Boys isl 2015

[Unregistered]

The five teams that have played the best soccer in Nepsac have been Berkshire, NMH, Milton, South Kent and Lawrence. All try and play the right way.

[Unregistered]

The five teams that have played the best soccer in Nepsac have been Berkshire, NMH, Milton, South Kent and Lawrence. All try and play the right way.

Agree.

[Unregistered]

Agree.

Add Loomis and Worcester to that list.

[Unregistered]

This is now a list of the best teams over the last couple of years. The best teams had the best players, and so you can say they tried to play the "right way" because they had enough players who could hang onto the ball.

[Unregistered]

This is an ISL site., Loomis, WA, NMH, Berkshire, S. Kent, Etc. are not ISL teams.
These teams can be discussed when season starts and they play against ISL teams but what they have done over the last few years is not part of ISL discussion and has no real bearing
on ISL teams yet.

We should try to keep focused on ISL. The other schools can enter discussion when games start and especially during tournament time. Right now they are not part of ISL discussion.

[Unregistered]

Overall Quality in the ISL

Why does it seem like the overall quality of the ISL is never that strong? The top 3-4 teams are quality but then the drop off is huge. You would think that there would be more parity in the league. Is it because they don't have PG's?

[Unregistered]

Why does it seem like the overall quality of the ISL is never that strong? The top 3-4 teams are quality but then the drop off is huge. You would think that there would be more parity in the league. Is it because they don't have PG's?

Only seems that way because top 3-4 are so good. The rest are also good and beat many non isl prep schools.

[Unregistered]

Many of the better NEPSAC soccer schools previously mentioned are primarily boarding schools. This makes a big difference in recruiting players. Many of these schools get excellent foreign players. All of the ISL schools with the exception of Rivers(not sure about SS and a few others) also have boarding but they still seem to have a large amount of local students that don't board. I think the boarding component along with PGs makes a difference. The Boarding schools draw on talent from many different places without sacrificing academic standards. It is surprising how well Rivers has done just using local players from basically a 20 mile radius. A lot of Credit must go to the coaching staff. The ISL also attracts top athletes without sacrificing their academic standards. ( For the most part)
Hopefully there will be more parity in the ISL this year. That remains to be seen.

[Unregistered]

Why does it seem like the overall quality of the ISL is never that strong? The top 3-4 teams are quality but then the drop off is huge. You would think that there would be more parity in the league. Is it because they don't have PG's?

The overall quality of the ISL is still better than any Public HIgh School League.

[Unregistered]

The overall quality of the ISL is still better than any Public HIgh School League.

Of course it is. We get it. Public and even private high schools can't compete with recruited kids boarding from all over the world and post grad kids. This entire conversation is overkill. Prep school soccer is somewhere between high school and college soccer.

[Unregistered]

What isl teams are playing at the showcase @ Loomis?

[Unregistered]

In response to #159, I think the disparity comes from how the different schools approach soccer. ISL schools aren't supposed to "recruit" and suffice it to say that this is interpreted differently by different coaches (although I would think that they're all cognizant not to be seen as overtly recruiting). Then there's the way the coaches and schools deal with the potential pool of players they have available. Some of the schools are more selective than others, and the school don't necessarily deal the same way with borderline students (ie, how much sway the coach has). Some of its not too different that what one sees at some D3 colleges, depending on whether you have an "old school" coach. So a kid lives in France and is really smart and applies to Milton and St Paul's because they both have excellent academic reputations, and the kid also happens to be a great soccer player and checks the "soccer" box on his application. The Milton coach tells the kid about how good the team has been and showers the kid with attention, while the St Paul's guy just waits to see who shows up at school in the fall so he can do his job of molding the kids into a team. Where do you think the kid goes? Then there's what the coach does to help to ensure the school gets enough applications where the kids check the "soccer" box. One coach is a science teacher who has nothing to do with the local soccer community; the other coach is involved with local club/ODP/whatever soccer. Without violating the recruiting rules, who do you think helps to generate more "soccer" applications for the school? Endowment could also be a factor- while all ISL schools can provide financial aid on the basis of need, the pool of funds available for financial aid will also differ (and maybe the school is more interested in girls lacrosse rather than boys soccer). So I think there's lots of factors, but I'm guessing the coach's interest in actively building a program and the school's support of that interest are the biggest factors.

[Unregistered]

Very accurate assessment.

[Unregistered]

Who says ISL schools are not supposed to recruit? Coaches at every school and in every sport recruit.

[Unregistered]

In response to #159, I think the disparity comes from how the different schools approach soccer. ISL schools aren't supposed to "recruit" and suffice it to say that this is interpreted differently by different coaches (although I would think that they're all cognizant not to be seen as overtly recruiting). Then there's the way the coaches and schools deal with the potential pool of players they have available. Some of the schools are more selective than others, and the school don't necessarily deal the same way with borderline students (ie, how much sway the coach has). Some of its not too different that what one sees at some D3 colleges, depending on whether you have an "old school" coach. So a kid lives in France and is really smart and applies to Milton and St Paul's because they both have excellent academic reputations, and the kid also happens to be a great soccer player and checks the "soccer" box on his application. The Milton coach tells the kid about how good the team has been and showers the kid with attention, while the St Paul's guy just waits to see who shows up at school in the fall so he can do his job of molding the kids into a team. Where do you think the kid goes? Then there's what the coach does to help to ensure the school gets enough applications where the kids check the "soccer" box. One coach is a science teacher who has nothing to do with the local soccer community; the other coach is involved with local club/ODP/whatever soccer. Without violating the recruiting rules, who do you think helps to generate more "soccer" applications for the school? Endowment could also be a factor- while all ISL schools can provide financial aid on the basis of need, the pool of funds available for financial aid will also differ (and maybe the school is more interested in girls lacrosse rather than boys soccer). So I think there's lots of factors, but I'm guessing the coach's interest in actively building a program and the school's support of that interest are the biggest factors.

Very accurate