courtside

Congratulations, and good luck, to 2026 SLU commit Leah Simpson, as she and her club team play for the U17 ECNL National Championship on Monday. It’s the most challenging national team competition in girls soccer. A playmaking attacking midfielder and finisher, Leah plays for Sting Black 08 (U17) in Dallas. Her team didn’t lose a league game (13-0-2) while winning the 16 team Texas League. She was 1st Team ECNL All Conference. And, she scored a come from behind goal in the final regular season game to help clinch the Texas League Title. The league includes high level teams from Dallas, Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Denver, Oklahoma City, Tulsa. Leah also scored the game winning goal to help her club team win the Dallas Cup in April. In addition she was a 1st Team All Conference and All District player at Hebron High School in Texas 6A. In the ECNL playoffs, Leah’s club team defeated teams from Portland, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Washington D.C., Seattle, and Newport Beach CA to get to the finals. Leah scored in the 3-0 quarterfinal win. And, she had the assist on the only goal in a 1-0 win in the national semifinal. This is Leah battling in today’s national semifinal. Bottom left, White jersey, blue headband. https://x.com/ecnlgirls/status/1946585908154699990?s=46 And this is Leah front row 3rd from the right: https://x.com/stingecnl08/status/1946594985924555013?s=46

New 6 year deal. This helps streamline viewing if and when SLU plays games at Big East opponents. Those games will now be on the much more accessible ESPN Plus instead of FloSports. 25 Non-Conference Men’s hoops games annually. 75 Non-Conference Women’s Hoops games annually. 200 Olympic Sports events annually. FloSports was the annual highest bidder renewal option for years with their Olympic Sports. But it hurt their exposure in Olympic Sports, and feedback was negative. (This is in addition to their linear deal with Fox, NBC, and TNT.) https://espnpressroom.com/us/press-releases/2025/07/espn-and-big-east-sign-new-multi-year-digital-media-rights-agreement-bolstering-coverage-for-basketball-and-olympic-sports/amp/

Thanks for the kind words. Perhaps the mix of Women and Men’s posts led to some confusion. My post to which you are referring was exclusive to Women and Girls soccer based on a DiMaria follow up. Others inquired/posted about her specifically. It would help alleviate some confusion by moving some of the Women’s posts to the Women’s thread. ……………… Girls: U16 STLDA, U17 LFA are teams that advanced to national finals. SLU Women recruit from ECNL, GA, and even USYS. ……………….. I can also post about Boys MLS Next, ECNL, other for boys teams too. Usually my posts are related to SLU here. 2 of DiMaria’’s family members played/will play for SLU and she is a top SLU Women’s target. …………. Since we are here: In recent MLS Next Cup U17 Gallagher (SLSG) Academy team had a great run to the national quarterfinals, in MLS next Boys this Summer for example before losing to Weston FC. It turned heads because Gallagher often loses players to City Academy, as do all if the other local club teams. Prior to losing to Weston FC, they defeated Bayside snd FC Dallas among others to get there. U15 STL City Academy almost won the entire thing before losing 1-1 (4-5) PK’s to Philly in the semis. …………. In ECNL Boys: the U17 Gallagher ECNL team was the only SLSG team that made the Final 8 in Richmond. This would be your grandson’s team. Congrats to him and good luck to him as they play Concorde Fire Platinum (Atlanta) in the National Quarterfinals July 17th. The difference between MLS Next and ECNL on the boys side is MLS Next is full time academy ball, and possibly even playing for an academy in another city as a teen. ECNL ball has the local high school playing option along with ECNL in Spring/Fall. Many do both. While schools like SLU often recruit MLS Next, they also recruit ECNL players and elsewhere too. The Anderson brothers were ECNL. An incoming Freshman from Seattle, etc.. …………. in recent years, SLSG girls won back to back ECNL national championships at U16 and U17 with the same team. Their first ever. Many of those players were 2024, and a few 2025. One was a 2026. ………… In GA, 2 different Lou Fusz girls teams won back to back U16 national titles. These would mostly be 2025 and 2026 players. ………….

You’re welcome. Any time. And thanks for the kind words.

While I’m here I meant to post that in the end DiMaria (ECNL) ended up playing with her regular 08 team instead of the older group. (SLU commits Marsh and Bartholet on that team). They won their group but lost to NV Courage Academy in the Round of 16 in San Diego. One more win would have been Final 8 in Virginia. The U19 team lost to Solar in Round of 16, but they didn’t lose again and they won their consolation bracket. U16 didn’t make it out of group. (Current 2027 targets mostly) (maybe half a dozen targets at most in this group) U15 was only Scott Gallagher team to make the National Final 8. ………… In Girls Academy, 08 Lou Fusz made the Finals event as did STLDA 09. Handful of targets combined. ………… Someone can move some of the Women’s posts to Women’s Soccer. Some of the DiMaria questions and comments originated here. …………..

I just asked. Jeremi will play another year at this time. That wasn’t the initial plan or expectation. He left to try to work something out professionally. That was his first choice. He has eligibility because he played smaller division before SLU. It was going to be Mason Hart, pushed by younger/new guys. But the opportunity to have Jeremi combined with Mason transferring, changed that. Roster limits also changed a few things too. This is recently updated and accurate. SLU Men’s Soccer didn’t update their website until recently. One incoming SLU keeper is taking a gap year in part because of the situation. https://slubillikens.com/sports/mens-soccer/roster I have a lot going on at the moment as some may know. We had an unexpected death in the fam. Someone very close to us. So I am scrambling with a lot of other things. But the short break distractions here and there like this are good. This should be correct now and I will let you know if it changes. If people want to know where people end up, I have all of those going back many years. i just don’t post outgoing, only incoming. Where is Cole,(Fairfield) or Jack (Akron) (Mads went to Brown before last year etc…or whomever? Just send me a message as well if I don’t post it.

2 things: 1) Jeremi has moved on to professional soccer. But yes he moved up divisions (or program levels) as happens way more often with International players. 2) Fabian Hilpert spent the Spring on SLU’s team from Embry Riddle in Florida. He then transferred to South Florida after Spring semester. 3) International players often don’t know and don’t care about divisions, conferences, leagues etc until they arrive in the states. Then they transfer to higher divisions and programs. There are some finds. Programs such as Missouri State take 2 big ling International Recruiting trips a year. in addition to video and recommendations on players. The heavy International teams plan and budget for those trips. South Florida and Portland have strong recruiting classes. SLU is 9 for 2025. That may improve because it doesn’t include 3 new May players. @WUH

SLU Men’s Soccer is using the roster limit exemption opportunity. New roster limit is 28 for Women and Men. The Women are at 28. The Men are at 30 as they will use the exemption opportunity to keep 2 extra players to finish out their careers at SLU. Eventually SLU Men’s Soccer will get down to 28 annually. All 28 Men’s roster spots, and all 28 Women’s roster spots, can be full scholarships. SLU isn’t expected to fill all 28 scholarships at capacity. But SLU is expected to increase full scholarship amounts on both teams to remain competitive in the landscape. SLU added 3 transfers mid semester. They uniquely lost 1 of them after the Spring season. (Transferred to a Fall opponent which will be fun). And they added 2 Spring May transfers as well as an International player.

Good question. No it doesn’t concern me. A few things to look for in a class. 1) The quality and quantity of high school aged players in the incoming class. 2) The quality of incoming transfers. Are these players stepping up to SLU? Are they making a lateral high level transfer for a different reason? You want those things as opposed to someone transferring down program quality levels for more time. 3) Where are your outgoing transfers landing snd why? If you are outgoing transfers are going to better programs and playing a lot while there, that would be more of a concern. SLU isn’f having issues with that with either program. Very rarely does SLU Men or Women’s Soccer lose players to transfer that were high level players on the team. Both SLU programs are recruit, develop, retain, add small but significant pieces, types of programs. I don’t see that changing for either program any time soon. SLU is taking good players from other programs that can contribute right away or early. The Women’s team has had a transfer money challenge and a conference affiliation challenge. The Men don’t have a conference affiliation challenge. By this I mean you have to convince a transfer to transfer to a non P4 program with Women. It gets better as SLU becomes more and more recognized as top non P4 program. A long term goal would a Santa Clara or Georgetown type of program where that matters less. I do think adding a few Internationals is a next step for both programs. The Men have preferred transfers as Internationals. But they have dabbled here and there. The Women haven’t gone there yet but eventually they will do it some time. They talk with International players each year/cycle. Supplemental pieces. It helps to add younger transfers to allow a little bit more developmental time. If possible. More experienced transfers are good for deep NCAA level teams. SLU Men’s basketball is the program at SLU with competitive transfer money. And Men’s basketball is where you see greater roster turnover like football. Other transfer sports would include baseball for example. The SEC is the power in baseball and some of their programs have a lot of transfers, though not all. A 17 transfer team won the national title LSU. The Men’s Soccer team does a nice job annually identifying, recruiting, and closing for supplemental players in the portal. Much more challenging for the Women to land a transfer without an STL connection. Meg Link has a good perspective as she worked for a top level P4 program before SLU. She knows what they do, how they do it and how to compete against it. She also is a St. Louisan so she understands SLU and St. Louis quite well. All of that is helpful. SLU Men’s Soccer has an English assistant. That helps with International players. What SLU Men’s Soccer has needed is a little bit more consistent scoring/finishing punch. Whether that is from an individual or few, or from a collective group doesn’t matter. There are different ways to build a roster. Balance is often helpful to consistent success over time.

https://slubillikens.com/news/2025/7/1/mens-soccer-billikens-announce-2025-recruiting-class.aspx

Short answer: Yes, but some context helps. Longer answer: Maddie is a unique talent that doesn’t come across often, especially at her position. She’s a forward. She scores goals. She sets up goals. She’s excellent off of the dribble or in space. That position also gets more attention than other positions. She is one of the best players in the country in her age group. Class of 2027. She would likely reclassify to 2026. 2026 Izzy Dalke (Clemson) is an outside back and USYNT regular in her age group. 2026 Gracie Milam (Florida) is a center back and also a USYNT player in her age group. 2026 Lily Selvy (Penn State) is a goalkeeper with USYNT experience. 2026 Alex Pfeiffer is a forward who turned professional just as she was turning 16. She plays for KC Current in the NWSL. She was the 4th youngest NWSL signing and she became the youngest ever NWSL goal scorer. Unfortunately then Alex tore her ACL last season. Alex helped lead USYNT to the U15 Concacaf Championship. And ahe scored the game winning goal for USA in the Mondial Montigu Final U16 Final. Alex was the ECNL National Player of the Year and also the top ranked player in her class. She would have been a 2026 graduate. She played up with 2024 and 2025 players to win back to back ECNL National Championships, including with a few Billikens. 2025 Caroline Birkel (Stanford) is a regular USYNT Goalkeeper in her age group. 2025 Grace Restovich (Notre Dame) reclassified to be 2024 instead of 2025. Box to box central midfielder and USYNT regular with Birkel. She had a good Freshman season at Notre Dame on a young NCAA Quarterfinal team. They will be one of the national title favorites in 2025. 2027 Ella McNeal. Ella is one of the best few goalkeepers in the country in 2027 class. She did not play high school soccer. She did play basketball at Parkway West. She is a regular goalkeeper for the USYNT for her age group. There are 2 USYNT players from St. Louis in 2028 class. And there is 1 from the 2029 class. There also was a recent new USYNT college camp announced to increase player pool depth for the USYNT at that age group. 2 St. Louisans were invited, Kiley Kukan a forward,(Alabama) and Zoe Cuneio, a center back (Purdue) were invited. Cuneio reclassified from 2024 to 2023. And that’s just USYNT players from St. Louis. There have been other very high level players that didn’t play USYNT. Example: Another St. Louisan was one of the best Freshman college players nationally at Arkansas this past season, Jay Brownlee. She played high school soccer with 2 Billikens. SLU for example, has had many recent All Americans, and none were all that highly ranked as youth players. Obviously many top ranked youth players go on to great college and pro careers. Some don’t. And some our perform their recruiting or rankings. This is similar to any other sport. Kansas City has some USYNT players in a similar age group but they live in Kansas. Generally speaking but not always the best high school aged soccer players in KC are on the Kansas side. Megan Hinnenkamp was the SEC Freshman of the year in 2023. Injured in 2024. She is from Liberty, MO Izzy Dalke is Metro East Illinois. 2025 Lily Freer (Stanford) is Metro East Illinois as well. ………….. As far as their high schools: DiMaria: Cor Jesu McNeal: Parkway West Dalke: Althoff Milam: Francis Howell Selvy: Fort Zumwalt North Pfeiffer: Visitation Restovich: Visitation Birkel: MICDS Kukan: Winfield Cuneio: Eureka Brownlee: Fort Zumwalt South Freer (Alton) Hinnenkamp: Liberty North The 2028 STL USYNT players attend Edwardsville and Visitation. And this again doesn’t include several other players in different class years that have had high level college success. Rylie Combs was the SEC Defender of the Year this past season at Mississippi State. She attended St. Dominic. Maci Teater (Holt) was named to the best 7 team for the TST Tourney this Summer. She plays at Vanderbilt, formerly North Carolina. And so on. ………… But yes Maddie DiMaria is one of the best players in the country in her age group, USYNT player. She’s ranked #1 nationally, in two different rankings in her year.She’s a forward as is Alex Pfeiffer. None of the other STL players played high school soccer as a Sophomore. Some switched to high school after their college commitments, as Juniors. Some played as Freshman. Some never played it. ……….. Ella McNeal is considered to be a top 3 goalkeeper nationally in 2027, top 25 overall at any position. Alex Pfeiffer was number 1 nationally in 2026 as a forward. 2026 Dalke was top 10 as an outside back. Birkel was top 2 nationally at goalkeeper in 2025 class, top 30 overall. 2024 Restovich was top 10 even though she reclassified from 2025. KC has a top 10 national player in 2027 at center back. Another fast rising player is top 50 but soon to be top 25 probably. Both are on the Kansas side and don’t play high school soccer. KC also gets a few top 50 level players various years. Typically the best few STL players annually are top 50 level. More importantly for SLU’s purposes, SLU know how to identify,, recruit, close, and develop, many high level, on the rise, players, regardless of rankings. SLU will also target many top 50 top 100 caliber players from anywhere in the country. SLU’s recruiting list of roughly 175 players includes players from 30 states and 45 cities. There are several good high level St. Louis players on it. Half a dozen from the same club. A few elsewhere. Maddie DiMaria tops that national list for them.

You’re welcome. I was wondering when I was going to get this question outside of private messages. Speculation isn’t my thing. But I will share what I shared with some others for many months privately. Short answer: SLU is heavily recruiting her, and yes SLU has a legit, strong, chance of landing her. Competition is elite and challenging, as expected. The process takes time. Long answer: SLU has been actively recruiting Maddie for a while. SLU has put together a competitive, unique, NIL package to compete with the small, select number of elite programs on the coasts of interest to her. Those are mostly coastal ACC and the few West Coast warm weather Big 10. Maddie is a reclassification candidate. She is allowed to change her mind at any time but she has said she prefers not to skip too many steps, meaning she prefers to play college soccer first before professional soccer. At this time, she hasn’t added any new schools to her list since June 15th recruiting period opened. That hasn’t prevented many from trying. Katie Shields attended many/most of her high school basketball games, high school soccer games, and club soccer games this past year. All of the above. Maddie most often plays as a left sided forward in a 3-4-3 system at both the club and high school level. She also plays with the USYNT in her age group. But she can and does play any of the attacking positions. It’s extremely competitive, but I like SLU’s chances. SLU will do very well with or without her. So that people understand the landscape. Maddie is just 1 of 13 local STL youth players that have played with the USYNT program over the past 5 years. A few of those are younger than her. And a few differences with similar age and older players are: The others didn’t play high school soccer. More people know Maddie because of that. Her family has strong ties to SLU and the STL soccer community. And Maddie has landed a few accolades such as the one you mentioned, as well as the top ranking in her age group at both TDS and Prep Soccer. The point of that is to say Maddie is a great, elite player, and talent, deserving of accolades and who will hopefully pick SLU. But, there are many other high level stud players out there locally, (and nationally) with other names too. Some of those players are perhaps less familiar to some for some of the reasons I gave. Example: Did you know that Ella McNeal has been a long time USYNT Goalkeeper? She is the younger sister of 2025 SLU Men’s Soccer player Jacksen McNeal. There are 11 other player stories too. And that’s just USYNT players. Sometimes the players with the better college careers were never affiliated with USYNT or had special accolades. Maddie’s dad Jeff played at both Connecticut and SLU as did Kevin Kalish at a similar time. Both were All Americans. Maddie’s mom Sara played at Loyola Chicago as SLU only had a club team at the time. Maddie’s older sister Ana is a reserve player at Mizzou as she sat out last year with injury. Jack is playing at SLU this Fall. Younger brother Tommy broke his ankle during a USYNT U14 game this Spring. But he will be back for Fall ball. Everyone is different, but a typical recruiting cycle is 3 to 6 months of getting to know the player/staff, and the player giving a commitment. That’s how it is on the Women’s side, with some taking up to a year to commit somewhere. The Men’s pace is much slower. Official visits begin August 1st. Football schools schedule visits for football weekends so the recruit can be in the field for the game etc…which pushes some of those visits into the later Fall months. Maddie’s next game is Thursday at the ECNL playoffs in Del Mar (San Diego). She is playing up with the U19’s in the Round of 16. They play Solar (Dallas) this Thursday. 3 SLU commits are on the team. 2025 Caroline Chier (Missouri Class 3 Player of the Year) 2025 Ava Rademeyer (Missouri 1st Team All State, 2025 Blakely Hockett (Illinois All State) Maddie usually plays on the 08 team with 2 other SLU commits 2026 Lucy Marsh and 2026 Keira Bartholet, also all conference and all state players. SLU has roughly 175 recruiting targets this cycle nationally. Early priority targets are roughly a dozen to 2 dozen at this time from a variety of geographies. Recruiting is a 365 thing. SLU and several other schools recruited a recent 2026 from player from Texas who is talented but coming off of a knee injury. So her process took a little longer. She committed elsewhere.

Unrelated, Georgetown will be playing Men and Women’s soccer home games under the lights this Fall. It’s the first time they will have lights at Shaw Field since they began playing games there in 2001.

It’s mixed. Committee Timing is “curious” just after the new NCAA Rulings. Some would say U.S. Soccer has enough of its own challenges. And, it’s a conflict of interest to have the committee chair be a paid consultant with U.S. Soccer. Sasho (Maryland) has wanted to change college soccer to 2 semesters similar to some other sports such as tennis etc…Many with power in the Women’s college game like the status quo. Dan (Helfrich committee chair) is a big college soccer guy. He played at Georgetown. His son currently plays there. And, his daughter plays for Virginia. Angie (Long) will want to do what benefits her pro team in KC, even though she and her family have several Ivy Leaguers in it. Her daughter played one year at Duke as a reserve player on a loaded final four team. She is an NWSL pro player in development at KC in year 2 instead of playing a bigger role at Duke. Also plays U20 USYNT. Reclassifying is more popular in the Women’s game. I don’t see a separate championship for some teams but not others, happening without resistance. So, it depends on the topic and the agenda. Some proposals I would support. Some I would not.

St. Louis City Academy celebrated their 2025 college signings. For the SLU 7, it’s 3 Billikens on the left. 3 on the right. 1 in the back middle. 7 of the 12 are SLU commits https://www.stlcitysc.com/news/twelve-st-louis-city-sc-academy-players-announce-2025-college-signings In addition to these players, SLU has 3 additional commits, 1 each from St. Louis Scott Gallagher, Seattle United, Orlando City, and Inter Miami. SLU also has 2 mid semester transfers from UCLA and Boston College, bringing the class total to 12. More info about all of these players can be found doing a search here, or just send a message. SLU will also be sending out a release soon this Summer.