A Note From Our Club Technical Director
By: Everett Palache

Hello all,

I hope this message finds you doing well!

As mentioned in our last newsletter, completing the player pathway from U6 to U23 makes Cleveland Force unique in Northeast Ohio. No other club can provide soccer athletes training programs and competitive leagues from U6 - U23 to help players develop to meet the demands of college programs. Adding the men's and women's USL platforms offers a youth player the highest-level club destination possible in Northeast Ohio in one club. Also, Cleveland Force is the only club that can provide boys and girls ECNL and GLA. With the platforms, the volume of players, and the coaching staff setting standards, players will be asked to adhere to in college, preparing them for the academic and soccer level that fits them best.

It is interesting as we get to know the players and hear "their" focus on playing D1 soccer. Most players will not be at a D1 school, not because they cannot play there but because academics lead the process. Most players will likely be at a small D1, D2, or D3. There are many good soccer programs at all levels in the United States. For example, John Carrol University women's soccer reached the Quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament this year beating MIT 1-0. Last year, Case Western Reserve women were in the national finals. Over the last few years, John Carroll's men's program has been nationally ranked. Not to mention has moved to the Big East, which is a very good soccer conference. There are plenty of schools and great soccer schools right in our backyard. If a player has the athletic ability and academics to attend a "top 100" D1 program, that is awesome, and we work every day to help our players achieve their goals. The club aims to help educate and share information about the next level of soccer in the United States, college.

As we continue to develop our ecosystem, we must continue educating our membership on the soccer landscape. This will help players, over time, set better targets for their college experience. Also, hopefully, learning a national title at D3, D2, and NAIA can be very rewarding. We hope this shows players how to continue their development in U19 - U23 and aspire to play professional soccer. You don't have to be a D1 player to become a professional player. You must be talented, committed, dedicated, and willing to take risks.

Below, we have included links to the Men's and Women's Playoff Brackets D1, D2, and D3. If you click on the teams in the bracket, it links you to the game when they are on. We hope this newsletter becomes a place you return to over the next few weeks to click on the links to find out when games are being played or news on what is going on at the college level. The College Finals are in December, and many games are leading up to it. We hope many of you can find time to see a game or read articles about the top male and female players at the college level.

Players and families should learn the rivalries, traditions, types of players recruited to the school, where they come from, and experience. Learn about the coaching staff and style of play. The list of things a player can learn can continue, but it can only start if they start paying attention to the level ahead of them.

Thank you, everyone, for all your support over the years!

Juniors Academy & Juniors Elite

By: Mike Mey & Mike Surniak

The USL Academy team will be comprised of our top players from within the club across the U15-U19 age groups, each player selected will train throughout the Winter months on Sunday evenings to prepare for our season as well as an event.  The USL Academy team will have both members from CFSC as well as players from outside of our club.  This program will NOT interfere with our ECNL season and we will make certain that each player involved in the program will continue to get adequate rest as we navigate the seasonal overlap.

2024 Season Tryouts

@ Force Rocky River

December 20 & 21, 2023

10:30am - 12:00pm

High Performance & Competitive Tiers

By: CFSC Directors

Girls ECNL:

U15 - U19 ECNL Girls have all made it back from their respective HS seasons and begun training together to prepare for the upcoming season.  Congratulations to all of our HS aged players on all of their accomplishments this Fall, it was impressive to see  both the DI and DII state semifinals have so many of our girls competing for a chance to win an OHSAA Championship.  Congratulations to Walsh Jesuit for winning the state championship and to Rocky River for finishing the season as State Runners Up. Bay Village and Strongsville also had amazing seasons that ended in the State semi-finals.  We are very proud of all of the CFSC players who played a part in getting to that point!

We kick right into high gear with league games and Showcase events starting immediately after the HS season ends.  It’s tough to prepare our teams for meaningful games without much time to train but our season is set up to be active immediately following their Fall seasons.  We will be traveling with some of the teams to Nashville in early December for the ECNL Tennessee Showcase, this event is extremely beneficial for our kids as it comes right after the college season and right before an NCAA “dead” period.  These teams will have plenty of chances to showcase and play in front of the top college coaching staffs in the country as they will play in events such as:

ECNL Tennessee

ECNL Florida

Penn Fusion Showcase

Jefferson Cup

ECNL North Carolina

We all look forward to gaining exposure and maximizing each player’s ability to “showcase” and be seen.

The Winter months will see our teams competing in Showcase events and 11v11 friendlies as we prepare for the Spring portion of our ECNL season.

Girls ECNL U13-U14:

The U13 / U14 ECNL Girls have finished their seasons on a very high note. The teams sit in second and third place in the ECNL Ohio Valley Conference, and are poised to make a push to qualify for the 2024 ECNL Playoffs. In all competitions, the two teams combined have lost just 3 out of their last 25 games! 

The girls concluded their Fall season at the Bethesda Premier Cup in the DMV. Both teams went undefeated in group play, with records of 2-0-1. The u13's narrowly missed out on the final due to goal differential, and the u14's fell just short to Bethesda ECNL in the final. Bethesda SC was the second team the u14's have played this season that made the ECNL National Finals last year. The previous was Eclipse SC ECNL, who the girls tied back in October. 

Both groups are gearing up for a Winter schedule filled with trainings, friendlies, and lots of individual development. The groups are excited and eager to get better over the next few months to have successful Spring seasons. 

A special congratulations to the following 2010's for earning a place in the US Youth Talent ID Center on November 14:

Carly Dudek, Kaila Peterson, Lauren Sibel, and Zoe Crysler.

Best of luck, girls!

Boys U15-U19 ECNL-RL / GLA Director:

After a successful High School season for many of our players, we are extremely excited to get the 2023-2024 club season started. We are looking forward to working with new players and coaches who recently joined our club in addition to the strong core of returning players. 

1. Introducing our new staff and coaching assignments:

Please help us welcome coaches Chmura, Cable, and Jones as they get started with CFSC. 

• Coach Chmura also serves as the Head Men's Soccer Coach at Hiram College. 
• Coach Cable serves as the Assistant Men's Soccer Coach at DII powerhouse Lake Erie College. 
• Coach Jones is his first year as an Assistant Women's Soccer Coach at Case Western Reserve University. 

2. Our GLA teams will be attending the Great Lakes Fall Showcase in Canton the weekend of Nov. 17-19. Our ECNL-RL teams will be attending the Riverhounds Three Rivers College Showcase in Pittsburgh the weekend of Dec. 15-17. 

3. Captain selection; our coaches will be selecting our team captains for the rest of the season in the next couple of weeks ahead of the first league games to be played in December. The established Guiding Principles of CFSC Captains will assist our coaches in selecting the player who is best prepared and displays the Guiding Principles on a daily basis on and off the field. 

Congratulations to our players who have moved from our GLA to ECNL-RL teams:

Boys U13-U14 ECNL / ECNL-RL / GLA Director

Our U13-U14 ECNL and ECNL-RL boys recently competed in North Carolina FC Junior Showcase in Raleigh, NC on November 11-12 and our U14 GLA Boys finished as Finalist at CASA Season Finale!

Upcoming from December 7th through the 12th, we have 7 Cleveland Force Super Y teams going to Super Y League Finals held in Tampa, Florida! Boys Teams: U12, U13, U14 & U15  Girls Teams: U12, U13 & U14

Girls ECNL-RL:

2010 ECNL RL went to Bethesda and went undefeated for the event - 2 wins and 1 tie.

2011 ECNL RL went to Bethesda and were finalists. Winning 3 games and a tough 1-0 loss in the final.

We want to welcome back all of our high school Force players back to the club. It was great to see so many of our players this Fall doing well and leading their teams and communities. ECNL RL high school age teams are starting play this weekend, and we welcome FC Pride and Indiana Fire in our first two home games. We are building team chemistry every day, and looking forward to get on the field together! We are very proud of our seniors who committed to universities last week, and we continue to work with players on their college search. We have had college coaches already attend practices, and are looking forward to our first ECNL-RL event in St.Louis next month. 

Our younger players are transitioning from their Fall season to Winter this week. Practices have moved indoors and we will work hard to focus on the technical parts of the game. We will create different challenges and situations to follow individual development plans from the Fall. We are very lucky to have the resources and opportunities to collaborate with other Force teams and coaches. We are proud of these girls and looking forward to the future. 

A big thank you to all of our managers, coaches, and parents for all the help through tryouts these past couple of weeks. We couldn't do it without your work and support!

Girls U9-U10 Competitive & High Performance:

The girls had a very successful Fall season. We are proud of our new coaching staff that have stepped up and shown huge growth during the season. We celebrate the continued success and growth of our girls. We had a 2015 team played up in the U10 age group Casa Season Finale and lost in the finals in Pks. Our 2014 White West team won the top division of the Casa Season Finale and our 2014 Volt West team were finalists. We ended the season with a fun filled Halloween themes training session in costumes. We want to thank your families for the continued support and commitment to the players and the program. We are excited for our 2015s West players participating in a new futsal program this Winter and our players that get to start TOCA training. Lastly we have made great progress in fostering connections across age groups amongst players and developing coaching relationships and communications across the different age groups and east and west. 

Player Spotlights

The Force Effect Podcast

USL's Role In Player Pathways

Check out our newest Force Effect Podcast episode sharing a few details about USL's Role In Player Pathways!

CLE Sports PT & Performance: ACL Injuries

By: Carol Mack

Thank you to our sponsors and all participants that came out to our 2nd Annual Topgolf Fundraising event to help raise $5,675 with 100% of proceeds going towards Financial Aid funding for Cleveland Force SC!

We are so thankful to be a part of such a generous and supportive community!

Check out some scenes from the fundraiser in our recap video!

U9-U14 Open Enrollment

For The 2023-24 Season

Is your child looking to join a Premier Soccer Club?
The Cleveland Force SC mission is to provide soccer players with a club structure that empowers hardworking, responsible, and humble athletes who approach goals positively on and off the field.
Elevate your game and join the Force community!