courtside

SLU added 2025 commit Luke Ponciroli from St. Louis, MO. Luke is a creative attacking midfielder and playmaker that can play any of the attacking midfield positions, as well as in the defensive midfield. He previously played with the SLSG Academy team. He switched this past year to ECNL, where he was First Team All Conference. The switch allowed him to be eligible to play high school soccer, where he played often on the wing. He was a United Soccer Coaches All Central Region player.

Welcome Megan Link: https://slubillikens.com/news/2025/1/17/megan-link-named-slu-womens-soccer-associate-head-coach.aspx

Yep. The only thing it’s close to is the airport.

It is a nice facility. Massive. But they weren’t quite ready to host the NCAA Championships without some upgrades. Previously there were regional sites like Boca Raton, or Carson, CA, etc…but not one big national USTA facility. Some high profile professional players live in Lake Nona and train there. Madison Keys etc…others make frequent short stays. It’s roughly 60% local and 40% visitors, be it juniors, tour pros, club pros, college teams, etc…at any given time. They get some good rowdy 4 figure crowds for some of the college matches.

A 10 year agreement was made recently for the USTA to host the Men’s and Women’s NCAA Tennis Championships provided some upgrades are made, including adding 6 additional indoor courts. That begins in 2028. It’s hosted 3 times. But it needed some upgrades. It’s UCF’s home courts. They host many other college events throughout the year. (mostly in that back corner of 12 courts) Early season warmer weather matches are popular to schedule down there similar to baseball etc...

For those that haven’t yet seen the Spring Schedule: https://slubillikens.com/sports/womens-soccer/schedule

Megan Link has emerged as a leading candidate to be the next Associate Head Coach at SLU. Megan spent the past 4 seasons as an assistant coach at Michigan State under Jeff Hosler, one of the best coaches in the country. While at Michigan State, the Spartans won the Big Ten Title twice, and, they didn’t finish worse than 4th in any of the 4 seasons in the expanded Big 10. The Spartans made the NCAA Tourney in each of the past 3 seasons, achieving back to back Sweet 16 appearances the past 2 seasons. These were the first Sweet 16 appearances in program history. Prior to their arrival, Michigan State hadn’t had a winning record since 2015. And they hadn’t made the NCAA Tourney since 2009. Megan has been involved in all aspects of the MSU program, including having coached a 2 time Big 10 Goalkeeper of the year at MSU. And prior to Michigan State, she coached a D2 All American at Grand Valley State. In her 2 seasons as an assistant for Hosler at GVSU, Megan helped the Lakers win the 2019 D2 National Championship. It was the 6th D2 national title for Hosler. The past 4 seasons, Michigan State has been successful with player development, tactics, as well as recruiting at a high level. Prior to GVSU, Megan was the Head Coach at D2 Southwest Baptist in Springfield MO, which is also her alma mater. She was a 4 year starter at goalkeeper. Megan also spent 1 year as an assistant under Dave Musso (current Lindenwood HC) at D2 Quincy. And she played professional soccer in Iceland. Megan is a St. Louis native, and she is a graduate of Lafayette High School.

New 2026 SLU commit is Emma Naftanel from Colorado Springs, Colorado. Emma is an attacking third player who can play any of the front 4 positions effectively. She was a First Team All Conference ECNL player last season with Pride SC in the Northwest League. She switched clubs to Colorado Rapids 08 (Tom Poole) this season in the Texas League. She attends Rampart High School. SLU recruited and targeted several Colorado players from Colorado Rapids, Real Colorado, Colorado Rush, etc.. (Colleen Corbin works some of the camps there including Colorado Rapids, annually) And, SLU was also able to get several players from Colorado, Texas, Seattle, etc…elsewhere to attend their Summer Camp this year. It’s always a good time to receive a commitment, including at the end of a 3 week dead period, heading into a new year, while many are on vacation.

Romney is a left footed left sided center back. So is Reid Roberts, (USF) for whom SJ moved up to obtain in the draft. Romney and Lima have previous connections to Bruce Arena and the Bay Area. Lima is a right back who is from the Bay Area. Romney who also played for Arena at LA Galaxy, played at USF after Don Ebert (Irvine Strikers) helped him get an offer. Romney was previously a left back who had a growth spurt and moved inside. Two of the best players on San Jose are Lopez (Attacking Midfielder), and Espinoza (wing/forward). They added Nick Fernandez in the 3rd round, a high assist box to box two way midfielder. Max played against him this year as SLU played at Portland. Max is a right center back. There is a path for him. San Jose was one of several teams to show high interest in Max before the draft.

Pre-Signed Senior explainer for Max Floriani: Basically a pre-signed Senior is the same thing as being a Generation Adidas player. The difference is that Max is technically an Academic Senior vs an underclassman. (He has an additional year of college soccer eligibility) These players sign and give up college eligibility to be guaranteed a place on an MLE Team. For teams it’s a way to lock up talented young players so that they don’t sign Internationally etc…and, these players don’t count towards the MLS Senior Rosters. So there is more incentive to sign and re-sign these players, developing them long term. For the player it guarantees them a spot in a draft where roughly only one third of non GA players sign. In recent drafts, GA players have been 6 of the top 8, 8 of the top 11, etc taken in drafts. In the 2022 draft SLU had 3 GA players taken 3, 5, 12. Patrick Schulte who was picked 12th, is a good example of GA success. MLS Next Pro Champion, MLS Champion. U.S. Olympic Team, U.S. National Team. Five GA players have gone on to represent their National Teams. As the only pre-signed Senior combined with 4 GA players, Max is roughly being considered as a top 5 player in the draft. (I posted almost 3 weeks ago that Max was being considered by San Diego for the top pick in the draft. i began hearing it in November) Max has played defensive midfield, outside back, and center back. He has been scouted mostly as a center back which is where he prefers to play. Max was a high school classmate of former Billiken Isaiah Parker. Floriani played high school ball at Warren Township in Gurnee, Il, (Gatorade Player of the Year) and he played club ball with FC 1974. Parker played with FC United.

One good thing about the game is that there are still a variety of ways to win and be successful. This includes roster makeup, style of play etc… Some successful teams are heavy international, others are heavy local/regional, others heavy domestic but a more geographically national roster, some sprinkle in some International players, some are a split mix. Some teams methodically build possession from the back, others defend and counter, others press higher, and so on. Some are small and fast, some are big teams, some are a mix. Yes, both Marshall and Vermont are heavy International, but plenty of other good teams aren’t. Ohio State, a final four team that SLU defeated 2-0 in Spring ball both of the past two years, isn’t. SMU an elite 8 team, isn’t. Denver, a final four team isn’t. Indiana isn’t and so on. Clemson and Syracuse won recent national titles with heavy international rosters, but Georgetown didn’t. Stanford won 3 in a row with amore domestic national roster. International players do help supplement or dominate rosters depending on the situation. And many don’t know or don’t care about the leagues and all of that. Some will transfer to higher levels. Some won’t be as successful as hoped. Yes it’s correct that SLU has mostly used International players as a transfer supplement to the roster. And it’s been successful with Suarez, Diego, Abonnel, etc…Mads (Brown) was a direct to SLU recruit. International recruiting is about getting good accurate information. Missouri State for example takes multiple International scouting trips per year. KC was an OT goal away from the elite vs Pitt. And Vermont’s keeper made several highlight reel saves against them and others to keep them in some games. They are a big physical defend and counter team. Indiana was a Final Four in 2022 after making a late game play to defeat SLU. So, margins are small. But you have to make plays consistently in key moments to win games and advance. So, yes, International recruiting needs to be a regular part of annual recruiting, as a supplement, in addition to local, regional, national recruiting. And that includes both transfers, and direct to college players.

For the first time ever, the Vermont Catamounts are National Champions. America East. Wins over Iona, #7 Hofstra, San Diego, #2 Pittsburgh, #3 Denver #13 Marshall. (10,614 for the weekend semis. Capacity is 10k) 2-1 OT win over Marshall. Kissel the game winner. https://x.com/ncaasoccer/status/1868864875663179876?s=46 https://x.com/ncaasoccer/status/1868872021867892847?s=46

Good workouts at Torero Stadium. Max is still expected to be a top half of the first round MLS draft pick this Friday. And good for Kipp who gets a chance to play with former SLU commit Devin Padelford.

SLU has had a top 15 caliber program the past 3 seasons. The portal closes Tuesday for entry. Most, but not all players that are going to enter this cycle have already entered. There is also a dead period after that. It’s been a relatively quiet portal cycle overall, compared to some others, with few exceptions. There has also been 2 big national recruiting showcases last week in California, and this week in St. Louis. Combine that with finals etc and it’s a bit of scramble. There are still a few players with whom SLU has talked, that are still uncommitted. I can give you an example: Chris Allen scooped up 4 transfers. 2 were highly recruited high school players that didn’t receive much playing time in the ACC. 2 others were good mid major players seeking a step up. Colleen Corbin scooped up an outside back from the SEC that she knew from recruiting her out of high school. If SLU doesn’t add additional players this cycle, they still have the Spring cycle. And they are also going to have a few players change positions. …………….. There are 3 good, on the rise candidates for the assistant coach position. Any of them would be fine and would hit the ground running. There has also been some additional other interest. The process will be shorter than the last time. ……………… There are still 4 open A10 Head Coaching positions. Rough look for the Bonnies as their HC left for Niagra. Nothing against Niagra. (SLU hasn’t been paired to play the Bonnies in a some years.) Bonnies, VCU, Loyola Chicago, Duquesne. …………….. There have been other openings and positions filled of note. illinois hired Katie Hultin as their new HC. Sge has been a 3 yesr HC at D2 power Grand Valley State (GVSU). Prior to that she was an assistant at Michigan for Jen Klein, and for Kat Mertz at Oregon. She was also an Illinois assistant prior to that. Wash U Head coach Jim Conlon, who recently won his 2nd D3 National Title at Wash U, took the GVSU job for a year but moved back. He won a D2 national title there in his only season. Prior to that Jeff Hosler won 6 D2 National Titles there before moving on to Michigan State where he has had immediate high level success. Prior to that Dave Dilanni (Iowa) won I believe 3 national titles at GVSU. …………….. And there has been some turnover on some other staffs. Auburn HC “retired” and she was replaced by the Mississsippi State HC who was a former assistant at Auburn. The AD at Mississippi State that hired him is now the AD at Auburn. His top assistant landed the Mississippi State HC position. The top assistant at Texas A&M retired. Some other assistants are on the move as welp. Things like that. SLU is unsurprisingly in a good position with candidates. …………… 246 club teams in St. Louis this week. Well over 200 college coaches. Plus last week’s event in California and it’s been a busy time up until the middle of the next week. ……………

SLU Final End of Season rankings: United Soccer Coaches: 22 Top Drawer Soccer: 22 RPI: 22 https://unitedsoccercoaches.org/rankings/college-rankings/ncaa-di-women/ https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer-national-rankings/women https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/soccer-women/d1/ncaa-womens-soccer-rpi