Women’s & Men’s Soccer Recruiting Differences

*The information below is courtesy of college soccer recruiting expert, Don Williams, who is the co-founder of recruiting company SRUSA. 

This highlights many of the differences and resulting outcomes in terms of college recruiting for Men’s and Women’s soccer:

Male goalkeepers are far less in demand (there is a surplus) than Female goalkeepers (there is a shortage).

Men often keep growing physically until 20-22.

Women often stop growing physically by 15-17.

Approximately 30% of all Male players in the NCAA are Internationals, while it’s only 12% on the Female side.

There are approximately 300 more Women’s college teams across all divisions than there are Men’s.

There are millions more athletic scholarship $’s available for Women than for Men.

Many Men’s team college coaches wait to fill key roster spots until early spring when International full pro academy players are released from their clubs.

This is rarely seen in the Women’s game, just not as much at stake.

There is a large surplus of Male players worldwide, while on the Female side there is a true shortage.

There are many more internationals on the Men’s side playing  NAIA, JC & lower DII levels. Many take years 3 & 4 to move up to higher level DII’s & all levels DI and this heavily affects male freshmen recruiting.

There is not the same impact on the Women’s side where many players look down on JC, NAIA’s & many DIII’s, which leaves a void at those levels.

Male players do this too, but not in the same ratio as on the Women’s side.

On the Women’s side of JC & NAIA, DII & DIII’s (no scholarships), many Women’s teams across the nation are carrying rosters of 15 or less & quite a few games are played with less than 11 women on the field & scholarships are left unclaimed.

This is very rarely seen on the Men’s side.