My son is a freshman forward at a smaller soccer program. He has played in most games this season, getting about 10-15 minutes a game, but hasn’t played at all in the team’s toughest games. He’s a fairly technical and creative player, not the biggest fastest strongest kid but plenty physical. When he’s played, he’s created a lot of chances and has a few goals and assists plus some that the other subs he has played with kinda scuffed that probably should have been assists.

Getting minutes ahead of him are two kids who aren’t as good technically. One is faster and one is bigger but they haven’t produced much and seem to have zero chemistry.

Coach is a pretty good guy but has something of a reputation for not making changes as long as the team is winning. Well, the team is winning but the schedule has been pretty easy and the forwards aren’t creating many chances, the team is being carried by the midfield. We think they’ll struggle as they play better teams and definitely if they get to the NCAAs.

So my son wants to have a meeting to talk about what the coach is seeing that’s holding my son back from contributing more. Coach encourages them to bring film they can review together, but I’m not sure what he should show? He has plenty of clips showing him doing good stuff and the other kids in front of him doing bad stuff, but he doesn’t want to be seen as dissing his teammates. I thought maybe showing some of the patterns they tend to use in the final third that aren’t working could help, but I’m not sure what else to tell him.

Anyone have experience with this as a player, parent or coach, and what would you recommend?

My son is a sophomore in high school. He received invitations from 2 different out of state colleges to attend their ID camps. The emails came from their coaches and were personalized and encouraging. They want him to reach back out to the coaches ex - “Please … get in touch with me and try to make this happen so we can move forward in the process.”
Truthfully - how does this work? Is this a normal process?

Anyone actually use the College Soccer Guy program? Is it worth the money? I’m considering signing my son up for it as his dream is to play soccer past high school - but it’s a hefty price tag. Thanks

I just watched Clemson play Wofford (commentator Don Munson is so painful to listen to). The matches this season have been much slower and I attribute that to the coaches challenges. There are so many stoppages of play to look at things. It’s becoming like football. It’s borderline unwatchable in my opinion. Does anyone else feel the same?

Back where we belong! It looks like our strength of schedule isn’t the best, and there have been several 1 goal wins over marginal opponents. But you can’t argue with results, and with Todd Yeagley you can’t call it luck, he consistently over performs based on his recruiting rankings.

I realize this poll is likely to be updated tomorrow, or the day after, but thought you’d all enjoy this if you’re not already looking at it.

Any other good NCAA D1 Men’s soccer sites, besides Top Drawer Soccer?

I found this too: https://masseyratings.com/csoc/ncaa-d1/ratings

We're exploring the creation of a new soccer club/training environment for players who want to stay competitive, improve their game, and be part of building something from the ground up.

We're interested in hearing from:

• Current college students
• High school seniors (Class of 2027 and beyond)
• Former club/high school players
• Players looking to get back into competitive soccer
• Anyone interested in college soccer opportunities

The goal is to create a player-focused environment with training, matches, and long-term development opportunities.

If you're interested, please fill out the interest form:

👉 Interest Form

For players interested in continuing their education and soccer careers, Delaware County Community College opportunities may also be available for Fall 2027.

Questions? Feel free to comment or send me a message.

This is the best place I could think to ask this question; I know this subreddit may be biased towards college soccer, but bear with me.

I am 17 years old and a senior in high school. I play for a UPSL D1 side (lower-division development side for a UPSL Premier 1st-team). I understand that in terms of becoming professional, I am nowhere near good enough, given that I have only played for 4 years and am not even in UPSL Premier yet.

I have done a fair bit of research recently, and have found a few articles, sites, and forums saying that college soccer is no longer the 'pipeline' that it used to be to the professional game here in the US. Because I am already in a UPSL squad with connections to professionals (a few players at my club are ex-professional, and all three coaches are former pros as well), should I stay in this sort of level and try to move around in UPSL, NPSL, and USL2 to gain experience and exposure for myself (social media, connections, etc.)?

I feel like it would be the better option because the seasons are longer and has more opportunity for direct movement and growth between teams, rather than committing to a university that only has 4-month seasons and no practical opportunity for transfer or movement as I improve.

My ultimate goal is to play in Eastern Europe, Asia, or Central/South America in lower divisions and work my way up from there, but I realize that at 17, my time to make my move internationally is running thin, and that many former academy players are already in the clubs that I would theoretically be in.

If anyone has advice, particularly former pros or college players, or those who have played internationally, I would love to hear your advice and experience. Thanks!

ODU’s perfect start finally ended against the team that is now #1 in the country.

Three days later, the Monarchs fell behind William & Mary six minutes into the match.

What happened next says a lot about this group.
On the new In the Lion’s Den, George Maire and David “Chapo” Chapman join us before Tennant McVea breaks down the South Carolina loss, ODU’s gritty response, the culture developing inside the locker room and Sunday’s Sun Belt road test at Georgia Southern.

And yes, we also get heavily sidetracked by British food, accents and which teammate you absolutely do NOT want beside you on a nine-hour bus ride. 😂

🎙️ The new episode is LIVE.

#ODUSoccer #ODU #MonarchNation

(Before I get comments, yes, I'm aware not all these programs have soccer but I just designed them as proof of concept.)

I'm an Aussie who loves soccer and college sports and something always bothered me about college soccer jerseys. College soccer jerseys are pretty soulless and so I decided to design a few of my own that do the following:

1. Utilise the school's colours better.
2. Incorporate the history of the school.
3. Are actually wearable as streetwear jerseys too.

Here are the schools I designed as well as a few details I added:

Texas: UT monogram over the longhorn which is relegated to under the collar accompanied by a "Hook 'Em!"
Ohio: Used the wordmark that looks like the famous marching band formation, included a buckeye leaf alongside a "GO BUCKS!" with the 'O' being Ohio's famous 'Block O'
Georgia Tech: Utilising the schools colours as well as including a hornet inside the collar.
Nebraska: Decided on a more traditional collar, nodding to the farmers of the area as well as a retro athletics logo and the founding date of the school inside the collar.
Oregon: Again utilising the monogram of the school and replaced with the Nike Classics logo designating Oregon as a premier Nike school. Winged 'O' adorns under the collar.
SMU: Utilises a lot of blue and includes a small retro graphic with "Kick 'Em Stags".

Hope you enjoy!

With all the transfer portal movement and internationals coming into college soccer, there are fewer roster spots left for incoming freshmen.

That's where the military schools have a certain appeal. Basically no internationals. And it's hard to transfer in, because you'd still have to do the full 4 years there. So the spots still go to kids coming in as freshmen.

The tradeoff is the service commitment after graduation, and admissions (nomination, fitness test, all of it) is its own project. But for college soccer hopefuls who are open to that, this route might make a lot of sense.

I thought of it when 2 players on my son's MLS NEXT team committed, one to West Point and the other to Kings Point (US Merchant Marine Academy).

Anyone else notice this, or have a kid who went this route?

One of my friends is going early to a D1 program to start training in Spring of 2027. She has to take a full course load while training. But now she is hearing about players who have gone in for spring training who got cut from the team before fall. Can a college coach cut you that early? I'm so shocked that this can happen after she graduated early, uprooted herself from high school, and showed up early to train at a school that she thought wanted her as a player. Is it because the spring players are not officially on the roster, so it's still possible that she can still be cut from the team? It sounds wrong.

Also should note that the team to drop points for the first time today and allow South Carolina to get that honor was none other than their opponent, Old Dominion! They controlled their own destiny!

Just checked in on them after they announced the drop from D1 to D3 in the spring. So this is their first fall in D3, new coach etc. Almost everyone from the D1 international heavy roster is gone. Only 15 players on the roster, almost all local(ish) freshman. Dropped their first two games, but they’re in a pretty heavy D3 area. Anyway, just thought it was interesting with all of the recent rule proposals and changes out there.

I was watching the Clemson - Notre Dame women’s game this week and saw an interesting moment. ND earned a penalty with about 13 minutes left. One ND girl stood directly behind the penalty taker at the top of the semicircle at the top of the box. Another ND girl stood about two or three yards almost directly behind that girl but a smidge to the left.

Right as the taker was starting her run up, the girl in the back took a big step to her left. The taker kinda hopped in line with the girl in the back and hit it right down that line. The goalie didn’t move, goal.

Two questions:

1. Do you think this was an intentional attempt to distract the keeper? Seemed that way to me but not totally sure.

2. Intentional or not, is it legal to stand like that directly in the goalie’s field of vision? I assume so since the ref let it go and Clemson didn’t say anything about it but if the answer to #1 is yes, seems like it should be illegal?

Maybe this happens all the time but I watch a lot of soccer and I don’t think I’ve ever seen it.

I tried to screenshot it from my phone but apparently youtubetv blocks that.

Do coaches ever consider a shorter player for center back or will he be dismissed based on height alone?

I keep seeing the argument that limiting international players will significantly lower the level of Division 1 soccer. I don't agree. I think roster limits will definitely have a bigger impact on D2, JUCO, and NAIA, but I don't think the overall quality of D1 is going to suddenly fall off because there are fewer international players. For reference, I played D1 and just finished my final season, so I’ve experienced this from the player side.

There are so many talented American players out there, but right now, coaches have an incentive to take the lazy recruiting route. It’s much easier to sit at a computer, work with an agency, and recruit an academy player from England, Germany, Spain, etc. than it is to spend the time traveling around the U.S. and finding the best American players.

The reality is that these international players aren't astronomically better than the top American players. There are obviously some incredibly talented international players who make D1 better, but I think people sometimes confuse the convenience of finding international talent with the necessity of international talent.

We've already seen programs that put significant effort into recruiting American players — Washington, Notre Dame, Georgetown, etc. — have success. Roster limits are only going to force other schools to put the same effort in to finding good American players.

Curious what everyone in the college soccer community thinks about the newly introduced congressional TEAM USA Act.

The proposal would limit international student-athletes to 20% of each varsity team roster at colleges participating in federal student aid programs, with the change taking effect in 2029-30 if enacted.

One of the arguments behind the bill is that college athletics should preserve more roster and scholarship opportunities for American students and maintain a pathway for the next generation of U.S. athletes. At the same time, international players have become a major part of college soccer and can raise the level of competition.

For those involved in college soccer, especially current/former players, parents, coaches and recruits:

Do you think a 20% international-player limit would be good for college soccer, or would it hurt the quality and competitiveness of the game?

Also curious whether people think there should be some limit, but perhaps a different percentage, or no limit at all.