Bishop Lynch Wins State Championship

BL beat Ursuline 2-1 to win state.   They have been so close the last 2 years.  Woot Woot.  Way to go girls!!!

Congrats!

Borussia wrote:Congrats!

Nice Pashto Bo.

Does he now work for the Pakistan government? I knew he was a double agent.

Great two Dallas schools in a state final! Congratulations to both programs!

BL is currently #5 in the Nation.

Dale Hanson interrupted the weather to cover this tonight. Congratulations BL!

Congrats to BL.  1 down, 23 to go.  The real question is who deserves most of the credit for the win – the BL players, the BL coaching staff……….or the Ursuline Director of Admissions?

Full Disclosure ** BL Dad **

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the Ursuline Director of Admissions. Their team is / was extremely deep and VERY talented. Wins over Plano West and Cathedral Catholic (then #1 in the Country) highlighted a very impressive campaign and those wins were without their top player. They will reload next year and again be excellent.

I would not say this every year but for this year, the Ursuline squad or the Bishop Lynch squad could play with any high school team in the US.

The Bishop Lynch team was full of very special players this year. They have been more than competitive with Ursuline the past several years losing in PK's last year in the finals after a win and a tie in regular season. This year for those that were at all three games, all three could have gone either way. They were very intense, physical and well played. While I think that the BL coach did everything he needed to do, ultimately, the game was decided by the girls on the field so I'll give them full credit.

DD is a recent UA grad so I've been up close and personal with Nolan and BL over the last 6 years.  In general, I agree with your points and yes I think the girls deserve the credit.  This year's BL team was absolutely loaded.  The point I was trying to make is that Ursuline's high admission standards disqualify a number of very good soccer players who then end up playing for BL (and beating Ursuline in a State Championship).

soccerbop wrote:DD is a recent UA grad so I've been up close and personal with Nolan and BL over the last 6 years.  In general, I agree with your points and yes I think the girls deserve the credit.  This year's BL team was absolutely loaded.  The point I was trying to make is that Ursuline's high admission standards disqualify a number of very good soccer players who then end up playing for BL (and beating Ursuline in a State Championship).

So the only way BL won was by getting a number of players that wanted to play for Ursuline, but couldn't because they couldn't achieve Ursuline's high standards, so they had to settle for BL?

Doesn't really sound like much of a compliment.

Isn't that what Camp Mohawk said after they lost to Camp Northstar???

soccerbop wrote:DD is a recent UA grad so I've been up close and personal with Nolan and BL over the last 6 years.  In general, I agree with your points and yes I think the girls deserve the credit.  This year's BL team was absolutely loaded.  The point I was trying to make is that Ursuline's high admission standards disqualify a number of very good soccer players who then end up playing for BL (and beating Ursuline in a State Championship).

I thought it was Ursuline's tuition rate. Cha-Ching

soccerbop wrote:DD is a recent UA grad so I've been up close and personal with Nolan and BL over the last 6 years.  In general, I agree with your points and yes I think the girls deserve the credit.  This year's BL team was absolutely loaded.  The point I was trying to make is that Ursuline's high admission standards disqualify a number of very good soccer players who then end up playing for BL (and beating Ursuline in a State Championship).

Just think how the coaches at Hockaday and Greenhill feel!

First off, excellent use of the Meatballs reference.  Although I think BL and Ursuline both fall under the Camp Mohawk category - elite private institutions it costs a lot to send your kid to.  Second, my original post wasn't intended to be a compliment ... or an insult.  It was just meant to explain a dynamic that put BL in a position to win the state championship.  Certainly the coaches and players deserve the credit but it's tough to ignore the fact that several of BL's best players were denied admission to Ursuline and then went to play for BL.  The "Sting/Texan girl ECNL players who attend private Catholic high school" community is actually pretty small.  It's not like it's some big secret.  The kids know and the parents know.

soccerbop wrote:First off, excellent use of the Meatballs reference.  Although I think BL and Ursuline both fall under the Camp Mohawk category - elite private institutions it costs a lot to send your kid to.  Second, my original post wasn't intended to be a compliment ... or an insult.  It was just meant to explain a dynamic that put BL in a position to win the state championship.  Certainly the coaches and players deserve the credit but it's tough to ignore the fact that several of BL's best players were denied admission to Ursuline and then went to play for BL.  The "Sting/Texan girl ECNL players who attend private Catholic high school" community is actually pretty small.  It's not like it's some big secret.  The kids know and the parents know.

Someone sent me a copy of the transcript of the motivational speech the BL captain gave the team the night before the final...

"...and even if we win, if we win, HAH! Even if we win! Even if we play so far above our heads that our noses bleed for a week to ten days; even if God in Heaven above comes down and points his hand at our side of the field; even if every man woman and child held hands together and prayed for us to win, it just wouldn't matter because all the really good looking guys would still go out with the girls from Ursuline, because they've got all the brains! It just doesn't matter if we win or we lose. IT JUST DOESN'T MATTER! IT JUST DOESN'T MATTER! IT JUST DOESN'T MATTER! IT JUST DOESN'T MATTER! IT JUST DOESN'T MATTER..."

BL is a Diocese school and for a private school has "reasonable" tuition.  While there are no 100% scholarships, they work with the parents who are making huge sacrifices to send their kids to an academically excellent faith based school.   There is a lot of academic and economic diversity at BL.  This is part of their culture and mission.   BL was my daughter's first choice for high school and she received a great education.   When my dd was a freshman, the BL team was approximately 1/2 club players and 1/2 what I call rec+.  There were many students who played high level club but didn't want to play for BL because they didn't think the team was competitive enough.  The team did amazingly well given its composition because of the school spirit and the girls' spirit.  As the team did better, more girls and their parents joined/supported the team.  I think the key here is success breeds success.   It also doesn't hurt that the school stepped up too.  They now have a wonderful football/soccer field.   I kid you not, they used to lay straw out on the old field because it was so uneven and boggy.  The better facilities certainly help.

Ursuline has an incredibly deep bench.   My dd played for St. John's Episcopal School in the Junior High TAPPS League.  They were state champs the entire time she was on the team.  At this age, the teams are co-ed.  SJ is a small school and a lot of their key players were girls.  I think my DD was the only girl keep I ever saw during league play.  Often when SJ played, most of the girls from other teams stayed on the bench.  One of SJ's top players also played for Sting.  Small but incredibly fast who is playing in college for a solid school/team.  We could not believe it when she was not even a starter for Ursuline?!!

Just curious,

1. At which grade would those private schools accept student athletes the most? Or which grade would be better for my dd to apply?

2. Which private schools would like to accept more elite soccer player?

3. Roughly how many players on those teams are club/ENCL players?

MaggieMaggie wrote:BL is a Diocese school and for a private school has "reasonable" tuition.  While there are no 100% scholarships, they work with the parents who are making huge sacrifices to send their kids to an academically excellent faith based school.   There is a lot of academic and economic diversity at BL.  This is part of their culture and mission.   BL was my daughter's first choice for high school and she received a great education.   When my dd was a freshman, the BL team was approximately 1/2 club players and 1/2 what I call rec+.  There were many students who played high level club but didn't want to play for BL because the team wasn't competitive.  The team did amazingly well given its composition because of the school spirit and the girls' spirit.  As the team did better, more girls and their parents joined/supported the team.  I think the key here is success breeds success.   It also doesn't hurt that the school stepped up too.  They now have a wonderful football/soccer field.   I kid you not, they used to lay straw out on the old field because it was so uneven and boggy.  The better facilities certainly help.

Ursuline has an incredibly deep bench.   My dd played for St. John's Episcopal School in the Junior High TAPPS League.  They were state champs the entire time she was on the team.  At this age, the teams are co-ed.  SJ is a small school and a lot of their key players were girls.  I think my DD was the only girl keep I ever saw during league play.  Often when SJ played, most of the girls from other teams stayed on the bench.  One of SJ's top players also played for Sting.  Small but incredibly fast who is playing in college for a solid school/team.  We could not believe it when she was not even a starter for Ursuline?!!

1.  Ursuline has grades 9-12 and gets around 200 girls with each Freshman class.  The acceptance rate is somewhere between 25% and 50% depending on the class.  There are always a few girls that leave after freshman year (academic load, don't like the all-girl environment, etc) so some slots open for sophomore transfers.  Two of the 4 captains on last year's State Championship team came from UIL High Schools as transfers.  On the flip side, BL's best goalkeeper this year was a transfer from Ursuline.  

2.  Ursuline couldn't care less whether a girl plays soccer at all let alone on an ECNL team.  It plays absolutely no role in the admissions process.  As you can tell from my earlier posts I wished it did.

3.  Without digging through the rosters I'd say over the last 6 years Ursuline has had around 8-10 players each year that play ECNL.

Soccerbop is correct, playing soccer is not a factor in accepting a student.  Any of the high school coaches would love to get a top player but it does not effect admissions.  BL has grades 9-12 and members of the Diocese have preference in admissions.  In the last 5 years, BL went from maybe 50% of their team even playing club to maybe 5 girls who are on ECNL teams this year?  I'm not familiar with the freshman and would also need to go back and check the rosters to verify the stats.   Like I said before, even with only 50% club players, the team did amazingly well and still won most of their games. There is a very positive and winning environment at BL.  Applications are from approximately Sept - Jan of the year before admissions.  They allow prospective students to shadow visit.  

"To determine if a student has the academic ability to succeed at Bishop Lynch, the committee reviews the application essays, standardized test scores, report card grades, and teacher recommendations."

In addition to their now strong soccer program, BL girls are also a basketball and volleyball power house.   The mock trial team also just won locally and is moving to state.   So much for the rah rah.   If you are really interested in any of these schools, check out their websites where all is revealed.

Student Population 2014-2015

Total Enrollment: 1083
Seniors: 286
Juniors: 256
Sophomores:272
Freshmen: 269

Males: 46%
Females: 54%

Catholic: 78%
Non-Catholic: 22%

African-American: 7%
Caucasian: 53%
Asian: 4%
Hispanic: 22%
Multi-Racial 6%
Pacific Islander >1%
Other: 7%

Ursuline had 11 ECNL players available to them by my count and some of them did not make the varsity squad. Their top players play at the very highest levels of Club sports and will do the same at the College level with at least one playing for the National Team. I watched their JV as well a couple games and there is no doubt that Ursuline is as deep as any HS team in the Country.

This year, B/L had 10 ECNL girls on the roster. Same dynamics. Their top girls play at the highest level of club soccer and will do the same on the college level. BL had some Club girls opt for basketball and volleyball but overall, they are not usually as deep as Ursuline.

Both of the posts above are correct when it comes to admissions. Coaches may talk to your girls just as a teacher would about the prospects of playing and the benefits of attending school but they do not affect the admissions process other than maybe getting your DD to apply. Neither school offers athletic scholarships.

There is no reason to talk to either school prior to late 7th grade or 8th grade year. They are High Schools only (which can be a big plus) so kids come from a huge variety of places. Mine also went to SJ which is considered a major feeder school to BL. Out of the freshmen class of 285, 25 came from SJ which is certainly one of the top 3 feeder schools. Thus, virtually everyone is "new".

Both are excellent options but they are vastly different.