Final SYL First 11 Announced
Club rankings shuffle following the SYL North American Finals
 Friday, December 14
TAMPA, FL – United Soccer Leagues announced today the final Super Y-League First and Second 11 Club rankings for the 2007 season, recognizing the league’s top competitive and administrative clubs. The release follows the SYL North American Finals, where 21 of the clubs in the rankings competed for ten championships held late last month in Tampa, Florida.
Coming into the 2007 North American Finals, Seacoast United, who finished sixth in the First 11 rankings last season, stood in second place behind the Washington Crossfire. Seacoast continued to excel in the postseason, finalizing their 68-25-20 season record by adding five wins and three draws at the highly-competitive North American Finals. Seacoast United’s performance at the North American Finals boosted them past the Crossfire granting them the right to call themselves the top Super Y-League club of the 2007 season with a SYL First 11 final score of 80.5.
“The criteria used to rank these clubs is basic yet essential to the Super Y-League’s philosophy of providing a professionalized atmosphere for the top youth players in North America,” said USL Super Y-League and Super -20 League Director of Operations Melanie Fitzgerald. “United Soccer Leagues wanted a way to salute those clubs who consistently succeed not only on the field but off the field as well.”
The Cleveland Internationals finished atop the girls table in the 2007 Preliminary SYL First 11 Rankings with a score of 96.8. Their three representatives in the finals (U13, U14 & U15 girls) combined to forge a 14-0-1 record in the event, each claiming their respective SYL Championship. The Internationals success pushed their score past the century mark for the first time in league history. The club finished the season with a score of 105.8 in the girls club rankings. Their overall club ranking also rose from a 70.1 preliminary ranking (eighth overall), to a 79.1 (third overall) final ranking.
Another addition to the post-season SYL Final 11 rankings is the insertion of the Southern California clubs. This season, the team who made the biggest strides at the North American Finals was Arsenal FC. The Southern California side won championships at the Super Y-League U14 and U15 boys’ level. The pair of cups advanced the club to second in the SYL First 11 Rankings with a score of 79.8. They finished fourth among SYL boys clubs with a score of 81.8.
Also making a name for themselves was first-year club, Player Development Academy out of Zarephath, New Jersey. This summer they joined Kendall SC as the only two champions of United Soccer Leagues’ Super-20 League by winning a showdown with the Toronto Lynx in the Super-20 Semifinals that will go down as one of most thrilling matches of the year. The following afternoon they downed the Chicago Fire Premier 3-1 for the title. The club continued their run by qualifying their only two teams competing in the Super Y-League, their U14 and U16 boys to these North American Finals. PDA finished first among boys clubs in both the preliminary and final SYL Rankings with a score of 86.8.
About the SYL First 11 Club Rankings
The Super Y-League launched a new club ranking system in 2005 with the top clubs ranked from 1-22 and separated into the First and Second 11. With the extensive growth of the second-year USL Super-20 League, the 2007 rankings also include a club’s performance in the new league. This system publicizes the top 22 clubs in both the boys and girls categories as well as overall. The rankings are based primarily upon the on-field results - winning percentage accounting for 70 percent of the score. Minimum standards and operations complete the other 30 percent.
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