Four RDA Squads Prepare for ECNL National Playoffs

June 12, 2024 – United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC News Release

Players from the Riverhounds Academy’s 2010 ECNL Boys practice at AHN Montour. The team is preparing to compete in the ECNL Champions League, June 25 to July 1, in Del Mar, Calif. (Photo: Julia Wasielewski/Riverhounds SC)

It’s championship time in the Elite Clubs National League.

As the curtain comes down on the 2023-24 competitive season, four Riverhounds Development Academy teams have the opportunity to travel cross-country in a bid to claim titles at the ECNL National Playoffs from June 22 to July 1.

Two boys teams – the 2007 and 2010 squads – will be headed to Del Mar, Calif. to participate in the 64-team Champions League, which will crown the top ECNL teams in the nation. A few days earlier on the girls’ side, the 2007 and 2008 Hounds will make the journey to Redmond, Wash., where they will be playing in the Showcase Cup A and Showcase Cup B tournaments, respectively.

As those teams continue training ahead of their trips in the coming weeks, their coaches took a moment to reflect on how they reached this point and what to expect at nationals.

2007 Boys

The Hounds’ two boys teams making the trek to the San Diego area had to be among the very best to qualify, as the ECNL’s boys playoffs only take the 64 Champions League teams in each age group. For the 2007 Boys coached by Justin Evans, that required going 3-1-1 in the final five games – including a huge 6-0 win over runner-up Cleveland Force – to claim the fourth and final spot out of the Ohio Valley Conference.

“We started the season off all right – the first game against Western New York, we won 3-0 – so expectations were pretty high,” Evans said. “We dropped a couple games that we shouldn’t have, but the group really came together. We made a couple changes to the lineup, and the group really took to it. They’ve worked hard all year to qualify.”

It is the first time the 07s have qualified for the Champions League, and it comes at a great time to raise the profile of the high school-age players on the team. Not only do they have a national trophy on the line for the team, but the players will have plenty of coaches from the next level with eyes on them.

“This is a big recruiting year for them, so going to nationals where you only have 64 teams there – 64 times 18, and that’s where you’re at in terms of players they’re looking at,” Evans said.

“Obviously, we still have to compete and show what we can do,…