courtside

SLU alum Max Floriani played all 120 minutes helping to lead San Jose to a 1-0 shutout win over Portland, and, a place in the U.S. Open Cup Quarterfinals in July. Max has started 4 of the last 7 games for San Jose, playing at a high level in his rookie season. He is mostly playing right back next to St. Louisan Daniel Munie in a 3-4-3 formation. Max had the opportunity to play with Lionel Messi. Pretty fun. (from his youth club coach Srgjan Smileski) https://x.com/fc1974glsa/status/1923110880318808332?s=46 Max also had the opportunity to start snd play the full 90 against former Billiken teammate Patrick Schulte: https://x.com/slumenssoccer/status/1916640678873825784?s=46

The moment Liberty knocked out #1 overall seed Texas A&M, to advance to Super Regionals. https://x.com/ncaasoftball/status/1924301990609166358?s=46 50% of the RPI top 100 are non P4 programs. Keep climbing.

Keep moving the program forward. This is why you play. Southeastern Louisiana defeats #10 LSU twice to make their 2nd straight Regional Final: https://x.com/southlandsports/status/1923920679142842846?s=46

The individual player in the portal matters more than the team or league. Players from 28 of 31 NCAA D1 Conferences transferred to a P4 program. And that number was often anywhere between 4 and 7 players per conference. Very few just had one. Example: SLU landed a CAA player from Towson. The CAA had 5 players transfer to P4 programs. And they had 2 additional players transfer to top level non P4 programs. Towson alone had a player transfer to Auburn, and 2 mpre transfer to FGCU and Toledo, 2 string mid major programs.

SLU softball can be as good as it wants to be. That starts with being a consistently strong A10 championship level team, as well as a consistently strong non P4 team in their region. Study those programs first. Then expand to being competitive against the non P4 programs in better climates and geographies. And so on. Then you can get to the $840 million in revenue in 2024 SEC, or the half million dollar softball head coach at Arkansas. Unfortunately, It takes some winning with less resources first. But it also takes A10 Championship/Good mid major resources, to match the winning as it happens

Nice of Katie Shields and some other SLU staffers to make the trip to Arkansas to support SLU Softball, after a few days of graduation festivities.

SLU is still recruiting the portal, as well as high school players, and other division players. There are roughly half a dozen uncommitted players they are in contact with at this time. Players of a wide range of level are still available in the portal. 61% of portal players have committed. 40% have not. 929/1528. ……………… Until SLU becomes a program that consistently competes for and wins the A10. What the A10 does, matters. 61 Atlantic 10 players entered the portal. 1 player withdrew her name. 47 committed to a new school. 14 remain in the portal. Some A10 players, interestingly enough, besides SLU, have also had some of their better players, transfer within the conference. A10 players that transferred within the conference included: Hawa Komara, who played the 3rd most minutes for Rhode Island this season, transferred to George Mason. Emma Theodorsson who played the 3rd most minutes for Loyola Chicago this past season. She averaged 9 and 4, transferred to George Washington. Valentina Ojeda who averaged 8 ppg at VCU, transferred to Rhode Island. Ayanna Franks transferred from Rhode Island to UMass. ……………. A10 players of note that transferred out of conference included: Anaelle Dutat who played the most minutes for Rhode Island this season, averaging 8 and 8, transferred to Colorado. Jerni Kiaku, who played the 2nd most minutes for Duquesne this season, averaging 13 ppg, transferred to Indiana. Zoe Shaw, who averaged 11 and 4 st St. Bonaventure, transferred to UCSB. Zoe Khalil, who averaged 9 ppg for VCU, transferred to Towson. Taya Davis, who averaged 7, 5, 2, transferred to Wichita State. Faith Okorie, from George Mason, transferred to DePaul. Miriam Diala from Geoege Washington transferred to Toledo. Nalani Kaysia who played the 4th most minutes on George Mason, transferred to Providence. Laura Ziegler A10 POY at St. Joseph’s, transferred to Louisville. ………………. 34 P4 players are still in the portal. (SLU has reached out to 2 of them. The others with whom SLU has had contact, committed elsewhere). And P4 players aren’t necessarily better than non P4 players. ……………… The most sought after portal players are getting six figures and up from P4 programs. Where SLU has room for improvement is recruiting against good mid major programs, especially within its own region. That begins with identifying, recruiting, closing, good but perhaps under the radar high school players. Then develop, retain, win a lot of games over time. Some of these mid major programs landing good 1 or 2 portal players, have a few decades of a successful track record. SLU has been perhaps the most active recently with 2026 and 2027 targets, while still working the portal, juco, other divisions, and even 2025. ……………..

There were some nice crowds at NCAA D1 Regionals: https://x.com/crackedracquets/status/1921932195725238641?s=46 https://x.com/crackedracquets/status/1921932681710805137?s=46 ………….. In order to host bigger NCAA events, a school needs a minimum of 12 outdoor and 6 indoor courts. Baylor is hosting the team finals for Women's and Men again this year, this week: https://x.com/baylorathletics/status/1922686836792541220?s=46 https://x.com/baylorathletics/status/1922036524570300760?s=46 https://x.com/ncaatennis/status/1922409345230233968?s=46 ………… When renovations are completed at the 100 plus court facility in Orlando, it will have 12 outdoor, 12 indoor and 20 additional practice courts available in one location. New seating for both indoor/outdoor as well as improved shade and scoring. They have a 10 year deal for team. ……….. Wash U is still alive in the NCAA D3 Women’s Quarters. They hosted regionals at Dwight Davis. D3 Championships are in Claremont, CA. ………..

This is in reference to the April national recruiting rankings update: https://x.com/sluwsoccer/status/1922320937279779295?s=46 26 of the top 30 are P4 programs. 33 of the top 40 are P4 programs. Non P4 programs include: Big East 2, Ivy 2, WCC 2, A10 1. For reference, roughly half of the top 100 programs are P4. The 2025 SLU class has 11 players. The 2026 class has 6 commits so far. SLU is currently at the proposed 28 roster limit for 2025. (Men’s team is 1 over). Roster limits are expected to happen but to be phased in over time. There will be some slight movement after the Spring portal. Rankings include incoming Freshmen, and, incoming transfers of the same year. Recruiting rankings are a sales and marketing tool for programs. They are not an exact science. It has taken several years for SLU to get to this level. And there is plenty of growth opportunity to improve. SLU won a lot of games over the years with very few nationally ranked players. None of SLU’s recent All American players were nationally ranked recruits. But in order to be successful long term, recruiting has to continue to improve and evolve. It can’t only be about landing good but under the radar players, develop and retain. Winning a lot of games over time also helps future rankings. This is another thing for SLU to sell. Recruiting is local, regional, national, international. The level of target and the level of commit continues to improve. Recruiting is extremely competitive. SLU recruits against the best programs nationally for players. They win some. They lose some. SLU’s goal is to win the national title. This is despite being at a resource disadvantage vs some others trying to do the same. SLU will not be building a roster through the portal any time soon. And they will not be International player heavy. But those are additional growth categories where others are ahead of SLU as programs. You have to at least dabble and be competitive for complementary player pieces. Another example: SLU has yet to incorporate international trips as a program, something common with its competitors. Plenty of things to add. Example: National power Penn State, whom SLU will face for the 3rd straight season, has a program budget roughly 5 times larger than SLU. In order to be successful. SLU had to do a lot more with less resources. As success has arrived, resources have improved, and, resources have become more competitive. But the above example explains the current distance between even some top 25 level programs. The key take away is that in order to be successful, SLU had to do more with less first, or we wouldn’t be here. Now the opportunity is there to take the next step as long as the support level continues, and increases. The 2027 grind begins next month. SLU has roughly 125 targets. That will get narrowed down to one third of the more serious targets. And, roughly a third of that will be commits. (The 2027 grind actually began years ago at club games, high school games. showcases, tourneys across the country) *as always, disclaimer that I am a consultant with Top Drawer Soccer

14 of the 15 SEC programs that play softball, made the NCAA Tourney. 11 of those programs are in the top 25. (SEC Baseball also had 11 teams in last year’s NCAA Baseball Tourney)

SLU is adding 2026 Forward Gianna Harris out of New Orleans, LA. Gianna is a 3 time All State performer in Louisiana, and she is a New Orleans All Metro player at McGehee High School. She played club ball with USYS BVB 06/07 International Academy in Louisiana where she was named to the USYS U17 Best 11 team while helping lead her team to the Souther Regional Finals. She has also recently played with the BVB Girls Academy team out of North Texas

That’s too late for many players who already lost their spots since last year. They won’t be taken back and they won’t want to go back. And this is for a limited group of players in a limited number of years. Roster limits at all, is the issue. P4 programs have pushed for roster limits because it gives them a competitive advantage in Olympic Sports, making it more difficult to transfer. And it also hurts non P4 programs who often have roster players receiving less money.

Including 2025, SLU will have played SIUE 10 of the 13 seasons Katie Shields has been Head Coach, and, in each of the past 4 seasons. Twice it has been an exhibition game in addition to that. SLU knows how to schedule. They consult with someone in soccer analytics to make their schedule and much of it is about predictive RPI. They have data going back two decades. They are very good. In recent years, SLU has had an RPI of 21, 10, 10, 7. etc… Overall record. Your opponent’s overall record, and a few other things matter most. The NCAA Tourney looks at wins against the RPI top 50 the most with bubble teams and with some of the seeding beyond the top four or so seeds. SLU will schedule 4-5 good opponent/top league non-conference games. They will also try to schedule a few RPI top 100 teams. And they will have 1 or 2 or a few easier games that aren’t good RPI games. Getting results against the top teams is what they need the most. And these are mostly home and home games vs the better/top teams and leagues. Long gone are the days where SLU would have to go on the road to play top level programs. If they won’t play SLU home and home, plenty of other good programs will do it. That took a long time and a lot winning but it arrived a few years back. SLU will play the game annually with SIUE as long as they get to play it at City Park. It’s also a good sell to players and recruits. if and when that ever changes, SLU may move it to an exhibition game depending on that year’s schedule. Lindenwood currently has the better program. They won the OVC last year. They were not eligible for the NCAA Tourney due to the silly rule about postseason eligibility moving from D2 to D1. Teams have to wait 3 years. And, it actually hurts SLU’s RPI more to defeat SIUE at home vs on the road. SLU Men’s Soccer also schedules well using analytics and data. SIUE is much more competitive on the Men’s side at this time.

2025 Fall Non Conference Schedule with 2024 RPI: Kansas City 181 Penn State 7 Missouri 109 indiana 132 Iowa 12 Missouri State 86 SIUE 317 Illinois State 281 Exhibition: SEMO 330 and Evansville 286 https://slubillikens.com/sports/womens-soccer/schedule Some Highlights: Fordham is the new added conference opponent, replacing UMass, who is leaving for the MAC. Davidson and Rhode Island replace George Mason and Richmond this season. It’s the first season since 2019 that SLU isn’t playing Xavier. It has been a schedule highlight the past 5 seasons. All 5 games were won by the road team. Both programs had strong RPI’s. Indiana has a new head coach as Josh Rife (Ball State) replaced Erin van Bennekom who took an assistant position at Florida State. An Bennekom’s top assistant Tim Verschuren, took an assistant position st Michigan State. Iowa was a Sweet 16 team last season. Penn State made their 8th straight Sweet 16 last season. Missouri State made the NCAA Tourney winning both the MVC regular season, and, the MVC conference tourney last season. 3 Big ten teams and 1 SEC team on the schedule. Johnny Klein’s dad is the new HC at SEMO.

It usually gets announced a little later in the Summer. When you see location, you are seeing who is designated as the home team, which alternates annually. Even at City Park, one team is designated as the home team each year and has to give up an on campus game for it. Also note that SLU Women Soccer are hosting Missouri and SLU Men’s Soccer are hosting SMU, as part pf a doubleheader on Sunday August 24th.