Lake Highlands QT

wildwildwest wrote:
Everyone keeps mentioning the pickups Feet have made.   Not sure I would brag about getting players coached up by someone else so I could get back into Lake Highlands.

1 person pointed out 6 where lost. I pointed out 2 starters where lost & 2 starters where gained. 1 person likes what they saw. It doesn't sound like a lot of talk. Just observations. That is what the forum is for is it not?

Moving on... I think that the best teams advanced. This next weekends games should make for great games. Here are my predictions.
LP Dalglish (a lock to make it)
LP Keegan (should finally make it)
FCD Black
Feet/FCD WTX winner

This is a 3 game round once again correct ?

Yes as you will have to play all the other teams in your bracket.

Yes.

Unless you're with a big club that had a team with bye that fell apart and no longer exists. In that case, you can get in by playing zero games, based on the accomplishments of a bunch of people that you have never met.

LH calls that, "promoting the highest possible level of competition".

I have another name for it.

I agree, its BS

Pale Rider wrote:Yes.

Unless you're with a big club that had a team with  bye that fell apart and no longer exists.  In that case, you can get in by playing zero games, based on the accomplishments of a bunch of people that you have never met.

LH calls that, "promoting the highest possible level of competition".

I have another name for it.

COULD NOT AGREE WITH THIS MORE Pale Rider…the whole LHGCL is a competitive sham. The league caters to the big clubs-simple as that. I have no dog in this particular fight as our team is about where it should be in terms of LHGCL placement and we don't have to re-qualify. But the 'club keeps bye' rule is simply so the big clubs can keep big club teams in LH and continue the $$$ train. The idea that this is "Promoting the highest possible level of competition" is a joke. I feel really bad for the girls & coaches who earn their place in D1 or D2 or D3 while other clubs (texans, solar) simply move league spots around the chessboard at their leisure. It is awful.

Additionally, while i don't have any rooting interest in the qualifying teams--the format is goofy as well. In what other major competitive tournament do teams get re-brackted on weekend two just because they may have already played each other?
That would be like the world cup doing a re-draw between the group stage & knockout rounds. Strange…I hope the re-draw they create out of this air makes sense this coming weekend.

Pale Rider wrote:Yes.

Unless you're with a big club that had a team with  bye that fell apart and no longer exists.  In that case, you can get in by playing zero games, based on the accomplishments of a bunch of people that you have never met.

LH calls that, "promoting the highest possible level of competition".

I have another name for it.

Could not agree more. Unfortunately, those folks are at home in their cool AC enjoying the fruits of other dd's labor while we take on the 106 degree weather. I guess it could be worst if out team had not advanced into the 2nd weekend. Then again, how greater would the competition be if there were 6 spots opened the way there should be.

They can have the A/C. You can't buy an accomplishment.

Round 2 teams list

http://assets.ngin.com/attachments/document/0059/6620/QT14_Final_Results.pdf

Hmmm, they swapped Keegan and FC Dallas black

First page in red letters states that lists are not in seeding or bracket order.

Then six teams landed lucky.

I agree with general sentiment around the big clubs giving out byes, but then what is the alternative. Specifically who do you distinguish a "
new team" vs a "returning team"? What percent of a roster must return in order for the team to retain their bye?

Not to mention you'd have teams blowing up way more often. If the required percentage was 75%, then as soon as 25% left a team, the team would loose its bye, and everybody would run for the hills. And because everybody would know this fact, everybody would be anxious and far more likely to go to tryouts to have a backup team, just in case. That in itself would greatly increase the likelihood of the team falling apart.

The league survived quite nicely for many, many years when the bye belonged to the players. 1/2 the roster (N) +1 was necessary to retain the bye.

The current system is complete capitulation to the large clubs. Nothing more, nothing less.

Gunner9 is absolutely correct. Why should a big club with multiple teams be able to insert another team, when the team who earned the spot breaks up. The open slot should be put up during qualifying.

I'd be ok, if the bar was really low. Like if 33% staying or something. So pretty much if the entire team basically blew up.

Sounds like you've had first hand experience TmAg. I have no problem with that unless the team fails to make and the bye is passed to a team that has never even played in LH. The bye should belong to the players that earned it in the trenches!!!

I think it's best to allow clubs to move top players up to top teams and players who do not play much down to lower teams. But at the same time, it's bogus to bring in a 4th place D2 Plano team into a LH spot. Those teams rarely (if ever) last longer than one season. Clearly a team that earns it via the QT would bring tougher competition. I think a 33% rule would be a good compromise.

FC black was the 4th place PPL D2 team. They seem to be doing great in the qualifiers. Not meaning this rudely, but I'm confused what the previous comment means. Maybe I'm reading it wrong?

aTmAg's point is FC Dallas is going through the QT and not just given a spot they didn't earn. Usually teams given spots don't keep them.

Ah. Got it.

Okiedokie's interpretation is correct. Sorry about the confusion.

I think a more relevant example is Dallas Texans 02G Red...they were in Plano DII last season...is now filling the Waco Texans Bye in DIII this season. I see how the club maintaining a çarrot to help recruit players (i.e., the bye) helps them...but how is this fair? What did Texans Red do to earn that bye...not a damn thing. Best of luck to the girls in these situations, as they are sometimes set up for failure. An N+1 rule for any team to maintain a bye (IMO) would cut back a lot on all the June team switching...and dribble coaches to actually develop kids, not just cast them aside for the next 'bright shiny player'.

From LHGCL Bylaws.

Teams are invited back into LHGCL for the next soccer year (“Bye”) according to the playing format below. The spirit of a bye is to reward returning teams/players for their performance the prior year.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight!!!!! And I've got a unicorn tied up in my backyard and she farts 20 lbs of gold dust every day.

There was a '98 Sting West team that folded a couple years ago when they dropped from D2 to D3.  When they figured they would not get anywhere near enough girls to keep the original team together, Sting went hunting for teams to take that bye.  They conned some independent East Texas team into paying Sting prices in exchange for that Bye.  They didn't have any of the same players, nor the same coach and practiced an hour away from where the original team practiced.  In effect, the bye was auctioned off to the highest bidder.  That team ended up getting killed in D3 and finished in last place.  Clearly, that is an example of where competition was harmed, not helped.  Some team earning a spot in a QT would have been better for the league.


Edit: At the same time, imagine a situation where a D2 team joins a club and plays for a full season and ends up 3rd place in D2. Pretty good but not good enough to get into D1. Meanwhile the same club has a D1 team that struggles to stay in D1. So they get 3rd to last year after year. It makes sense for that club to be able to move all the top players onto the D1 team and the rest to the D2 team. That raises the level of competition overall. Girls will have more playing time against their appropriate level of competition, and all is good. If we had some sort of 75% or even 50% rule, then that probably wouldn't be possible.