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Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC

Academy Boys Join ECNL for 2017

December 15, 2016 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC News Release


PITTSBURGH - The Pittsburgh Riverhounds Development Academy Boys (RDA) have officially joined the Elite Clubs National League (ECNL) of US Club Soccer for 2017. Announced by the ECNL yesterday, the RDA Boys will compete as inaugural members of the Midwest Conference.

A brand new league offering sanctioned by US Club Soccer earlier this year, the Boys ECNL is meant to serve as a counterpart to the successful Girls ECNL, which has represented the highest level of play for youth female soccer players in the United States for nearly seven years.

Coupled with the RDA Girls officially joining the ECNL this past August, the Hounds Academy will have teams from Under-14 through Under-18/19 compete in top-level national leagues starting in the fall of 2017.

Hounds Director of Youth Development, Jason Kutney, said joining the Boys ECNL made perfect sense for the RDA on a number of levels.

"We have worked very hard to become one, cohesive club since forming a single, pilot girls side back in 2012 - with one philosophical approach that defines our playing style, training standards, approach to player identification, and competition structure," Kutney said. "In seeing the ECNL Directors set a path upon which the boy's league structure would mirror that of the girls, it was clear that young players in our market would greatly benefit from involvement."

The league will feature in-conference play across five age groups: U14, U15, U16, U17, and U18/19. It is anticipated that teams will play between 16 and 22 conference games with an additional three-to-six games in cross-conference regular season events depending on the age group. As is the case with the ECNL girls division, scheduling will allow for players to participate in high school soccer.

So far, the league has announced three conferences. The Hounds will be joined by Vardar SC (MI), St. Louis Scott Gallagher (IL and MO), Michigan Wolves, FC Wisconsin, FC Pride (IN), Ohio Elite, and Ohio Premier in the Midwest Conference. The Southeast Conference, announced in late November, will include Atlanta Fire, Birmingham United SA, Carolina Elite SA, Concorde Fire, Florida Elite SA, Florida Kraze Krush, GSA, Jacksonville Armada, Orlando City, NASA Tophat, Tampa Bay United, and Tennessee SC. Lastly, the Northeast Conference, announced last week, includes Albertson Fury, Baltimore Celtic, Connecticut FC, Continental FC, East Meadow, FC Boston, FC Bucks, FC Stars, FSA, Maryland United, Match Fit, Penn Fusion, and World Class.

A unique feature of the Boys ECNL will include teams advancing out of their respective ECNL conferences to participate in the newly formed Elite National Premier League (ENPL). Serving as US Club Soccer's most competitive postseason competition, the ENPL will include ECNL conference champions, as well as winners of US Club Soccer's National Premier Leagues (NPL), creating one national playoff series.

"We deliberately set our sights on high-level league opportunities that would require some time as we, internally, developed our own model to the extent it could compete on a national stage," Kutney said. "Heading into 2017, we are extremely proud to offer league opportunities to all players in Western Pennsylvania who are seeking consistent, national competition and exposure opportunities. This is an extension of everyone's efforts in the area to further cement Western Pennsylvania as a contributor in player development and identification."

The RDA will soon unveil information regarding participation in the ECNL for families of aspiring boys and girls players. Tryouts for 2017-2018 RDA teams will be set and announced as part of this informational campaign, expected to commence in April/May of 2017.

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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