Well, another Footskills indoor season has come and gone.  We hope people had a positive soccer experience with us this winter!

Scores and standings for Championship Weekend have been updated.  I've listed here the results of the final matches.

U10 Girls - Dakota Rev Thorsell2 (5) v Bangu Tsunami Academy 98.s Blue (3)

U11 Girls - Bangu Tsunami Academy 97.e White (4) vs Dakota Rev U11s (0)

U13 Girls American - Bangu Tsunami Academy 97.s White (5) vs Prior Lake Pumas (2)

U13 Girls National - Eden Prairie Power (3) vs Bangu Tsunami 94/95 White (2)

U15 Girls - Valley United SC Kincade (3) vs Dakota Rev Xplosion1 (1)

U16 Girls - Eagan Traveling Soccer McCoy (4) vs Bloomington Flyers (0)

Championship teams are invited to take us up on our offer to provide a free training session led by any one of the list of coaches below. I will be in contact with coaches/managers in the coming weeks to schedule.

• Manny Lagos - Minnesota Thunder President, US Olympian, US National Team
• Amos Magee - Minnesota Thunder Head Coach
• Donny Gramenz - Minnesota Thunder Assistant Coach
• Tod Herskovitz - Minnesota Thunder Assistant Coach
• Danny Storlien - Minnesota Lightning Head Coach
• Eric Singer - Minnesota Lightning Assistant Coach

Best of luck with your upcoming spring/summer seasons!

Mark Abboud
Footskills Director

Scores and playoff results have been updated for Week #7, and we're all set for our final day of competition on March 1st.  Please double check your game scores and time slot/field assignments for this weekend. 

It's been a fantastic two months and we hope players, coaches, and parents have had a positive soccer experience with us this winter.

For the second year, Footskills will not be awarding trophies to league winning teams.  Instead, and in the true spirit of development, Footskills will offer all championship teams a free spring training session led by one of Minnesota's most qualified soccer coaches.  Your team will set the date, time, and location of the training session, and then choose a trainer from the following list:

• Manny Lagos - Minnesota Thunder President, US Olympian, US National Team
• Amos Magee - Minnesota Thunder Head Coach
• Donny Gramenz - Minnesota Thunder Assistant Coach
• Tod Herskovitz - Minnesota Thunder Assistant Coach
• Danny Storlien - Minnesota Lightning Head Coach
• Eric Singer - Minnesota Lightning Assistant Coach

Mark Abboud will be in touch with all championship teams in the coming weeks to help facilitate this unique championship prize. 

Good luck to all the teams this weekend!

Reminder - No D-League games this weekend!

Scores and standings for Week #6 have been updated.  Please double check your game times for February 23rd and all age divisions are in playoffs for the final two weeks. 

Another reminder to coaches and parents - playoff time seems to bring out the competitive spirit in us all even more.  Please remember this is a game for the kids.  No disrespect to players or referees will be tolerated.  The referees have full authority to ban offense adults from the dome.  Sit back, relax, and watch the young players compete in a sport they love. 

Scores and standings for Week #5 are updated.

Two divisions move into playoffs this coming weekend - the U13 Girls National and the U15 Girls.  With 8 out of the 12 teams between the two divisions ending with a total of 7 points, this seems to be an opportune moment to discuss our tie breaking system. 

Total points is the first criteria, based on 3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, and 0 points for a loss. 

Next, I look at head to head results.  This can come into play when two teams are tied on points, is a bit more involved when three teams are in the mix, and basically gets thrown out the door when four teams end tied on points (as in these cases).

So, I move to the Goal Differential to determine final standings.  If Goal Differential is equal, give the higher seeds to the team with the fewest Goal Against, then look to most Goal For (which I had to do in one case). 

These are good problems to have as I feel it demonstrates the general competitiveness of the divisions we are able to form in the D-League.

By the way, I've been known to make a mistake - back in 1983 for sure, and another I think in 1996.  :)  If you find any errors in what I've done, please let me know. 

Brackets with 6 teams have a bit of an unusual playoff format.  The 1st and 2nd seeds will meet in a friendly (with refs), a game that does not count towards the standings.  The 3rd seed will play the 6th seed, and the 4th will play the 5th.  Winners will move on to battle the 1 and 2 seeds in the semifinals, with the non-winners finishing the league with two friendly weekends. 

The other four divisions will player their 6th round of games this weekend, with playoffs beginning on Feb 23rd.

NOTE the D-League will not run on Feb 16th as we make way for the Dakota Rev President's Day Weekend Tournament. 

Midpoint of the season already!  See people next week.