Six More Rising Stars Headlining Loudoun Showcase

With the Loudoun Showcase coming up this weekend, I'm going to continue my look at I'm planning to check out, this time focused on the 2011 and 2010 age groups. As with the upper ages the real Belle of the Ball here in Loudoun is VDA which is one of the top clubs in the entire country. Loudon and Northern VA both have some good GA programs that continue to be overlooked in the war of ECNL vs GA. There are a few diamonds scattered on some EDP and NAL teams here too, but those are tricky to find.   Loudoun Soccer Club 2011 GA:    Allyssa is a Mid/Fwd for Loudoun Soccer Club's 2011 GA team. She's got a lot of hustle in a small package at 5'2, but she's got a nose for the net, especially inside the box. She's good at creating space from players when they lose track of her, following shots and cleaning up rebounds and shows good skill in making shots in tough corners and angles when she does get a foot on the ball. Give her space inside the box and she will make you pay, with a good ability to shoot either side of the net, she's a dangerous player to lose track of, even for a minute as a loose ball in the box will be a goal against with her hanging out.    Northern VA Alliance 2011 GA:    Quinn is a very good up and coming defender. She's got good size at 5'9, and uses that to play excellent headers, both to control balls in the field and by chipping in on set pieces towards the goal. She plays very good angles, and stands up well on 1v1, making players take the angle or side she wants them to and then calmly stepping up to make the play. She plays good balls to the outside, accurate, strong passing and confident, which is very important on the build out. She looks to be able to play any of the defensive positions, and has experience playing with the ODP program overseas, where she was a captain, and on the ODP East Regional team.     Claire is a major player to watch in the 2030 class. She plays for the VA Alliance GA team now, but was previously on the VDA ECNL team, and is a two time US ID Camp player. Claire can play anywhere at mid and defense and is one of the more solid players you could have out there. Her passing is absolutely top level, and she's a great player to have on the build out. As she gets to HS and grows, she's going to be a fantastic player to watch.    Some other 2011s to keep an eye on for this tournament are: Lily Lu, a midfielder from Northern VA Alliance 2011 GA with good size and technical skill. [player_tooltip player_id='351008' first='Jaela' last='Gillin'], for [program_tooltip program_id='278061' first='Maryland' last='United'] 2011 ECRL who can play any position in the field with good shooting touch and a strong leg. [player_tooltip player_id='349809' first='Elena' last='Martinez'] for Severna Park 2011 is a standout D who was mentioned in a previous post, along with her teammate [player_tooltip player_id='350284' first='Katelyn' last='Filo'] at F.   2010:    It's tricky evaluating the VDA girls in this tournament because they are all playing up an age group to balance out the talent. I'm including her in the 2010's because that's where they are playing, but 2011 GK Teaghan Zelasko is one of the best. She's rated the #1 GK in VA in our fledgling ranking system, and I won't argue that at all. She's got good height for a GK at 5'8, some coaches are more worried about height than others, but she's right in that sweet spot of short enough to be agile left to right and tall enough to get to the crossbar. I'm hoping to catch her play live this weekend, she's been on my list for a bit and I was just waiting to run into her, as I'm really partial to GK and I know she's going to be a favorite of mine. I've got a post planned soon talking about the best GK in the region soon, and she's definitely on my list.    It's tough to just talk about one player from this 2011 VDA team, as they have multiple players who have spent time in the US ID Camp program, Paige Bugher, Jocelyn Johnson, Khloe Smith, and Hailey Vollmer. As a side note, some of these are 2028s, some are 2029s and some are 2030s, so it'll be interesting to see how they are realigned next year.    Tessa is a 5'6 Fwd/Mid that is a good physical offensive player. She's not afraid to get in the scrum and chip a ball out of trouble, and she's not afraid to take a shot. She has good vision and moves really well off the ball trying to find space to partake in the offensive game. She plays well through the middle of the field and on the wings and is one of the better play makers on her [program_tooltip program_id='278061' first='Maryland' last='United'] RL team.     Sophia is a deep dive from a lower level EDP team. She's a diamond in the rough though, and though she won't get much exposure playing down in EDP, but she's got some skills and traits that make her intriguing. She's got a very strong and athletic leg, and takes great corners. She mainly plays wing and forward so far, she's got a lot of raw skill and a great leg from the wing, which being able to make good crosses is a more in demand skill than you'd think. Often times coaches overlook little things like throw ins, corners, crossing etc. when at try outs, and players like Sophia end up being major contributors on good teams with contributing skills like that.    There are a few other clubs that I know players at I'd love to see, but I'm not sure if the team in the tourney is the team they are on or not and they don't have their rosters online, so I'm going to be popping in here and there to see who else is around. There's some other 2010's worth watching, some GA teams especially, so I'll see what I can find while I'm around.

With the Loudoun Showcase coming up this weekend, I'm going to continue my look at I'm planning to check out, this time focused on the 2011 and 2010 age groups. As with the upper ages the real Belle of the Ball here in Loudoun is VDA which is one of the top clubs in the entire country. Loudon and Northern VA both have some good GA programs that continue to be overlooked in the war of ECNL vs GA. There are a few diamonds scattered on some EDP and NAL teams here too, but those are tricky to find.