The New York Red Bulls have garnered a reputation over the years for being a hotbed for top Development Academy teams. The NYRB U16 team has flourished as arguably the most talented in the nation in recent times, and the U18 team won DA Finals Week last July.

Chris Lema and Arun Basuljevic, two of the most talented midfielders in the entire academy, are both headed to Georgetown in the fall after their final season with the U18 side. While those two are the most obvious of the lot, the Red Bulls have U13 and U15 teams entered in the NPL’s Northeast Pre-Academy League, the oldest NPL member league in the nation.

Unsurprisingly, NYRB has ruled its U.S. Club Soccer National Premier League roost with an iron fist. They’ve won both the U13 and U15 groups in each of the past two seasons, and things are on track again to make it a clean sweep three-peat this year.  

At the U13 level, the Red Bulls leapt out to a commanding 13-point lead through 11 games through November thanks to a sterling 11-0-0 record. That includes 43 goals already and a 3-1 win over FC Gottschee, which accounted for the second-place club’s only loss so far this season in nine games. The 2000s represent the Red Bulls’ youngest organized club team with direct ties to the senior side, and they’re off to a flying start in 2013-14.

The U15s might not be quite as dominant thanks to a more even field - an inevitability as the age group increases - but the pole position in the 16-team group standings is the same. Through 11 games the NYRB 98s are 8-2-1, a return of 25 points from 11 games and good enough to tie them with PDA atop the group, though PDA has a game in hand. Unsurprisingly, NYRB’s only draw this season came in a 1-1 result against PDA. Perhaps more surprisingly, both losses came against sixth-place Albertson SC, fostering the traditional rivalry for a fresh group of faces.

The Northeast Pre-Academy League fires back up on March 1, with games finishing up June 1.

ISC Gunners ‘99s rock Washington girls soccer

With all the talent issuing forth from the Pacific Northwest, it’s not a surprise that Washington state’s soccer mechanism is a robust one. On the girls side, the top of the league tree not named the ECNL is the Washington State Premier League, the highest of intra-state league play that travels state-wide. Within that apparatus is the Puget Sound Premier League, which only joined the NPL in 2012 as one of its newer members.

On the girls side, the ages go up to the U14 level, and the ISC Gunners are the unquestioned cream of the crop here. One of the best girls club teams in the region, the Gunners, who hail from Issaquah, lead their seven-team group by six points with 31 from 12 games. That’s a record of 10-1-1 with an impressive return of 34 goals to just four against. Still, even the mighty can fall. No. 2 NORTAC Sparta bumped off the Gunners 2-1 on Nov. 2. After wrapping up play in November, the league picks up its home stretch later this spring.

Leonardo Lindo making waves - again

If you’re familiar with the US Youth Soccer Goal of the Year competition, you may remember Leonardo Lindo. As a U13 for Palo Alto SC, the striker won the 2011 US Youth Soccer Goal of the Year by cutting a tough angle with a soft chip that floated over the keeper’s head. Foreshadowing for a productive youth career? Perhaps.

WATCH: Leonardo Lindo's chip wins 2011 US Youth Soccer Goal of the Year

Lindo has moved up the ladder to the U15 level this year, and he’s hardly missed a beat. Through Palo Alto SC’s eight games this fall, Lindo scored an incredible 18 goals, which made him the top scorer in the entire NorCal Premier League boys system, from the U19 level down to U14. It’s even more impressive when you consider Lindo more or less dragged Palo Alto SC to its third-place finish the the NorCal Premier League’s seven-team Premier 2 group. The group, which is comprised entirely of 99s, scored 22 goals in its eight games, meaning just four goals didn’t come from Lindo.

After finishing 11 points off the group-winning pace, Palo Alto SC’s third-place finish means it just missed the cut to compete in the NorCal Premier League’s NPL season in the spring. Only the top two sides from the State Premier 2 group qualify for the league’s NPL arm, which then sends a team in each age bracket to the NPL Champions Cup in the summer.

South Central Premier League is off the ground

The NPL is a satellite organization, made up of nearly 20 leagues sprinkled across the nation offering a variety of levels of competitiveness and age ranges. The newest? The South Central Premier League, which pulls in teams from Texas and Oklahoma in the U13 to U18 groups for boys and U13 to U17 for girls, kicked off its first game on Nov. 20. 

There are just six clubs competing now, though that number could grow in the coming years. The league’s calendar is unique in that, unlike a majority of NPL leagues, the SCPL plays through January and February instead of breaking in November and resuming play in March. That means that clubs like Tulsa United Blitz and Liverpool FC America will have four more match dates by the time March rolls around.

The league’s inaugural game? Sugar Land’s Eclipse Soccer Club bested fellow Houston side Dynamos Soccer Club 2-0 at the 21-acre Lost Creek Park.

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