by Bob Mueser

DSL – Final Tournament Schedule

All:
Attached please see this Saturday's tournament schedule with the corrections discussed last week (conforming the other tabs to the game times/field locations to the “Games” tab).  Let me know if you have any questions and I look forward to seeing you all Saturday.  Don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions, but note that my availability to respon on Friday will be very limited due to having to set up the fields for the tournament, so I'd recomend contacting me prior to Friday with any questions, or on Saturday at the administration tent.
Regards,
Rob

by Bob Mueser

Fwd: DSL Tournament Email

Coaches: 

 

For those that are participating in the DSL Tournament on Saturday, May 16th, please see below and please read the rules document in its entirety.  Not knowing the tournmanet rules is not an excuse for not following them:

 

1. Attached are the schedule and field map, rules, and blank form of roster.  If you see any errors that need to be corrected, please let me know by the end of day Friday, May 8th as I have to head to the printer Saturday morning to make the tournament boards. Also, here is a link to the tournament website as well, where you can see schedules, track results and get a better view of who may or may not advance beyond the group stage – https://pittdsl.org/tournament/.  Also, note the times for the brackets are spaced a little differently this year.  We continue to have people triple park one another in at this tournament so I am trying to schedule with any eye of how many teams are at the facility at any given time.  This may result in your team playing two games back to back, but as a reminder, our play in games are 20 minutes, so even two games in a row is less field time than a typial regular season game.

 

2.  Arrive at the facility at least 30 minutes in advance of your first game and check in at the diocese tent with your registration fees and completed tournament rosters (blank form of roster is attached to this email).  Please allow time for parking as the venue is going to be very busy that day.

 

3. Arrive on field 10 minutes prior to your scheduled time, if we are running ahead the games will start early.  If you have back-to-back games scheduled, get to the field immediately following your previous game.  Failure to show on the field on time will likely result in a forfeit as we don't have the time to chase after teams.  If your team finds itself playing a game that is going long and will make you late, send a parent to the administration tent and let us know so we can facilitate things.  

 

4. Bring pinnies or alternative jersey colors.  In the event that the two teams playing one another have jerseys that are deemed too close in color (as determined by the referee in his or her sole's discretion), the away team will need to change or wear pinnies.  

 

5. There is no coin flip to determine possession, the away team gets the ball to start the game.

 

6. There will be benches on the field for each team.  We ask that home teams use the blue bench and away teams use the black bench.  This will help the referees get the correct home and away teams noted on their score card.

 

7. Read and be familiar with the tournament rules (see attached rules for your reference).   Some of the bigger ones that have been a problem in the past are as follows:  (1)  All grades will have offsides– 1/2 grade will be limited to more obvious cherry picking as determined by the ref.  (2) For 1-4 grade we will be playing the build out rule. First and second grade will use the midfield line as the build out line, third and fourth grade have a separate build out line roughly halfway between midfield and the penalty box.  Also, for those grades, the buildout line will serve as the offside line.  (3) At 1-4 grade, all fouls that are called result in indirect kicks.  Even what would otherwise result in a pk for a foul in the penalty box is treated as an indirect kick and the kick occurs right outside of the 18 yard box.  (4)  For all grades, scoring can only occur in the offensive half of the field.  If you score a goal from the defensive half (including your kickoff), the goal does not count. (5) For all grades punting is not permitted, keepers are encouraged to put the ball back into play by throwing it to a teammate.  (6) Cards will be issued as they would in a normal game.  Any player that gets a yellow card  must come to the sideline for a 5-minute cool down period.  If that cool down period goes to the end of the game and there is a shootout, the player can't participate in the shootout.  Any player or coach that receives two yellow cards in a game or one red card is not permitted to continue to play/coach for the rest of the game and the rest of the day.  The Coaches will need to leave the premises.  In my experience, cards are rarely issued at these tournaments and when they are, they are almost always earned.  Along those lines, the Tournament Director reserves the right to ask any players, coaches, or parents to leave the venue if deemed necessary in my sole discretion.

 

7.  Keeper Changes.  Mid-game keeper changers are permitted during normal substitution times only if the substitute keeper is on the sidelines, ready to go (pinnie on and gloves on if they are using gloves).  No keeper subs from field players are permitted due to the time consumed for that substitute player to get ready.  If the substitute keeper is not ready to go at the time of subbing, they will need to wait until the next sub period when they are ready.

 

8. Post game coaches should review the score card to confirm accuracy.  Once the score cards are posted they are final unless we can conclusively determine that an error occurred (conclusive in this context equates to both teams agreeing that there was an error as well as agreeing on what the outcome was, not just one team emphatically arguing that there is an error).  Please come to us with any issues in real time as our options are limited in what we can do if this issue is raised or discovered after the scores have been posted.

 

9. Check in from time to time at the main tent for standings and/or on the tournament website.   If it looks likely/possible that you will advance to the semifinals/finals stay near the tournament tent for instructions.  In the event that any tie breakers need to be determined we will be figuring that out at the tournament tent.

 

10. Remember sportsmanship and the 7-goal differential rule.  For tie breaker purposes we do not count anything more than a 4-goal differential when determining who advances on a tie breaker and if you win a game by a 8 goal differential or more, inquiries will be made and there is a strong chance that the game will be scored as a non-played game and you may not receive the 3 standing points for a win.  Any such decisions as to whether a team that exceeds the 7-goal differential is awarded the win or not is in the Tournament Director's sole discretion.  I strongly recommend that as a coach, you do not put your team in a position that the efforts of their win are not counted because you could not control scoring.  My personal recommendation is to start making adjustments when and if a goal differential of plus 4 is achieved so that you have wiggle room in case extra goals occur.  If you don't start to control the score until after you hit a plus 7 goal differential, you are doing so too late and you are not allowing any room for error.

 

11. Please remind your parents of the venue specific rules that we circulated with this email, especially that (1) no pets are allowed at the facility, those with pets will be asked to leave the venue, (2) No large coolers or food set ups are permitted at the fields or in school tents.  Players can bring water bottles and small “six pack” sized coolers, but that is it, and (3) each school that has a tent needs to ensure that everything is cleaned up before you leave, failure to follow this could result in a cleanup fine of $100 being assessed as well as loss of tent privileges at future events, and (4) under no circumstances should anyone double park other vehicles in.  If you double park someone in, you will likely be towed and I will not be able to give you a ride home.

 

12. Remember, for the Developmental Tournament, players can only play on one team and if they are rostered or play for more than one team, those teams will be disqualified.  This rule does not apply to the all-girls tournament with the result that 4th grade girls can play for both a 4th grade or 3/4 grade team and a JV Girls team, and 5th and 6th grade girls can play for a JV Girls team and a Varsity Girls team.  If a school has two JV teams or two Varsity teams entered though, those girls may play for one JV team or Varsity team, as applicable, but not for both teams that are in the same age bracket.

 

13. The tournament is largely structured so that each team plays three games and then the bracket leaders advance to a Semi-Finals or Finals, depending on the bracket size.  In certain brackets we had an odd number of teams, which require one team to play four games so that all teams get at least three games.  This fall the brackets that had an odd amount of teams were the 2nd grade bracket, the 3/4 grade bracket, the JV girls bracket and the Varsity girls bracket.  If your team was selected for a fourth game, not that that fourth game will not count for your standings regardless of whether you win or lose, but it would count for your opponent.

 

14.  It's always a fine line between scheduling games too close together or too far apart and there are a lot of factors that go into the schedule, including length of time for teams at the venue, adequate rest between games, field availability, venue parking limitations, referee availability (since we have two referees on field for championship games), and bracket sizes.  Every season the variables such as size of tournament and size of particular brackets change on us and we do our best to factor everything in and schedule in the best manner possible for all involved.  Note that while we try to put at least a game of space in between each game, there are some instances (12 to be exact this season) where teams play back to back games.  A standard game is 50 games long and our tournament games are 20 minutes long so playing back to back should be something that your players have been conditioned for all season.  Let me know if you have any questions and thank you for your understanding in advance.

 

Finally, if you have any questions, please reach out to 48 hours prior to the tournament.  I will be fairly busy on Friday setting up and running tournament related errands so I will likely not be able to get back to you that day.

 

That's it from me, apologies for the long email, but as they say, whenever you read a rule, there was a reason that it was created, so it's better to get this info to you in advance and reduce any potential missteps.  I wish you all good luck and remember, don't judge the season on the success (or lack thereof) that you might experience on Saturday.  Only one team wins each grade bracket.  It is far better to make this a fun event for the kids and focus on individual goals for the players and teams.  That way if you win, that's just gravy, but even if you go 0-3 for the day, if the kids are getting better, accomplishing individual goals, and having fun with their friends, everyone comes away having a good time.

by Bob Mueser

DSL Week 6 Email

All a few things going into this week:
1. Regular season games – please coordinate with opposing coaches, me and refs on all outstanding make up games.  The season is entering into its last full month and May is always a gauntlet come scheduling time.  You may need to schedule week day games, use alternative fields, or play at the away team's field to get the games in, none of which are ideal, but better than not playing games at all.  As a reminder, at the JV/V level, if games are not in by May 31 they will either be scored as non-played game (no team gets any standing points) or forfeit win/loss (+2 standing points (as opposed to 3 standing points) for the forfeit winner and -2 standing points (as opposed to 0 standing points) for the forfeit loser)
2. Developmental and All Girls Tournament – as a reminder, registration closes tomorrow.  Below is a current tally I have from schools – please review and let me know ASAP if changes are needed (whether because your needs changed or I made a mistake and carrying over the data) — I will start scheduling late Friday night (5/1).  First and Second grade brackets are completely full at this time, if you have a team that needs to be registered at that age group, I can either put you on the waitlist or put you in the 1/2 grade brackets.  Also, as a reminder, blatant offside calls (as determined by the ref) will be called in the first and second grade levels at the tournament to discourage cherry picking.  It would make sense to ask your running this concept by your teams and having a game or two with the calls being made so its not a completely foreign concept for your team come tournament day.
SCHOOL NAME 1st   1st/2nd 2nd 3rd 3rd/4th 4th JV Girls Varsity Girls Total
Aquinas Academy 2 0 2 2 0 2 1 1 10
Archangel Gabriel  2 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 5
Ave Maria Academy 1 0 2 2 0 1 0 0 6
Blessed Seelos 1 1 1 0 2 0 0 0 5
Blessed Trinity Academy 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Butler Catholic 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 3
Carlow 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 2
Christ the Divine Teacher  0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Divine Mercy Academy  0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Eden Christian Academy 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Guardian Angel Academy 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 4
Holy Cross Academy 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 4
Holy Family 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
Holy Sepulcher 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 4
Mary of Nazareth  0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 3
Mother of Mercy Academy 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Our Lady of Fatima 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 2
Sacred Heart 3 0 1 2 0 1 1 1 9
St. Bede 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 3
St. James 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 2
St. Kilian 3 0 3 2 0 1 1 0 10
St. Louise de Marillac 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
St. Monica 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Sts. Peter and Paul  0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 2
South Hills Catholic Academy 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 3
3. Summer Soccer Camps:
As of now, I am aware of three Diocese related soccer camps this summer, one sponsored by the DSL through Challenger Sports, one hosted by the North Catholic boys and girls soccer teams, and one hosted by the Seton LaSalle boys and girls soccer teams.  Below are some general details on all three, including a link for more details and registration.  All three are on different dates, so consider doing the Diocese Trifecta if your schedule permits:

DSL Camp

Date/Time: Monday, July 27 – Friday, July 31.  Full day is from 9am – 3pm, half day (morning and afternoon) options available and Tiny Tykes (ages 3-5) is from 8am – 8:45am 

Location: St. Kilian’s Field

Camp Cost: varies on whether half day or full day options are selected and time of registration, but cost ranges between Full day is $270 ($230 with early bird discount), Half Day AM is $215 ($185 with early bird discount), Half Day PM is $210 ($180 with early bird discount), Tiny Tykes is $130 ($110 with early bird discount)

Age Requirements:  Co-Ed Students ages 3 through 14

https://challengersports.com/camps/diocese-of-pittsburgh-cranberry-twp-pa/

North Catholic Camp

Date/Time: Monday, June 10 – Wednesday, June 12 from 8:30 – 11:00 am

Location: North Catholic High School Field

Camp Cost: $125

Age Requirements:  Co-Ed Students entering grades 1st – 8th

https://nchs.formstack.com/forms/nc_soccer_camp2026

Seton LaSalle Camp

Date/Time: Monday, June 22 – Thursday, June 25 from 4-5:30pm

Location: Merrick Field at Seton LaSalle High School

Camp Cost: $100

Age Requirements:  Co-Ed Students entering grades 6th-8th

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScoKfc1LJXM5VoJjmMp7mP2b_5ez1C6bRq8h7VM8lp5QaJf_w/viewform

by Bob Mueser

DSL Week 5 Email

All:

Not too much from me this week, just a few items to get on your radar:
1. DSL Tournament.  Registration is open for about a week longer, if you want to participate, please remember to register.
2.  See below for a Riverhounds event for the NHRCES.
3.  Summer Camps – I'll have info on a couple of summer soccer camps next week.  If there are any that you would like me to include, let me know so we can do it all in one shot.
Rob

I wanted to share an opportunity for NHRCES families to attend a special Pittsburgh Riverhounds event.  I am hopeful you could pass this communication on to those directors/coaches within our NHRCES region, please.

Rob Vincent, head coach of the Riverhounds, is one of our very own at HCA and closely connected to our soccer community, as he is married to Coach Katie (1st grade). NHRCES and Holy Cross worked together with the Riverhounds to help orchestrate this special event night.

The flyer is attached containing pertinent information, but here are some highlights:

Saturday, May 2 at 7:00 PM at Highmark Stadium. 

$25 (Section 101) for NHRCES families.

Also, please note if we end up selling 50+ tickets, our NHRCES students will get to run through the player tunnel onto the field before the game.

If families have any questions or need additional information, they can reach out to Leigh at [email protected].


by Bob Mueser

DSL Week2 Email

Good afternoon, for those that got their games in, I hope week 1 was a success.  I spent the early part of the week worrying about snow on the fields, I didn't have cancellations due to lighting on my weekly bingo card though.
For those whose games were cancelled, please reach out and coordinate make up games.  For those playing this week, please remember to reach out to the opposing team. And lastly, I know that the season has just started, but April 1 will be when registration for the DSL Developmental and all girls jv/v teams open up.  They will remain open through May 1 or until brackets fill up.  The tournament will be on Saturday May 16 and we will time it so the girls JV tournament will start after the JV Track Championships end.  I anticipate the developmental brackets to fill up quickly given our numbers.  For teams that are participating, the cost remains at $125 per team.  Let me know if you have any questions

by Bob Mueser

Reminders for this week

All:
Fully understanding that many fields are still snow covered, but as a reminder, please remember to reach out to the opposing teams to coordinate on this weekends game and home teams, make a determination on the playability of your fields as soon as you are able, but in no event later than 3 hours prior to the game.  Remember any cancellations must be communicated to both the opposing teams and the refs.  For JV/V matches that would be Russ and for PIAA refs for dev and all girls that would be Chuck.  For schools that use their own refs at developmental and all girls, I'll defer to you on how you notify them. 
Also, remember, if cancellations are within 48 hours they should be both emailed to me and the refs and sent via text or phone call to Russ or Chuck, as applicable.  Failure to follow those procedures will result in you still having to pay the referees even if the match isn't played.
Finally, thanks to the schools that have sent me rosters, I can confirm receipt of the following rosters:
  • Ave Maria (JV and V only, all developmental are still outstanding)
  • Blessed Seelos 
    (JV and V only, all developmental are still outstanding)
  • Carlow
  • Holy Sepulcher
  • Sacred Heart
  • St. Bede
  • Sts. Peter and Paul
For all teams other than the ones listed above, I am still awaiting rosters and tomorrow is the deadline.  Having verified rosters submitted is the safest way to avoid having games set aside for having ineligible players competing.  In order to protect your teams from having games set aside for ineligible players each team must submit rosters prior to the this Friday.

Regards,

Rob Glentzer

by Bob Mueser

DSL Week 1 – Follow Up

I forgot to mention that Player Rosters for Grades 1 through 8 are due by Thursday.  These need to be signed by the principal or pastor to verify that the student attends your catholic school or another diocesan team that has been approved by me in advance for combining.  These rosters are used to help verify that no one is using other players if questioned later on and are required to be submitted to me prior to your first game.  
I previously sent the form of roster around, but here is a link to the forms page as well on the webpage where you can grab it from if needed.https://pittdsl.org/forms/

by Bob Mueser

DSL – Week 1

All:

As we head into the the start of the soccer season this week, I wanted to reach out on a few reminders for the season:
1.  Attached is, what I believe to be, the final contact list.  Please use this to contact opposing coaches, referee coordinators and me as needed.  As a reminder, the home team should be reaching out to the opposing team by Wednesday to confirm specifics.  Opposing team, if you haven't heard from them by Thursday, please reach out and cc me on the email.  If you fail to reach out, you run the chance of having jerseys too similar, arriving at the wrong location, or arriving for a game that one of the teams didn't think was happening.
2. Weather towards the end of the week doesn't look too bad, as a reminder though, cancellations must be sent to opposing coaches/ref coordinators no later than 3 hours before the game, which means, if your game times are 8:30 am, you must make a call by 5:30 am if you are playing or the night before so that opposing teams and refs can plan accordingly.  For cancellations, also remember if it is within 48 hours of game time, Chuck (for schools using PIAA refs for the developmental and all girls leagues) and/or Russ (for JV/V Co-ed matches) must be called/texted as well as emailed.  Failure to follow this protocol could result in you having to pay for refs that day if they show up or the forfeiting of the match.
3. I know Russ and Chuck are working on staffing the referee schedules.  
  • For JV/Varsity Co-ed games, nothing more is needed on your end (other than keeping us current with any cancellations/reschedules).  The Refs will be paid via arbiter so coaches won't need to pay those refs.  Coaches will need to have a copy of the game cards for the opposing coach and the refs and the winning team (home team if there is a tie) will need to get a signed game card at the end of the game to upload to the standings site via the included QR code.  Failure to get the game card may result in the game not counting towards standings (which determine playoff eligibility).  If you need a copy of the card, see the link for our forms and select Game Card.  https://pittdsl.org/forms/
  • For Developmental and All Girls refs – Schools are free to use their own refs or to coordinate with Chuck on providing PIAA refs.  Home teams are responsible for paying refs (PIAA refs will be $55 per person per game, other refs that the schools use are at whatever pay scale agreed to, usually between $20 and $30 per game)

4. Also, games have been uploaded to the web site for JV/V games.  Please go to the schedule tab of our website and review your games and make sure everything looks accurate.  Also, please check out the “Schools” tab and “Fields” tab and let us know if anything needs updated there as well.  We are relying on you to make sure that your school related content is accurate and we can make any changes requested if needed.  Web address is puttdsl.org

5. For JV/V matches, please remember to both get the signed game card back from the ref and to immediately upload it to the webpage.  You can do so by scanning the QR code or using this link https://pittdsl.org/report-score/ , complete your email address, together with the Divisions (JV/V), and league (Premier (11's), MLS (7's), or Girls, Selecting the correct home team and away team (note if a school has multiple teams playing don't forget to use colors (St Kilians Green or White and Sacred Heart Red or Black are the ones to watch for this season), selecting the correct score, and uploading pictures of both sides of your and the opponent's game cards (you can post two pics).  Once that is all uploaded, hit submit and do not leave the screen until you get the successful upload update.
6. Finally, remember sportsmanship, especially early on in the season where many teams have one or no practices prior to the start of the season.   We do not permit goal differentials in a game to be larger than 7.  If a team exceeds that, you run the risk of that game being set aside and not having it counted for standings.
Thats all for me, good luck and lets hope the fields dry out a bit!  Also, please remember that rain doesn't mean we don't play.  If a team is on turf they can still play and even grass fields can be playable if the traction is safe enough for action.  Lightning though would result in a game delay of 30 minutes from the last seen storm activity.
Rob

by Bob Mueser

DSL – Final S26 Schedules

All:
Thank you for the clean up comments to the schedule.  To the extent a game day, time or location has been impacted, head coaches and soccer coordinators for each team have been individually notified over the weekend.  The attached schedule reflects the cumilation of those changes and should be considered the final schedule.  Please disregard the schedule circulated on Friday.
Going forward, if any additional changes are needed you'd need to follow the game rescheduling procedure, whereby both coaches need to agree to the new game day/time/location, cc me on the email, and for MLS or Premier League games, cc Russ Caprio for his sign off on ref coverage and for Developmental or Girls 5v5 games that use PIAA refs, cc Chuck Pruss for his sign off on ref coverage.
Thanks and there will be more informtaion to come, but getting the scheduled finalized so that you can now share with your teams ahead of schedule.
Russ and Chuck, please refer to the attached for Ref Assignments and Bob, you can start uploading the JV/V games onto the website at this time as well.
Regards,

by Bob Mueser

DSL Schedule Reminder

Coaches/Coordinators:
Thanks to those that have caught scheduling errors.  I have been making corrections in real time and have been emailing impacted teams as a heads up and those changes will also be reflected in the revised schedule circulated early next week.
As a reminder, I will only update the schedule for errors.  I have received quite a few scheduling requests that were not errors.  While we do our best to accommodate scheduling requests that are indicated on the registration form, it is not practical for us to entertain additional scheduling requests at this time.  What seems like a minor change involving only two teams, could have large ripple effects on the other age brackets and these can take hours for me to go through each one finding a fix that doesn't adversely impact other age brackets.  
So coaches, if there is a game on a day you work, or a newly announced school event has occurred, all of these can be addressed, but we require you to reach out to the opposing coach and you work out a makeup date and then coordinate with me, Russ (for MLS and Premier League) or Chuck (for Dev and all Girls games if they are using PIAA refs) to ensure coverage.  I noted this procedure in the cover email I sent on Friday, but I've still had numerous emails requesting such changes (14 so far)a.  
Going forward, if I see such a scheduling request that isn't an error on my end, I will just going to respond “see email previously sent on this topic”.  It's not to be rude, but there is just one of me and over a hundred head coaches, so I want to get ahead of the issue in a way that won't be overly time consuming.  Plus, after spending the better part of two weeks making the schedule, I would prefer to limit the times I have to go back in and open the schedule back up on my end.
Rob Glentzer