cal-North), there is no seeding, but teams are put in groups to play a RR, with only the winner advancing to a round of 32, where it is then single elimination. Last year at U11, that put the two best teams in the state (and two of the best teams in the country), CV Chilipeppers and Mustang Blast, in the same group, so one of the best teams in the country (Blast) didn't even make the round of 32.

If you really want a strange one, try AZ. There the teams are seeded, but it's done like softball tournaments, with double elimination. So they have a winner's bracket and a loser's bracket, and the state champ is the one that hasn't lost twice.

In some states (like CO), you can't even register for State Cup unless you are in one of the top two divisions in CSYSA. I don't know whether it is seeded or not.

In many states, they have a National Cup (what we call State Cup), and another, usually called President's Cup (though in SoCal, it's called State Cup, heh heh heh). Teams are usually put in groups, then the winner only, or sometimes the winner and the second-place finisher, or a WC, enter a round of 64, 32, or 16, and then it's single elimination. Or in TXS, they have two districts, Western and Eastern (WDDOA and EDDOA). There are 6-10 teams entered in each district into the National Cup and Presidents Cup, then each team plays each other team once (like a 6-10 team round robin) in what constitutes a spring season. Then the two top teams from each district enter a RR, and the winner of that group is the State Champ (there may be a final between the two top finishers: as I said, it could be a PhD dissertation...).

Overall, I think Massachusetts' system is relatively fair, though I think they should seed every team based on some criteria (league finish, or something), and not just, basically, seed the previous year's semifinalists and the D1 teams.

[TheStatsGuy]

I'm shocked

I'm a little shocked at the entries for the girls side in NJ. Only one boys team and one girls team from PDA are through to regionals not counting the region 1 league winners. Thats a huge difference from last year. There are still 2 spots for the 19's which haven't been played yet. PDA will get Wildcats through not sure about BU19 though. Then it looks like just the PDA Fire GU15 won the premier league.

Last year PDA had 5 girls and 4 boys teams in. Right now looks like 3 girls and 1 boys.

I've been keeping track of all states and teams in regionals for the past several years and so far this is the biggest swing that I've noticed.