I'm going to add more info on this topic.

I tend to advise anyone offered a scholarship not to go to the US, if , they are capable of gaining a degree here. The colleges offering scholarships are usually suspect acaedemically compared to Aussie unis. All capable students from here have found studies easy in the US compared to local Aussie unis.

The good US institutions, and they have the best in the world, often don't offer sports scholarships.

Hi All

Season is done and dusted in dramitic circumstances,9 colleges had their November results taken away due to incorrect paperwork submissions, pretty heavy. Not limited to soccer or the girls, the entire college sports where penalised.
This took us from 12th to 23rd, outside the top 16 playoff

In much better news, my Daughter was nominated and achieved "All Conferecne 1st team" selection as a freshman which is the highest you can get in your first year.
:d
There coach also recieved coach of the year for their conferecne and also got coach for the Northern and Southern game later in the year.(Coaching Northern)

Overall great over achievement for team and coach for the year and couldnt be happier.

Fourth game saw the Girls come up against the conference leaders for their second head to head. Like the first time they played they have come from behind to snatch a 2 all draw.
Makes the proposition of winning the conference alot harder as we now need the leaders to lose or draw their last game and we need to win both games we have remaining. If the leaders win their last game its all over.
Its incredibly hard not being able to watch these games and to have to sit back waiting for an SMS or email to get updates, hate it!!
Regional ranking remains around 14 out of 34 and Statewide, 34 out of 84. Not bad considering its a first year team. Recruitment is already underway to get the squad up to approx 25 players (currently 9 fit girls and 6 playing with different levels of injuries)
Any keen Girls out there?

Third game on Friday saw the walking wounded girls get a well earnt 1-0 nil in the conference game.They have now moved to second in their conference league with next game against the conferecne leaders. They need to win or at least draw to have a chance of continuing.
For a team picked off the back of a weetbix packet, all credit due to the coach in getting all these new girls pulling together. What ever happens this year is a bonus.

I'm not sure about your daughter's academic capabilities, but how is she finding the level of uni compared to her Grade 12 here?

Third game on Friday saw the walking wounded girls get a well earnt 1-0 nil in the conference game.They have now moved to second in their conference league with next game against the conferecne leaders. They need to win or at least draw to have a chance of continuing.
For a team picked off the back of a weetbix packet, all credit due to the coach in getting all these new girls pulling together. What ever happens this year is a bonus.

Hi All

Second game fo the conference saw the Girls bounce back agaisnt the conference leaders, down 2-0 at half time they game back and drew 2-2. Big effort considering both his back up keepers are having to play on the field and the leading goal scorer suspended from last game.
Keeps their slim chaces alive
These Girls are huge underdogs and walking wounded but fully committed. Coach has at least have them beleiving
Next gale this Friday (Saturday our time)

Third game on Friday saw the walking wounded girls get a well earnt 1-0 nil in the conference game.They have now moved to second in their conference league with next game against the conferecne leaders. They need to win or at least draw to have a chance of continuing.
For a team picked off the back of a weetbix packet, all credit due to the coach in getting all these new girls pulling together. What ever happens this year is a bonus.

Hi All

Second game fo the conference saw the Girls bounce back agaisnt the conference leaders, down 2-0 at half time they game back and drew 2-2. Big effort considering both his back up keepers are having to play on the field and the leading goal scorer suspended from last game.
Keeps their slim chaces alive
These Girls are huge underdogs and walking wounded but fully committed. Coach has at least have them beleiving
Next gale this Friday (Saturday our time)

Hi All

First game of the conference got off to a bad start, game tied up at 1-1 half time but a Red card early in the second half and two injuires that forced two key players off for the rest of the game saw the game turn and finished off a disappointing 4-1 loss.
The coach met with 3 players after the game (including my girl) and congratulated them on being the only 3 players who didnt dropped their heads and give up for the whole game.
Coach also had to play both his back up keepers on the park to field a team.

Struggling with numbers being a first year team and gunna be hard for the remainder of the matches.

Here is the coaches comments from the two games they had Frdiay & Saturday (Road trip)

Hello just a brief update. We played on Friday against a really good team. Their record has been ok, but they were a really athletic and gifted team. I was looking for some follow-through after our last game, but we didn't get the result. We played hard for 45 minutes and just shut them down. That was the best this team has played all year. No doubt they came to play, but they did what young inexperienced teams do and they let up to start the second half. The defense let a long ball get behind them and they scored on a breakaway 3 minutes into the second half. We had about 10 opportunities on goal and missed everyone of them. High shots, breakaways kicked straight to the goalie, and a comical missed shot in front of the goal with no goalie! We then had a goalie mistake where she allowed a deflected shot to go between her hands, and that was the game.

I really lost it with the team for the first time after a game and let them have it (my language was colorful and animated). I told them that it was unacceptable and that we would not allow that to be the norm. We cant continue to play hard against good teams and lose games on mistakes and the inability to score easy goals. You can guess what the mood was like. I made them all get in the van and then instructed them to put all of their gear back on and we had a two hour practice on just shooting and finishing. We were well into the dark before we finished and got something to eat. I made it clear that it was not a punishment but a training session to fix a glaring weakness. They agreed and we pushed on. During dinner I had small meetings with the defense, offense and midfield to go over the mistakes and to get back on track.

Saturday was a different story. We started with breakfast at 7 and everyone had a great positive attitude. During the game we scored within 5 minutes and had a 3-1 lead at half. 5 minutes into the second half, Corinne executed a beautiful corner kick and our goalie Beth who was playing on the field scored on a beautiful header. It was the most beautiful header I have seen as a coach off a corner. The team went wild and dog piled on her. A few more goals and we finished 6-1.

It is an inside joke with the team that when we go to restaurants I don't allow them to order dessert, a few have tried to sneak it in, but I always confiscate it and they literally hate me for it, I mean they bring it up out of the blue as to how mad they are. (Nothing like depriving a woman of her chocolate) I have made a deal with the team on three occasions that if they won, that I would buy them all dessert. On Friday after the practice, I told them that if they won the game by 5 goals, I would buy them all dessert the next day. The score was 5-1 with 10 minutes to go and they were killing themselves all over the field like I have never seen them before trying to get that last goal. Well they didn't quit until they got it and well you know the result. They have never lost a game with dessert on the line and the joy of having to see their coach buy it for them. I am just completely puzzled by this, but I thought you might think it is funny as well.

League starts Friday!

Coach

I'm posting as someone who actually took a soccer scholarship and went to a US College for 3 years and much that you all have said is true, but some of you have got the wrong idea.

First of all, i always had aspirations to do this, ever since i was about 10 years old i wanted to play college soccer in the USA and so i had a long time to prepare myself. I didn't go through a recruitment company, i did all my recruitment myself. If you know enough about the system, and have well prepared yourself then it isn't hard to get yourself out there. All these companies do for international students is have a database of players that colleges use a search engine to rummage through. I know this because i worked as an assistant for women's team and did this A LOT. Despite what they tell you NSR will take on board anyone who is willing to pay their $5000 fee. You're paying $5000 for them to make an online profile of you and throw it among their database with 1000's of other players. This means that if you're not either a standout athletic (soccer ability) or academic (grade point average) student then you won't come up in the database often, therefore receiving fewer 'offers'.

As for the standard of soccer, it varies WIDELY.
- Men's Soccer has 1,317 colleges that play competitively across 7 Divisions.
- Women's Soccer has 1,512 colleges across 6 Divisions.

They strongest of these Divisions is the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) Division I, which has 204 men's teams and 322 women's teams, so you can imagine the difference in quality in that division alone. Although, because teams are put in divisions based on the size of the university and the number of athletic teams it has and not the strength of each individual program playing, often is the case that Top 25 ranked teams in the NCAA Division II and Top 10 ranked teams in the NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) are of a better standard, the schools are just a lot smaller, and in more rural areas of the country.

Different school's will offer different scholarship options, NCAA Division III schools are prohibited to give athletic scholarships, so they're primarily academic or international student grants and small, rural schools.

As i did and i assume many others want from going to the USA is the 'college experience'. What you see on the movies about the parties and the lifestyle they live is somewhat accurate for the major universities, not often the ones that are very good at soccer. All their athletic budget is spent on Football and Basketball.

What im trying to say is, if you do your research on the academic side of things (knowing what subjects are required to be eligible to play) and athletic side of things (standards, sizes and locations of schools) then you will be a lot better off directly emailing coaches of specific colleges that you hand pick yourself so that you won't be disappointed or not knowing what to expect when you get there. www.collegeboard.com is a perfect website for you to search the exact college that you want want to attend through their 'college matchmaker'.

I had the time of my life in the US, it was 3 and half of the best years of my life, i made amazing friends that i'll have forever, i learnt a lot in life as well as my subjected major at the university. Whether you're going there to try and become a professional player, or taking advantage of the fact someone will pay for your university for you to do something you would be doing (and paying for) anyway here in Australia, I believe Its perfect for a young man/woman to do if you can find the right uni that you can afford and will enjoy.

If you want any more information, or any help with recruiting PM me, i am more than welcome to help.