Author: Bob Mueser

by Bob Mueser

Week 2

All:

In advance of week 2 and the start of our developmental season, please see the attached revised coaches' contact list, which represents the most current information that I have.  Please remember to reach out to your opponents prior to the game to confirm date, time, venue, uniform colors, etc.
As a reminder, the home team pays the referee fees and at the JV/Varsity level, each team is required to print at least two game day roster cards (see attached) and give one to the opposing team and one to the referees.  The winning team (or in the case of a tie, the home team) is responsible to load up the game card immediately so the standings can be kept current.  No score is kept at the developmental level and no game day rosters/cards are required at the developmental level.
Don't hesitate to contact me with any questions and enjoy your first (or possibly second) weekend of soccer.
Regards,
Rob Glentzer
DSL Commissioner
by Bob Mueser

DSL – Weel 1 email

All:

While many schools have a bye week this week, the season is beginning for a few of you this week.  
I won't try to remind you of everything as we head into week 1, but I would encourage you to go back and read the kickoff email I had previously sent and also remind you to communicate with your opposing team's coach well in advance of your game to coordinate game logistics– Most of the problems we encounter could avoided by confirming things like game days, times, locations,  jersey colors.  To that end, attached is an updated contact list, there are a few schools/teams for which I am still missing information on with respect to their head coaches.  In those instances please communicate with the soccer coordinator until we get that information completed.
Also, for JV/Varsity matches please remember to upload your game card (see attached for the form), right after the game, preferably from the field while it's fresh on your mind and before you lose the game card.  As always, the winner is responsible for uploading game cards, and, in the event of a tie, the home team is responsible for uploading game cards.  Failure to upload the game cards in a timely manner will result in the game results not being counted for standings.
Please let me know if any questions arise.  I'll be travelling a bit over the weekend, but other than some time on the lower yough, I'll have my cell phone generally with me (412-491-9377).
Finally, I wanted to let the developmental coaches in the league know of an opportunity to get a few more touches if they are interested.  When we partnered with No Offseason Sports as a venue for our Developmental Tournaments they had expressed some interest in providing more soccer opportunities for youth soccer players in the Pittsburgh region.  I am helping them put together a few tournaments under the lights on a few Saturday evenings this fall.  The format is 5v5 soccer, similar to our tournaments.  There is a boys tournament where boy or co-ed teams can play on Saturday, September 24, from 5-9pm, and there is a girls tournament for all girl teams on Saturday October 1.  There will be a U-6 bracket, U-8 bracket, U-10 bracket and a U-12 bracket.  Registration is not limited to Diocese teams, any recreational, school, travel or cup team can register.   I've attached a pdf of the registration flyer with more details if anyone is interested.
Regards,
Rob Glentzer
DSL Commissioner
NOS Tournament.jpeg
by Bob Mueser

DSL Fall 2022 Kickoff Email

All:

Thank you for all of your efforts in getting things ready to start with this year’s Fall soccer season, attached to this email you will find brackets and schedules. Please review and let me know if you see any errors.  We ended up scheduling 393 games and typographical errors sometimes happen despite our best efforts. 

Brackets for Developmental are fairly self-explanatory.  For the developmental program our goal is to get each developmental team 7 games during the 7 week season.  In the third grade bracket we had an odd number of teams so one team in that bracket ended up with an eighth game inorder for everyone to play 7.  That team was chosen at random.

With respect to the JV and Varsity Brackets we had enough teams to do 3 divisions (One 7's division consisting of 5 JV teams and 7 Varsity teams) and 2 divisions of 11's (MLS and Premier, each of which consisted of 6 teams at the JV and Varsity levels).   For JV/Varsity Playoffs we will keep to our long standing 50% plus one formula in deciding how many teams make the playoffs.  That means that if your bracket has 5 teams in it, the top three of each bracket will advance to the post season with the first seed getting a bye into the championship game and seeds 2 and 3 playing a play-in game.  If your bracket has 6 or 7 teams in it, the top four of each bracket will advance to the postseason with seeds 1 and 4 playing and seeds 2 and 3 playing in the semi final matches.

At the JV/Varsity level brackets are determined in accordance with our league rules, largely based off of a formula that takes into account previous records for the combined JV/Varsity squad and their previous bracket strength.   

If you have any questions don't hesitate to reach out and I will be happy to explain why schools have been placed where they are, but please understand that these determinations are final, and as always, we will rebalance our brackets again for next Spring based upon the results of this Fall. 

Additionally, attached to this email is a listing of contact information for head coaches and soccer coordinators for each school.  Please review and make sure that any necessary parties are listed and listed correctly.  Let me know if there are any corrections. Data entry is not a forte of mine, typos can occur, if something is off with your contact info let me know and I will correct it. 

Also note the following:

1.      Jersey Colors – Home team is dark, Away team is light.  If the referee determines that the colors are too similar the home team is required to either change their jerseys or wear pinnies.  The coordination of jersey colors is something that should be discussed by the coaches in the email/phone/text change that occurs prior to the games and discussed below.

2.      Confirmation of Game Details – As we have done in the past, each home coach should reach out to the away coach on or before Wednesday (or two days prior if your game is played before Friday) to confirm game times and locations, directions and jersey colors (see attached spreadsheet for coach contact information).  Please cc the soccer coordinator as well for that school.  The home coach should also share any COVID regulations, if any, that the home school or venue is requiring (such as spectator limits, mask requirements, etc.).   If the away team has not heard from the home team by Thursday (or one day prior if the game day is before Friday), they should reach out and initiate contact with the home team’s coach and soccer coordinator.  If no contact has been able to be made, please reach out to me.  Be a courteous and respectful guest and remember that whatever regulations and rules that your school employs may not be applicable at someone else’s fields.  If there are compliance issues here, please let me know as I prefer to get ahead of these issues than to let them get out of control.  Also, if the current contact list doesn't include information on a head coach to contact, please send the email directly to the Soccer Coordinator instead.

3.  Attendance at away games is not optional – I have heard reports of schools, mostly at the developmental level, opting not to play another school because the drive was too far.  That is not how this league works.  In order for schools to have home games, away games are part of the deal.  A lot of time and effort has been put into this league by me, by you, by our players and our parents; everyone is pulling their oars in the same direction so that the kids get a chance to have fun and learn the sport.  If I hear reports of schools unilaterally deciding to not show up because of travel times or other unapproved reasons, I will look into the situation and react accordingly.  As I mentioned last year, that could include, but not be limited to losing home games in the following season for either that particular team or possibly the school.  In extreme instances it could also result in schools being suspended for a season.  I am hopeful that we don't have any such issues this season though and we can continue to focus our efforts on making this league and our sport better.

4.  Scheduling Requests.  I did my best, there were a lot of requests this year.  In the aggregate some of them became incompatible with one another.  For those that turned in “clean sheets” with no requests, thank you, you are the unsung heros that give me the flexibility to maneuver and make a schedule that accommodates as many requests as we do.  As you review the schedules let me know if you have questions.  

Scheduling requests caused a few issues at the JV/Varsity level such as schools playing the same team in consecutive weeks.  These compromises are not ideal, but they were necessary in order to accommodate the scheduling requests and get the games in during our allotted season.  

We had more problems at the developmental level because we have 7 weeks to get 7 games in and we are working around conflicting schedules for cross county, volleyball, musicals, etc. Also, there are instances where schools with multiple teams in a bracket requested a black out date and I have them playing each other on that date with the understanding that the schools can make that game up with their two squads whenever it is best for them.  You will also note that there are more double header games than we typically have in a season.  This is a direct result of trying to accommodate all of the scheduling requests that we received.  

If additional requests come since the time that your registration was delivered you will need to work those out with the opposing team (see below for reschedule procedures).  All games should be played.  Schools have registered with the understanding that they will get to play at least 7 games at the developmental level and 8 games at the JV/Varsity level. At the JV/Varsity level, at best, unplayed games will put you at a disadvantage for league standings and depending on the circumstances, could result in forfeit wins (2 points instead of 3) and forfeit losses (-2 points instead of 0) being allocated.

5. Reschedule Requests– Games can only be cancelled and rescheduled due to weather and due to Diocesan and School events.   

i)                For Developmental Games, the coach/coordinator for the requesting school should reach out to the coach of the opposing team with the request and cc the opposing school's coordinator and me.  Both parties need to agree to the rescheduled day and time.  If one school is being uncooperative, let me know.

ii)                 For JV and Varsity Games, the coach/coordinator for the requesting school should reach out to the coach of the opposing team with the request and cc the opposing school's coordinator, me and Chuck Pruss (Chuck is cc’d on this email and his email is in the schedules).   Both parties need to agree to the rescheduled time.  No alternative time is final until Chuck can confirm that he is able to provide referee coverage for the alternative time. 

6. Webpage– With respect to the JV/Varsity games those schedules will be loaded onto the webpage.  Please refer to this schedule until such time as we have updated the webpage, please be patient, we are volunteers with day jobs so we are all doing this in our free time and will get it uploaded as soon as we are able.  As always, each coach should be making contact with the opposing team to verify game details in advance of the game.  Relying solely on either this schedule or the webpage can result in errors– in almost every instance of teams showing up on the wrong days/locations/times, it is directly attributable to coaches not confirming with one another game details in advance.

Finally, here are a few more points as we go into the season:

  • Registration Fees are overdue. Fees are $100 per team. The check is payable to Diocese of Pittsburgh and sent c/o Rob Glentzer at 116 Wickerham Drive, Mars, PA 16046
  • Rosters are due for all teams – Developmental, JV, and Varsity – by September 1 via e-mail or US mail. If you use e-mail, please properly scan and/or attach the document. Improperly scanned documents or unreadable/partial pictures will not be accepted. Preferably a soccer coordinator can send all of the rosters for all of their teams. Jersey numbers for JV/Varsity should be listed on the roster.  Roster forms are attached to this email.
  • Referee Fees for JV and Varsity are $45 per ref per game so with 2 referees it is $90 per game so for 4 home games, it would be $360 for the regular season.  Home teams pay for the JV/Varsity Referees.  For developmental games home teams supply and pay for the referees and the home team sets the pay scale, unless they are utilizing PIAA referees.  Those that are using PIAA referees for developmental games need to coordinate with Chuck.  Also note that referee fees have held steady for a number of years, but we are scheduled for an increase in fees to $50 per ref per game for the Fall 2023 season so please plan accordingly.
  • Two (2) Game Cards should be used for all JV and Varsity games – one is for the opposing coach and one is for the referee. Other documents will not be accepted. Call up players, e.g. JV playing up on varsity should be added to the game card for the game.  Results of the game are to be posted online using the webpage or QR code by the winning team (or, in the event of a tie, the home team).  A picture of the results, roster and yellow/red card information must be included or the results will not be official.  It is best to upload this information immediately following the game.  I have attached a sample game card and they can also be found online
  • Below is a quick summary of some division specific information, but please consult the rules for a more detailed listing:

 

Division

Grades

Ball Size

Game Length

Field Size

Format

Goal Size

Heading

Slide Tackle

Jr. Developmental

1 & 2

3

 50 minutes

¼

5v5

6×8 or 6×12

No

No

Developmental

3 & 4

4

 50 minutes

½

7v7

6×12

No

No

JV

5 & 6

4

 60 minutes

Full (shorter field for 7's if possible)

11v11 or 7v7

8×24

No

No

Varsity

7 & 8

5

 60 minutes

Full (shorter field for 7's if possible)

11v11 or 7v7

8×24

Yes, but not punts or goal kicks

Yes, but not from behind and contact with the ball must be made first

 

  • Let’s remember sportsmanship and not run up the score. If you are up on a team by 4 goals you should start to implement measures to make the game more competitive.  You could instruct your players to pass more, playback and practice your build up, have your players shoot with their non-dominant foot, pull off a player or two, or ask the team if they would like to add a player or two (if the ref consents).  It is ok to want to win, and the players that work hard and are the better team that day deserve the win.  But it is also important to teach them how to win (and lose) with grace. Teams that win by more than 8 goals will be flagged for review and the results for that game could be set aside by the commissioner, in my sole discretion.  Repeat violations of this rule may result in the offending school being sanctioned with the loss of home games in the current or future season.
  • We are a co-ed league, all coaches should be playing boys and girls in an equal manner and doing what they can to encourage the development of all players.
  • Last, but not least, please remember, we are doing this all for the kids.  Let’s keep and maintain a safe environment for them and set good examples for them throughout the season.  

 

That’s all, if you've read this far, congrats, hopefully this is the longest email I will send all season.  Play safe and I hope you all have a great season this year.


Rob Glentzer

DSL Commissioner

by Bob Mueser

DSL – Upcoming call, Schedules, and other matters

All:

It's August so that means soccer is right around the corner for the Diocese Soccer League.  There are a few items I want to cover in this email so I'll get right to it.
1. League Call – It's this Thursday, 7:30 pm via zoom.  The relevant dial in information is at the end of this email.   I've attached a closing agenda outlining what I plan on covering and there is an open forum for any other questions as well.  Also, closer to the start of the season I will distribute a “kickoff” email that will have lots of relevant information.  I allotted 2 hours for the meeting on the off chance things go long, Based on the subject material I hope to be done in 30 minutes.  Ideally at least one representative from each school will be on the call so that they can relay the information and ask any questions that your school might have.
2. League Rules – Attached are the current DSL Rules for your reference.  If you are keeping score at home, also attached is a redline showing the changes made from the previous draft.  The webpage will be updated prior to the start of the season with the newest rules.
3. Bracketing/Schedules– We are hard at work on these and we are still on track to be able to deliver them to you by the end of the month.  Please be patient, we have 107 teams registered, 393 games to schedule and I am still trying to figure out a way to accommodate all or most of the 365 scheduling requests received.  These things take time to do right, and even after checking and double checking we often find a few typos after the fact.  As a coach and a parent though I can appreciate everyone wanting schedules as soon as possible so that you can get things organized, as soon as I can send them I will.  
4. Coach Contacts – After we get schedules closer to final, we will start working in coach contact spreadsheets to facilitate inter-team communication.  When we get to that point I will be reaching back out to many of the coordinators to get that information completed in your registration packets.
More info to come in the next few weeks and I look forward to chatting with those that can make it on Thursday evening.
Rob Glentzer
DSL Commissioner

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by Bob Mueser

DSL – Last Day to Register and DSG Event Update

Good Morning all, two quick items this morning:

1. First, and most importantly, remember that today is the last day for registration for our fall season, make sure to have completed the attached registration form and submit it to me by the end of the day.
2.Second, thanks to Coach McKenna from AMA, who is also an employee at Dick's Sporting Goods, we were able to expand our DSG coupon reach south and east.  The stores that will honor the coupon are as follows:  Robinson, Cranberry, McCandless, Beaver Valley Mall, South Hills Village and Monreoville.  The link to, and a jpeg of, the coupon are below and they are good from this Friday through next Monday.
Finally, as a reminder, I had a few questions on timing of season, Diocese start date of practice,etc. so I have reattached the Fall timeline (note to coaches, that date is the date in which the diocese allows practices to start, your actual start date may be later on a school by school basis and that is determined by the school (usually the AD or Soccer Coordinator).  
Let me know if you have any questions.
Rob Glentzer
DSL Commissioner

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by Bob Mueser

DSL Fall 22 Season

All, a few quick items as we creep towards the start of August:

1.  Reminder that registrations are due this Monday, August 1.  I don't need rosters at this time, but I do need every school to have completed their registration form and submitted their registration fees (checks for fees should be made out to the Diocese of Pittsburgh and sent c/o Rob Glentzer, 116 Wickerham Drive, Mars PA 16046).  Attached is the form and please let me know if you have any questions.
2. If you are heading out for Soccer gear for this season, Dick's has offered us their 20% coupon again.  The coupon is valid next Friday August 5th through Monday, August 8th at the following locations: Robinson, Cranberry, McCandless, or Beaver Valley Mall.  This coupon can be used by anyone for most things in the store so feel free to use and share with anyone who might need it, Last year I used it to buy a kayak so no one will stop and ask you if those golf balls are for you or the soccer team.    An image of the coupon and a link are included below.
3. If you are still getting these emails and you'd prefer to be left off for any reason let me know.  I know that each Fall some of our volunteers move on as kids get older.  Let me know and I'll drop you from our distribution list.
Rob Glentzer
DSL Commissioner

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by Bob Mueser

DSL Fall 2022 Season – Registration/Rules Update

All, 

Registration will open this Friday for the Fall 2022 DSL soccer program.  Prior to that, I wanted to follow up on our recent league survey.  We had a great response and based on the responses I wanted to note the following:
Tie Breaker – Our tie breaker standard of head to head performance at JV/V amongst the teams that are tied will remain in place (approximately 75% of respondents in favor of keeping that in place).  I may look at sharpening the language a bit to avoid confusion in the future, but substantively, nothing will change.
League Format – We are going to allow for both 7v7 and 11v11 leagues this season (approximately 60% of respondents were in favor of makinig that change).  I have attached an updated registration form that includes these options, some of the bullet points to keep in mind when registering are as follows:
  • When registering you need to keep the same format for both JV and Varsity if you are registering both.  Our scheduling requirements will not permit you to have one JV at 7v and one varsity at 11v.  You will need to figure out which league is best for your school as a whole.
  • If you have multiple teams at JV or Varsity you could put one in 11v and one in 7v. (just remember the above bullet point where we need to keep JV/V together for scheduling purposes, but if you have a second JV/V team they could be in a different league).
  • As of now cross-rostering of varsity 11v to varsity 7v (as well as JV11v and JV 7v) will not be permitted.   Just like we have it with different brackets, players can't cross over (if we revisit this I'll let you know, but our concern here is stopping schools from registering multiple teams and stacking them to collect trophies).
  • You should not register two 7v teams at the JV or Varsity level without getting my approval in advance.  Generally speaking I am not inclined to grant that approval since if you have enough for two 7v teams, you should be playing 11v, and if I see a school with two 7v teams registered I will more than likely enter them into 11v instead.  If there is a situation that I am not considering I am open to discussing it, just know that I am inclined to say no.
  • Schools that are playing 7v7 may consider shortening the field a bit for that format to 250 foot in length or so.  There will be schools that are not able to shorten the fields and if that is the case, be prepared to alter your strategy (more passing instead of dribbling, for example).  There is a decent chance that come playoffs we do not play on a shortened field since we play on turf and I can't paint new goal boxes for our games.  These are all factors that should play into whether you want to register for 7v.  
  • Once all registrations are in, I will see whether or not we have enough teams to make both leagues viable, if we do not we may need to revisit and I'll reach out to you if needed.
  • If we have enough to do 11v and 7v please understand that this will wreak havoc on our bracketing this season and possibly future seasons.  As schools jump in and out of brackets I'll do my best to place people where the composite rankings say you should go, but this could result in a school going up or down more than one bracket (something we try to avoid).  You will have to trust me that I am doing it fairly, and as always, if you have any questions as to how I bracketed, I am happy to take the time to talk specifics with you.
  • Other things may come up, this is new and new things have unforeseen ripple effects.  Thank you in advance for both your patience and suggestions as we try to navigate this change.  It is my earnest hope though that by making the change to the two formats that we are able to keep more schools and students participating in the league and mitigate the occurrence of forfeits/cancellations throughout the season.
Regards,
Rob
by Bob Mueser

DSL – Summer Stuff

All:

As we head into summer and before we get started in earnest on the logistics of the fall 22 season I thought it made sense to both circulate a fall timeline (see attached) and to get some input on this year's season.
Fall 2022 TimeLine.
It is pretty straightforward and not much has changed from last year.  Let me know if you have any questions and note that DSL Registration opens July 1, closes August 1, and that our kickoff meeting is August 11th at 7:30pm (zoom link to follow closer to the date).
League Parity.
On the plus side for this year, I noted that our league has gained quite a bit in the way of parity amongst the teams in each bracket.  For those that like data, I've attached a few charts that note league wins, goal differential for the each game throughout the season, and goal differential for each game during the playoffs at the JV/Varsity level; and while there are always exceptions here and there, overall the league parity is as close as I can recall it ever being, which goes a long way in keeping the sport exciting for all involved.
League Restructure.
On the negative side for this year, I have seen a trend that started in the fall of 2020 where some schools have had issues fielding 11 on the field for games.  At the time, this trend was largely attributed to COVID issues.  This trend was further felt this spring when DSL soccer had to largely compress our season into the month of May due to weather issues, and then it was even more pronounced when the other spring sports had to do the same.  Weather-wise, this spring was definitely an anomaly, but it did get me thinking a bit outside of the box and wonder whether it made sense to restructure our league a bit.  So here is what I am asking for your input on–(1) should we leave the league as is and have all JV/V matches be 11v11, or (2) should we try to create two divisions to our league – one 11v11 and one 7v7?  
There are some details that we'd need to work out before we definitively committed to doing two separate leagues, but I can tell you that if we did this, we'd let schools opt into what league that they prefer and then make our skill level brackets up from there.  11v11 teams would play each other and 7v7 teams would play each other; there would be no crossovers.  Also, due to current scheduling limitations, both your JV and Varsity teams would have to opt into the same league, we can't have one JV team be 11v11 and the corresponding varsity team be 7v7 (or vice versa).  If that scheduling limitation ends up going away, I'll let you know, but for now there is no way around that.  
Finally, I wanted to note that the goal still is and should remain to field 11v11 teams.  The 7v7 option is being considered for school's whose soccer enrollment would make that otherwise impossible and their only recourse is to not roster a team, or continually forfeit games throughout the season. If you attempt to enter two teams in the same age group into 7v7 that will not be permitted. Instead we'd reserve the discretion to either bump you up to 11v11 or eliminate one of the 7v7 squads.  I don't want to encourage teams to forum shop brackets in the 7v7 league to seemingly increase their odds of winning a trophy, this is an option only to be used when enrollment dictates it and I'd ask you to utilize it only for that purpose.
I'm curious as to your thoughts on this and am soliciting your opinions in the attached survey link.  I can tell you on the plus side I think it might allow more schools to compete and get more players on the field, which is always one of our top priorities.  On the down side I foresee more administrative work making this all work (not ideal, but doable), some opportunities for schools to manipulate numbers to try to get into lower brackets (which we hope won't happen but we will try to build in some safeguards to prevent), and the other big negative I foresee is the potential backwards step in league parity– doing two leagues will result in fewer teams in each league so when I make the competitive brackets there could be less competitive matchups than what we might otherwise have seen.  That is speculative though.  
Tie Breaker Rules.
The other item that came up towards the end of our season was tie breaker rules.  At the JV/V level section standings and playoff qualifications are determined by standing points (3 for win, 1 for a tie, and 0 for a loss, -2 for a forfeit loss, 2 for a forfeit win and 0 for an unplayed game).  At the end of the season those numbers are calculated.  In the event of a tie we then go to our tiebreakers.  The tiebreaker rules are in our rules posted online, but the first tie breaker is goal differential amongst the two tied teams in their head to head matchup(s) (capped at 4 per game) and the second one is overall goal differential for each team for their entire season (again capped at 4 per game).  Because our league has become more competitive, these tie breaker rules have become more utilized recently.  Also, our webpage does a great job at keeping everyone up to date on the game results, but the coding logic is unable to process our first tie breaker (head to head goal differential in those one or two matchups) and despite disclaimers/warnings on this discrepancy to the league, I am aware of one incident where a team didn't understand the tie breaker rules and it caused some confusion on their end.  
With that background I wanted to take the league pulse on this point and see if there was significant support to revisit our tie breaker rules.  Reasonable people can disagree on this and let's face it, any time you are looking at tiebreakers, someone is going to get the short end of the stick.  I can tell you that the rationale for using head to head performance first is that oftentimes schools schedules aren't the same and if Team A and Team B are tied and Team A played Team C twice and Team B only played Team C once and Team C happened to be the worst team that season, Team A has an advantage that wasn't foreseen at the time schedules were made.  By using the head to head tiebreaker though you focus on those two teams' performance against one another.  The down side though is that rather than focus on a season's worth of performance to break the tie, you are focussing on just one or two games.  I don't think any answer is wrong, but for what it's worth, I do think that our current method is the most correct.  I'd be curious as to your opinions though so please let me know in the below survey link:
That is all I have for now.  In the off time before Fall registration opens up on July 1 though, feel free to read through our rules and let me know if anything else strikes you as needing revisited.  If it's as simple as a clean up or typo we can correct that easily.  If it's more substantive than that though we can discuss.  Otherwise I look forward to working with you all again soon and enjoy your summer.
Rob Glentzer
DSL Commissioner
by Bob Mueser

DSL Spring 2022 Wrap up and looking ahead to Fall 2022

Good evening everyone, 

Yesterday we just capped off our last Spring Soccer event of the year, the Spring 2022 JV/Varsity Championship Series.  Over the weekend we had 27 different teams play 19 different games to get down to 8 Champions (2 age groups, and 4 skill brackets).  It was some of the more competitive soccer I witnessed in my two years running the league.  Those 19 games had an average goal differential of 1.8 games per game and we had 4 matches decided in overtime.  The 8 championship matches were even more competitive than that, with an average goal differential of 1.4 and no match having a goal differential over 2.  Congrats to all the teams that participated and I do want to recognize our champions and runners ups:
MLS JV – Holy Cross over Sacred Heart 1-0
La Liga JV – St. Kilian over Sacred Heart 2-1 in overtime
Bundesliga JV – Guardian Angel over St. Monica 2-0
Premier JV – St. Kilian over Aquinas 2-1
MLS Varsity – Holy Cross over Holy Sepulcher 2-0 
La Liga Varsity – Sacred Heart over Mary of Nazareth 2-1
Bundesliga Varsity – Guardian Angel over Sts. Peter & Paul 1-0
Premier Varsity – Archangel Gabriel over Providence Heights Alpha 2-0
In addition to the above teams and the others that qualified for the playoffs, I wanted to thank everyone else for all of their efforts this season at the Developmental, JV and Varsity levels.  Those that know me know that I am not one for participation trophies, but if there ever was a season that warranted them, this was it.  Despite rain outs and snow storms consistently causing havoc throughout March and April, you all found a way to get just about all of these games in, even if you had to do it almost entirely in the month of May.  I know for a few of you that meant playing one half of your season's games in a span of a week, never an ideal situation, but thank you all for your efforts to somehow pull it all together.
I am going to take a week or two to focus on things not related to soccer (my car still has its ski racks on and I'm way past due to get the kayak racks up there), but you will be hearing from me soon on the details for the fall season and some of the potential improvements that we are considering for the league (for those that have suggestions don't hesitate to share them with me as well– I can't promise anything more than I'll listen to whatever you throw my way and give it consideration, but if there is a problem with some aspect of the league and you have a solution, I'd love to hear it— just not this week, give me until at least next monday).
In the meantime, and because time doesn't stop for any of us, I did want to share that our fall registration opens July 1 and closes August 1 (same time frames as the last couple fall seasons). To the extent that your fall sports registration for your school isn't open yet, consider opening that up sooner rather than later as I can't extend our registration deadline out and still meet the target we have for getting out schedules in advance of week 1.
Thanks again for everything and best wishes to you all for an enjoyable and exciting summer.
Rob Glentzer
DSL Commissioner
by Bob Mueser

DSL – Last Weekend of Regular Season JV/V matches

All:

Two things:
First, I have a correction and apology to make regarding the developmental tournament announcements. St Bede First Grade Team was the second place finisher.  I had initially reported them as only making it to the semifinals.  Congrats St. Bede.
Second, as we head into our last weekend of play at the JV/V level, I would remind all teams to upload the gamecards immediately after their game.  There are some very close brackets that may come down to tie breakers and the sooner we have the scores from these games, the sooner we can make playoff determinations and announce pairings, dates and times for specific games.  Absent an exemption granted by me, games not played by Sunday will not count for standings, so please contact me immediately if you foresee any issues.  
I would again ask each coach to review the webpage standings and confirm that they are accurate.  https://pittdsl.org/standings/  To our knowledge these standings are accurate (absent possible tie breaker situations as the web page formula isn't aligned with our tie breaker formula (human logic and computer logic are not always simpatico, so I have to sharpen the pencil and crunch numbers when we get into the realm of tiebreakers).  
Also note that this is the second request asking teams to review standings.  If you fail to review the standings and do not bring any issues to our attention by Sunday, the ability for us to make any necessary corrections will have expired as more than likely schedules and pairings will have been released.  And while I will feel bad that due to an error your team was left out, I will remind you of this email and the one before where I asked you to verify standings and explain that had you reviewed and brought it to our attention earlier we could have corrected it, but that the period for corrections has expired.  
Don't put yourself, your team or me in that position, please review.  Remember we are volunteers with day jobs and teams of our own.  And while we have reviewed the standings and believe them to be correct, it is not too much to ask that each of you confirm your team's standings as a final quality control check.  
That's it, good luck to the teams that are playing this weekend and everyone else have a great memorial day weekend.
Rob