The 411: TopDrawerSoccer.com’s club soccer TeamRank and Players To Watch rankings utilize a 16-region setup.  Every Tuesday through Friday we will run an article highlighting a monthly update of one of these regions for each feature. On Mondays we will highlight national rankings updates for both Players To Watch Top 100 and the TeamRank Top 10.

For the uninitiated, our 16 regions are Southern California, Northern California & Hawaii, the Pacific Northwest (Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho), Rocky Mountains & Southwest (Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah), Texas, Heartland (Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and the Dakotas), Midwest (Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota), Great Lakes (Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky), South (Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Alabama, Tennessee, Oklahoma), Florida, South Atlantic (South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia), Mid-Atlantic (Delaware, Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia), Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Northeast (Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine).

The TeamRank National Championship is a unique rankings setup that only includes team performance from the current season. It begins with events in August and ends with final events in July, at which point a new competition begins and the slate is again wiped clean. Each ranking is only for that August to July season.

Please read the TeamRank criteria and points setup.

Each list in the Players To Watch Regional Top 20 and National Top 100 rankings are updated monthly and therefore subject to change.

Players To Watch Regional Rankings and National Top 100 in 12 age groups are based on staff assimilation of data and feedback received from coaches and other observers around the country.

Players To Watch ranking and rating criteria explained.

The Great Lakes Players To Watch ranking update include youth national team standouts Olivia Brannon, Sarah Killion and Arin Gilliland from 2011. North Carolina commit Summer Green and Sandra Yu headline the 2013 list.

On the Boys’ side, professional player Sean Cunningham, Akron commit William Trapp and Big 10 recruits Eriq Zavaleta and Caleb Stanko lead the way at 2011, with U17 MNT player Miguel Polley and Indiana United standout Travis Wannemuehler leading the way for the 2013 class.

We are currently working to finalize the 2014 through 2016 classes rather than showing partial lists. As always, you are welcome to let us know about players in those age groups.

Great Lakes Region Players To Watch rankings - Boys |Girls

In the New Jersey TeamRank update, returns are sketchy on the boys side as we continue to enter results, but TSF Academy (U13) and Ironbound SC (U14) are early pacesetters on the Boys’ side. Girls’ powerhouse PDA threatens to run the table, leading in age groups U14 through U17, but NJSA Blast hold the top spot at U13 and returns in the U18 division are very inconclusive thus far.

With the spring tournament season (and our continuing to add results from fall and winter events as part of our commitment), it will be interesting to see how the standings in each age group develop.

New Jersey TeamRank standings - Boys | Girls

If you have an issue with the information in the Players To Watch or TeamRank rankings, particularly with factual data, you can contact us at [email protected] and let us know.