Do You Feel Lucky?

Do You Feel Lucky?

If you do, then you could be the winner of a NEW CAR, a trip to England, waived CASL training fees for a year, Carolina RailHawks season tickets, free burritos for a year from Moe's Southwest Grill, or one of many gift cards courtesy of CASL, Champps Americana, Aluminum Fences, and Buffalo Brothers in this year's CASL Scholarship Raffle presented by Nick Cerullo with Merrill Lynch. 

CASL's annual scholarship raffle has launched, and raffle tickets can be purchased from CASL players in Challenge, CAYA, Classic, Academy, and ECNL. The raffle will close on December 11 and all winners will be announced on December 18. 

last year's grand prize raffle winner with his NEW CAR!

Raffle tickets are only $20 each. All funds raised through the raffle will benefit CASL's Scholarship Fund which will help players and their families who may be facing financial constraints. We thank all of you in advance, whether you a consumer or seller of our scholarship raffle, for helping open up the game of soccer to youth who may not otherwise be able to play. 

For a full list of prizes and other raffle information, click here. 

WakeMed: Your Source for Emergency and Urgent Care

Unfortunately during the season (or off-season), we all may face times where someone we know needs emergency or urgent care. Fortunately, WakeMed Health and Hospitals the official health partner of CASL, and they can provide care for you whenever and wherever you need them.

WakeMed has convenient emergency and urgent care sites in the Triangle area that are near many of CASL fields used for practices and games throughout Raleigh, Cary, Apex, Garner, and Wake Forest. Click here for a brochure that outlines the specific locations available to you through WakeMed Health and Hospitals. You can also download a free WakeMed app available for iPhone and android devices to learn more information. Visit www.wakemed.org to learn more about the services they offer. 

WakeMed Health and Hospitals has been caring for CASL athletes for nearly a decade. They are dedicating to providing resources to CASL families to keep them healthy on and off the field. CASL and WakeMed will soon be providing you information on how to create active and healthy families on and off the field. Keep an eye out for this information to be announced on our website, through social media, and other outlets for your benefit!

WakeMed Emergency and Urgent Care Locations

250 Quiz Points by Monday - We Can Do it!

Community Grant Competition - we need YOUR help!

We are almost halfway through the Liberty Mutual Responsible Sports Community Grant competition. The competition has been live since the beginning of September, and it remains open through the month of November. Many of you have taken a few minutes to complete the quiz, and we are very grateful for your participation. Every point counts, and we need your help if you haven't taken the quiz yet to earn a $2500 grant that will be put toward program enhancement including coaching education and equipment across all levels of play! 

We have come out of the gate sprinting with 193 quiz points credited to Capital Area Soccer League. We are currently #1 in the Large Division competition, and we've actually received the most interaction from our community than any organization in the small division or school division. However, I know that more of you are out there who can help us. We have approximately 8,000 players in our club, so we have a lot of room to stretch our lead! 

If you have a few minutes, please take the parent/coach quiz by clicking here. You can opt to watch the video (which may have had some technical difficulties the other week) or read through the information. You can skim it and skip to the end to answer the 10 questions about promoting a positive youth sport environment. The quiz question will turn green when you select the right answer, so there's no way to "fail" the quiz. 

You can select the parent OR coach quiz. I took the parent quiz, and it's very easy! Only one quiz submission allowed per email address. I recently sent an email to my family, asking them to take the quiz as well - it's not just limited to CASL families. Use your social networks and family members as ways to increase our reach and potential. Just be sure that you credit the quiz point to Capital Area Soccer League (spelled out) then verify your email for the quiz point to count.

I think we can get to 250 credited points by the start of next week. Until then, have a great weekend, and I'll be checking the leaderboard this weekend to see if/when we get to the 250 mark! 

Community Grant Leaderboard for Large Division

Men's College Soccer in the Area

As promised, here's a shout out to the men's college soccer in the area. UNC Men's Soccer and Wake Forest Men's Soccer are both in the top 25 NSCAA Coaches poll. In the NCAA Men's Soccer RPI rankings, a few other local teams are highlighted int he top 50 including Elon, NC State, and UNC Charlotte. Similar to the women's side, there's some great opportunities to catch some of the best men's soccer and some of our former players match up against each other. Here are a few upcoming local games:

Duke vs. UNC Wilmington: Tonight (Tuesday, October 1)

Tonight you can catch the Duke Blue Devils play host to the  UNW Seahawks in Durham. Kick-off is at 7pm at Koskinen stadium. On the roster for the SeaHawks are former CASL Players Sam Williams, Kellen Foster, and David Sizemore. They will be facing off against former players and current Blue Devils Chase Keesling and Ryan Thompson. 

Duke @ UNC Chapel Hill: Friday, October 4

After their match-up against the UNCW SeaHawks tonight, the Blue Devils will travel down tobacco road to face off against #1 ranked UNC Chapel Hill at Fetzer Field (7pm). Rostered on the Tar Heels roster are former CASL players Cooper, Vandermaas-Peeler, Chipper Root, Nick Williams, Alex Olofson, and Ryan McAnallen. 

NC State vs. Wake Forest: Tuesday, October 8

The NC State WolfPack Men's Soccer team is on the road for the next few games, but they will return to home field action next Tuesday, October 8 to take on top 25 ranked Wake Forest University. NC State features former CASL players, Yanni Hachem, Moss Jackson-Atogi, Seth Poole, and Michael Hinkson. You can catch this local match-up at Dail Soccer Field, in the heart of NCSU's campus. 

Duke vs. NC State: October 11 **CASL NIGHT**

See the ad below for CASL night at the Duke game on October 11. This is a great chance to see an ACC, in-state rivalry game! 

Women's College Soccer in the Area

Women's College Soccer in the Area

On November 8th and 10th, the ACC Women's Soccer Championship will be in Cary. WakeMed Soccer Park will be the site of this year's tournament, which is sure to feature some of the best women's soccer in the nation, and many of our former CASL players! Be sure to SAVE THE DATE for this year's tournament - we'll be posting more information about tickets soon!

CASL families are lucky to be surrounded by some of the best college soccer in the nation. (I'll write about the men's side in another post, but for today, the women are the main focus) The ACC represents 10 of the top 50 women's soccer teams in the nation according to the NCAA Women's Soccer RPI rankings. The NSCAA Coaches' rankings has 6 ACC teams in the top 25. The local triangle teams, NC State, Duke, and UNC are all among this top 50 ranking, and we are fortunate to have these teams in our backyard. Before all these teams battle for the ACC Championship in November, they will be fighting for seeding with each regular season conference game they play. There are a few games I want to highlight for various reasons, so if you are looking for some great soccer in a family friendly environment, I encourage you to take advantage of these opportunities:

Thursday, September 26, 7pm ~ Duke vs. #1 Virginia

The Duke Blue Devils will host #1 nationally ranked Virginia Cavaliers on Thursday night at Koskinen Stadium on the Duke Campus. Come watch the Blue Devils and former CASL player, Christina Gibbons, take on her former '94 CASL ECNL teammate, Alexis Shaffer and the Cavaliers.

Children under the age of 12 receive FREE admission and groups of 8 or more receive a $4.00 discount. Regular admission is $8/adult. For more information, call 919-681-BLUE. For a full schedule, click HERE. 

Sunday, September 29, 1pm ~ NC State vs. Boston College

On Sunday, it's US Youth Soccer Night at the NC State Women's Soccer game. For this special game, parents receive FREE admission with their youth soccer player. NC State and Boston College are both ranked in the top 50 NCAA Women's Soccer RPI poll and are battling for position in the ACC. Seven former CASL players are on the roster for the WolfPack this season. For a full schedule of NC State's schedule, click HERE. 

Thursday, October 10th, 7pm ~ UNC vs. NC State

The WolfPack will be travelling down tobacco road for an in-state, conference match-up with the Tar Heels on Thursday, October 10. For this game, CASL players, coaches, and families are invited to celebrate CASL Night at Fetzer Field with a special ticket rate of $2! Similar to the NCSU roster, the UNC roster is dominated by many CASL players including Sophomore Caroline Lindquist and freshmen Joanna Boyles among many others! You might see CASL player-to-player match ups this night! For a full list of the TarHeels' schedule, click HERE! Be sure to mention you are with CASL when you purchase tickets to this game.

Powerade and Daly Seven Hotels Fields OPEN

New Turf Fields are OPEN!

After a summer of construction and anticipation, the new turf fields - PowerAde Field (#1) and Daly Seven Hotels Field (#2) are open for business. Back in August, we had a Ribbon Cutting ceremony to celebrate the progress of the field upgrades at WRAL Soccer Park. Raleigh Mayor, Nancy McFarlane, City Councilmember John Odom, and our very own Charlie Slagle were among the speakers at the ceremony. They all spoke about the joint venture of these multi-purpose, million dollar field upgrades and how the fields will also benefit our community at the economic level by making WRAL Soccer Park a destination for sporting events (e.g., lacrosse, ultimate frisbee, etc.). 

These fields bring CASL's total synthetic field number to five. These fields can handle the wear and tear of high use sports traffic and can withstand the elements of rain. Therefore, the grass fields will continue to be improved and receive needed attention and rest after weekends of game use. Since the field signs were originally torn down for construction, we are working on putting up a temporary solution while new field signs are being designed. In the mean time, please review the field map. 

PowerAde and Daly Seven Hotels Fields

This weekend, the fields saw their first game action on Friday night (pictured) and for an ECNL event that was held on the fields over the weekend. When your team is playing on these fields, take a minute to think about the investment, care, and quality that the City of Raleigh and CASL put into this project. CASL is continuously finding ways to improve the experience at WRAL Soccer Park - these field upgrades are just one example. 

CASL Park Rangers

One other way CASL is planning to improve your experience at WRAL Soccer Park is through our newly appointed CASL Park Rangers. The primary focus of these staff members are the safety and cleanliness of the park. We'll introduce you to this team in another post, but for now, know that there are people out there who care deeply about the presentation of the park and you and your children's safety. If you see someone in a green CASL shirt, this is a Park Ranger. If you ever see anything that deserves the Park Rangers' attention, please feel free to stop them at the park or email them at parkrangers@caslnc.com. You are additional eyes and ears at the park, and you can help us improve our services to all those who come through WRAL Soccer Park by informing our Park Rangers. WRAL Soccer Park is CASL's home, and we want to treat it that way. We all should take pride in our home facility, as we are one of very few youth soccer clubs that has a facility to call home. 

From Labor Day Tournament Champions to National Team Championships

Taylor Otto Called Back to U17 Women's National Team Camp

Taylor Otto ('96 CASL ECNL) is one of 26 players called up for the second-to-last U17 Women's National Team training camp before the CONCACAF Women's World Cup Qualifying Tournament. She is in Florida with the rest of the National Team preparing for the October 30- Nov. 9 Championships. The camp started on September 15 and will run through September 22.

Taylor Otto

The U17 Women's National Team is the defending champion of the competition, having defeated Canada 1-0 in the final in Guatemala during the last cycle. This year's tournament will feature the USA, Canada, Mexcio, host Jamaica, Central American qualifiers El Salvador and Guatemala, and two more Carribean nations to be determined. 

Taylor will be participating in an inner-squad scrimmage tomorrow night (September 20) as she continues to fight for a final roster slot on the tournament team.

CASL Representing in Tournaments Early in Season

Many CASL teams have already hit the tournament scene early on this season, and they are already leaving their mark. The U12 Nitro Boys participated in the DSC Rock Hill Classic last weekend and they came away with the championship. Head Coach Chris Dunn said "the team performed very well...the boys worked very hard to accomplish this...the greatest accomplishment of the boys was not giving up one goal during the tournament. This is a difficult task. The boys put 100% of their effort and functioned well as a team." 

Nitro Boys run across field to thank their parents

We are always happy to hear of teams who know what it means to work together as a team. CASL promotes teamwork among other positive traits, and we are fortunate to have dedicated volunteer coaches at the Recreation and Challenge level, like Chris Dunn, who are willing to promote positive youth sport participation and teach life lessons beyond what happens between the sidelines. Show your support for promoting positive youth soccer experiences by taking the Liberty Mutual Responsible Sports quiz and crediting your quiz point to CASL. Your participation can help CASL earn a $2500 community grant. The quiz is really easy (I've taken it!), and every vote counts. Don't forget to credit your quiz point to the Capital Area Soccer League and to verify your email address.

Nitro Boys with Gold Medal

Nitro player, Riley Shields

The weekend before, the U11 Elite Black North girls won 1st place in the Adidas Labor Day Shootout. The girls competed in the Platinum division for 4 games and finished with 17 goals. 

U11 Elite Black North