But under new leadership, CASL has made adjustments that encourage high school participation and ease the possibility for players to play in both leagues.

CASL has, for the most part, disbanded its spring training program. There are still national tournaments for its teams to compete in - but they occur during the high school season's first two weeks and again in the summer as opposed to the state playoffs.

And while players can still decide to miss a year of high school soccer and train with CASL, such a choice wouldn't be affected by any league-endorsed scheduling conflict.

The man who high school coaches credit for the change is new CASL director of coaching Rusty Scarborough. Scarborough, a former middle and high school teacher and coach, said he values the high school experience.

"High school soccer brings so many positives to game, to the development of players that I thought it was a worthwhile investment for our girls," Scarborough said. "They get to kind of take a break from us and they get to take a part of that scholastic environment."

The move has drawn praise from the coaches who lamented about CASL's stance just a year ago.

No policy, but pressure

There was no written policy that said CASL wanted its participants to choose between playing for it and playing for high schools. But the implicit pressure caused by creating the spring training program was still referred to by some high school coaches and players as a CASL "rule."

Green Hope coach Bobby Peterson saw both sides of the argument - an argument he tried to stay out of for the past year.

While being Green Hope's head coach, he's also a CASL coach in the fall.

Green Hope is one of the most affected teams in the area. This season, Peterson said he has five sophomores who missed their freshmen years to play for CASL and "who would probably not be able to [play] with last year's rules."

"Not only has Rusty allowed them to play but he's made it easier on the high school players who want to play," Peterson said. "He really tried to set it up where it was a win-win for everybody."

Peterson's team is ranked 14th in the nation and second in the state - and his leading scorers are sophomores.

"A lot of the girls who wanted to play but didn't get a chance to would come to the games and just watch," Peterson said. "We'd see them up in the stands."

Cary High coach Laura Kerrigan was critical of the logic behind former program, calling it "a disservice to the student-athletes." A supporting argument for choosing CASL over high schools included being able to attend all of the spring's club events, where college coaches attend to scout and recruit.

As the former women's head coach at N.C. State, Kerrigan said there was no reason for an either-or implication.

"If we were in an area where high school coaches weren't understanding of how important club is -- I could see it," she said. "But all the [high school] coaches I know let kids go to club events. I still don't see the purpose of doing that last year."

Club still important

Coaches and players still acknowledge club soccer as the best way to be seen by college coaches and improve tactical skill and fundamentals.

Cary goalkeeper Annie McHenry decided to play only for CASL last spring with hopes of doing both.

"It was a really hard choice for me," McHenry said. "It really took a lot of thought but I thought I could do it for one year."

A senior, McHenry has signed to play at UNC-Charlotte next year.

No matter what time of the year, individual one-on-one coaching and attention to detail is another plus to the CASL experience.

"In high school, you get a lot of game time, a lot of game experience," Green Hope sophomore Alexis Degler said. "In club, you get a lot of touches and a lot of technical building your skills."

What's being stressed this year by CASL and Scarborough is that CASL can be a supplement to high school success, or vice versa.

Kerrigan said that last year, CASL was pushing hard to win an Elite Clubs National League championship. The more time CASL players got to train together, the better the chances of winning.

"If that's your rationale: that's not the right rationale for youth sports," Kerrigan said. "It's fantastic that [CASL president] Charlie Slagle and the rest of CASL has realized that 'you know that probably wasn't the right thing to do for the students' ... "Your No. 1 concern should be 'what's best for this student overall?'"

CASL came up well short of last year's title, finishing 10th in the country.

With Scarborough electing for CASL to go to an ECNL national qualifying tournament earlier in the year, players know they won't be forced to miss important end-of-year games or playoff matches with their high school teams.

"If we would've had later tournaments, it would've conflicted more," Green Hope sophomore Maya Worth said. " But this year it's changed so the tournaments have either been earlier or later on in the summer. ... In that way CASL and the club has opened it up to play high school more."

Advantages of school soccer

One of the top goals that high school soccer brings is self-worth.

"We do want the players to reach their highest goals and achievements, and I believe scholastic soccer is a way of achieving that," Scarborough said. "They're getting a chance to get their names in the paper."

For all high school athletes, there's still something special about being able to wear the school uniform to classes on a game day. It opens the door for conversation with classmates and gives players a bond with others at their school that they may not have met otherwise.

Nobody sees that more than the coaches who double as teachers at the school.

"We've got sophomores on our team now who missed out on their whole freshman year experience of getting connected with this group of girls," Kerrigan said.

"I really see it even more this year because I've got my teaching license and I'm teaching. Every day in hallways, they're wearing their uniforms to school and talking about it with the other kids in the school. It's a big deal to be an athlete in high school or to be involved in something else like the band or a club. It's a connection to the school."

Peterson echoed the sentiments, saying the opportunity to connect with the school was taken away from some of his players who otherwise would've liked to have played.

"The high school game is not necessarily for everyone," he said. "but the ones who want to play are enjoying it."

Green Hope sophomore Sydney Curtis didn't play for the Falcons last year. She could see what she missed out on by watching her peers who didn't follow the same CASL-exclusive path.

"I had a friend who played on the high school team last year, and she knew a lot of upperclassmen and got to get in with the school," Curtis said. "As for us, we didn't play so as freshmen we didn't know a lot of people."

The argument for only club play included the idea of high school competition being a detriment for a top-level player's game. Scarborough believes there's more to the development of a player than skill level.

"I do believe that you get better by training with better players and playing in games against better players," Scarborough said. "In high school, you're going to have a wide range of competition. It is a bit of a downside to a top-level player, but they can also benefit so much by becoming a leader, by helping their teammates raise their level of play to their standard."

Some players have still chosen to focus on CASL training, but most have returned to the high school fields this year - except for those weekends of CASL-sponsored events or practices. And so far, Scarborough is confident that change is for the better.

"I haven't heard one negative or one negative outcome from it," he said.